COGNI

TIVETHEORI
ESOFPERSONALI
TYDEVELOPMENTBYJEANPI
AGETS

JeanPi agetwasaSwi sspsychol ogistwhoi sbestknownf orhiswor kinthefiel

dofcogni ti
ve
devel
opment .Acogni ti
vedev elopmenti sasetoff undament althi
nkingprocessesandnott he
acquisi
tionofanyspeci fi
cpiecesofknowl edgeori nf
ormation.Piaget’
stheoryofcogni t
ive
devel
opmentmai ntai
nst hat,
chi l
drengot hroughspeci f
icstageast hei
rintel
l
ectandabi l
ityto
seerelationshi
psmat ures.Thesest agesar ecompl et
edi naf i
xedorderwithallchildren,even
thoseinot hercount r
ies.Theager angecanv ar
yf rom chil
dt ochil
d.Hepr oposedat heor yof
cogniti
vedev elopment ,whichincludedadet ail
edexpl anati
onofhowchi l
dren’sthinking
changesov ert
ime.Pi agetbelievedt hatcogniti
v edevelopmenti sacompl exinterplaybetween
biol
ogical maturati
onandenv ironment alexperiences.

Pi
agetbeli
evedthatper
sonali
tydevel
opmentoccursaschi
ldrenmovethr
ought
hesecognit
ive
st
ages.Thewayani ndi
vidual
thi
nksdeter
mineshowt heyi
nteractwi
tht
heworl
d,andt
heir
i
nter
acti
onswiththeworldshapethei
rper
sonali
ty.

Piaget’
stheori
essuggestt
hatcogni
ti
vedevel
opmentplaysacr
it
ical
rol
einshapi
ngaper
son’
s
personali
ty,
int
erest
sandbehavi
orthr
oughoutthei
rli
fe.

Pi
aget
’st
heor
ysuggest
sthatchi
l
dren’
scogni
ti
vedev
elopmentoccur
redi
nfourst
ages.

1.SENSORI
MOTORSTAGE(bi
rt
htoage2)

Thisstageoccursbetweentheageofbi rt
htoandt woy earsofage,asinfantbegint
o
understandi
nformati
onenteringthei
rsensesandt heirabi
l
ityt
ointeractwiththeworld.
Thechildatthi
sstagelear
nst omanipulateobjectalthoughtheyfai
ltounder standt
he
permanencyoftheseobjectiftheyar
enotwi thintheircurr
entsensoryreception.

Int
hisstage,i
nfantslearnaboutthei
renv i
ronmentt hrought hei
rsensesandact i
ons.
Theydevelopbasicconceptsofcause- and-eff
ects,
obj ectpermanenceandl earnmotor
ski
ll
s.Inf
antsl
earnt hroughlooki
ng,grasping,mouthing, andotheracti
ons.Object
permanencybeginsoccur sattheendoft hisstageandr epr
esentsthechil
d’sabil
i
tyt
o
maintai
nament alimageoft heobjectorper sonwithoutt heactualper
cepti
on.

2.PREOPERATI
ONALSTAGE(
ages2t
o7)
:

Thisist hestagewher echi l

drendev elopsymbol i
ct hi
nkingbutremai negocent ri
c.They
areunabl etounderstandot hers.Preoper ati
onal chil
drendonothol dabr oad, general
theoriesbutusedt heirdailyexperiencest obui l
dspeci f
icknowledge.Att hisstage,
chil
dr enaredonotmakegener ali
zat i
onofobj ects.Thisstagealsobeginsaf terobject
permanencyi sachiev
edandoccur satagesoft wot oseven.Childr
enar eablet odev el
op
i
nl anguageandi toccur sataf asterpace.Theyar eabletointer
actwi t
ht heir
env i
ronmenti namor ecompl exwaybyusi ngwor dsandimages.Thechi ldont heot her
handbecomesegocent ric-theybel ievethateveryoneseest hewor l
dt hesamewayt hey
 do.Theyalsofi
ndi tdif
fi
cul
ttounder
standt
hatquant
it
ydoesnotchangeift
heshape
changes.Theyaret her
efor
eunablet
ounderst
andrev
ersi
bil
i
tyandtofocusononl
yone
aspectofasti
mul ussuchasheight.

3.CONCRETEOPERATI
ONALSTAGE(
ages7t
o12)
:

I
nt hi
sstage,chi
ldrenlearnt
othinklogical
lyaboutconcr
eteobject
sandev entsbutare
unabletothi
nkhy potheti
cal
l
y.Childr
enatt hi
sstagecanlogi
cal
lyclassi
fymor ethanone
di
mensionofanobj ectatati
meandunder st
andmat hemati
calconcept.Theycan
underst
andtheconceptofgr ouping,knowingthatasmallhor
seandabi ghorseareboth
horses,
orthatthepesewaandt hecedi ar
ebothGhanaiancurr
encies.

Atthi
sstage,t
heyarey
ett
odev el
opanabst
ractt
hinki
ngandsot
heyonl
yunder
stand
thoset
hattheyhav
eexper
ienced.

4.FORMALOPERATI
ONALSTAGE(age12andabov
e)

I
ndividualsinthisstagedev el
optheabili
tytot hinkabst ract
ly,
problem solve,thinkabout
hypotheticalsi
tuat
ionsandconsi dermulti
pleper spectiv
es.Theycant hinkhy pot heti
cally
aboutal l
possibil
it
iesandcomeupwi t
hlogical solution.Theycanpr oj
ectintot hef uture
orrecallthepastinsol v
ingprobl
emsandr easonbyanal ogyandmet aphor.Thi nkingat
thi
sst agegoesbey ondphy si
cal
objectsorev ent s.Inthisfi
nalstagechildr
enbegi nto
developamor eabst r
actviewofthewor l
d.Theyar eabletoapplyreversibi
li
tywi th
understandingtobot hrealandimaginedsituat i
onshencecogni ti
vemat uri
tyisachi ev ed.

KOHLBERG’
STHEORYOFMORALDEVELOPMENT

Kohl
berg’
stheoryofmoral
dev
elopmentst
atesthatwepr
ogr
esst
hrought
hreel
evel
sof
moralt
hinki
ngthatbui
l
donourcogni
ti
vedevelopment
.

Kohlberg’
stheoryofmor aldevel
opmenti sacompr ehensivesystem thatdescri
beshow
i
ndividual
sdeveloptheirmoralreasoningabil
ityov
ertime.Kohlbergexpandedont he
earl
i
erwor kofJeanPi agetoncogniti
vedev elopmenttoexplai
nt hemor aldevel
opment
ofchildr
en,whichhebel i
evesfoll
owsaser iesofstages.AccordingtoKohlberg,t
here
aresixstagesofmor aldevel
opment ,whicharegroupedintothreelevels.

Kohl
ber
gdef
inedt
hreel
evel
sofmor
aldev
elopment
:

i
. Pr
e-conv
ent
ional
 i
i
. Conv
ent
ional

i
i
i. Postconv
ent
ional

Eachl
evel
hast
wodi
sti
nctst
ages.

1.Pr
e-conv
ent
ionalmor
ali
ty:

I
tistypi
calofyoungchil
dr enandfollowsstr
ictrul
esbasedonpuni shmentandr eward.
Thechil
d’ssenseofmor alit
yisexter
nall
ycontroll
ed.Chil
drenacceptandbel ievethe
rul
esofauthori
tyfi
gur
es, suchaspar ent
sandt eachers.Achil
dwi t
hpr e-conventi
onal
morali
tyhasnotyetadoptedori nter
nali
zedsociety’
sconventi
onsr egardingwhatisright
orwrong,buti
nsteadfocusesl ar
gelyonexternalconsequencesthatcertainacti
onsmay
bri
ng.

a)Thef
ir
stst
agei
sobedi
enceandpuni
shmentor
ient
ati
on;

whereachi
ldi
sfocusedonavoi
dingpunishment.Thi
sstagefocusesona
chi
l
d’sdesi
ret
oobeyr ul
esi
nordertoavoidbei
ngpunished.

b)Thesecondst
agei
sindi
vi
dual
i
sm andexchangeori
nst
rument
al
ori
ent
ati
on;

whereachi l
dbeli
evesinf air
nessandmaki ngdeals.Theindivi
dual l
ooks
outforhi
sorhergai nsatt hi
sst age,t
her i
ghtbehaviori
st her
efore
defi
nedbywhat evertheindivi
dual bel
ievestobeint hei
rbestinterest.At
thi
sstage,concernforotherislimitedandnotbasedonl oyal
tyor
i
ntri
nsicrespect
,butrathera“ handgohandcomeaf fai
r”mentalit
y .

2.Conv
ent
ionalmor
ali
ty:

whichist
ypi
calofadolescent
sandadultsandfoll
owssoci alnor
msandst
andards.Chi
ldr
en
conti
nuetoaccepttherul
esofauthor
it
yfigur
es,butthisisnowduetot
hei
rbel
iefthat
,iti
s
necessar
ytoensureapositi
verel
ati
onshi
pandsoci etalorder
.

a)Thethir
dst
ageisgoodinter
per
sonalr
elat
ionships;whereapersonfoll
owst he
rul
estomaint
ainsoci
alor
derandtobeseenasagoodper son.Atthisstagethey
wantbehav
etobeseenasgoodboy sandni cegirl
s.Theywanttheapprovalof
other
sinwaystoavoi
ddisappr
oval
.

b)Thef ourt
hst agei
smai ntai
ningsocialor
der,whereanindivi
dual seekst
o
preservethesocialorderbyobeyinglawsandaut hor
it
yfigures.Thechil
datt his
st
ageaccept srul
esandconv enti
onsbecauseoft hei
rimportancei nmaint
aining
afunctioningsociet
y.Theyvaluerulesatthi
sstageandbecomel awandorder
ori
ented.
 3.Post
-conv
ent
ionalmor
ali
ty:

whi chismor eabst

ractanddev el
opedi nadul
tswhohav eastrongsenseofper sonal
valuesandar emot i
vatedbyjusti
ceandequal i
ty.Peopl
enowbel i
evethatsomel awsare
unjustandshoul dbechangedorel i
mi nat
ed.Thislevel
ismar kedbyagr owing
realizat
ionthati
ndiv
idualsar
esepar ateenti
ti
esf r
om societ
y.Somet heori
stshav e
opinedt hatmanypeopl emaynev erreachthi
slevelofabstr
actmor areasoning.

a)Thef if
thstagei ssocialcontractandi ndivi
dual ri
ghts,whereaper sonidenti
fies
thatlawsshoul dreflecttheval uesoft hei
rsoci et
y.Thisstageexplainsthatthe
peoplehav ediffer
entopi ni
ons, ri
ghtsandv alues.Lawsar eregardedascont racts
ratherthanrigidedicts.Thoset hatdonotpr omot ethewel f
areofthepeopl e
shouldbechangedwhennecessar ytomeett hegr eat
estforthegr eat
estnumber
ofpeopl e.Thisisachievedthr oughmaj or
it
ydeci sionandinevitabl
ecompr omi se.
Democr at
icgov er
nancesy stem i sbasedonst agef i
vereasoning.

b)Thesi
xthst
agei
suni
ver
sal
ethi
cal
pri
nci
ples,

Thisiswher eanindivi
dualmor al
it
yandbelievesi nhigherethicalpri
nciplesbeyond
socialandlegalnorms.Att hisstage,moral r
easoni ngisbasedonabst ractreasoni
ng
usinguniversal
ethicalpri
nciples.Thechosenpr i
nciplesareinmostcasesabst ractand
focusoni deassuchasequal i
ty,di
gnit
yorr espect.Peopl echoset heirownet hi
cal
pri
nciplesanddecidetogobyt hem-theyfeelguiltywhent heyv i
olatethem notbecause
onewant stoav oi
dpuni shment .Alt
hough,Kohl bergbelievesthisstageexist,hefi
ndsit
dif
ficul
ttoidenti
fyindi
vidualswhooper ateatt hislevel.