LESSON 7: MORAL CHARACTER AND DEVELOPMENT
ETHICS: ETHICS
PROFESSOR: Prof. Concepcion G. Regalado
UST-AMV College of Accountancy First Semester | A.Y. 2023 - 2024
WHAT IS MORAL AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?
● “Engaging in morally relevant conduct or words, or
refraining from certain conduct or words” (Wynne and
Walberg, 1984)
● The essence of morality is respect for rules and that
acting on internalized principles (autonomy)
represents a higher level of morality than performance
based on rules imposed by others (heteronomy)”
(Piaget, 1969)
● Moral character is a personality construct: “a complex
set of relatively persistent qualities of the individual
person, and the term has a definite positive
connotation when it is used in discussion of moral
education” (Pritchard, 1988)
● “An individual’s set of psychological characteristics that
affect that person’s ability and inclination to function
morally” (Berkowitz, 2002)
● Moral character is the force behind moral actions. It is
attached to consistency. We can say that a person is
good because his acts are consistent with goodness
across a period of time. - Prof. Dennis Temporal
FOUR ETHICAL COMPONENTS IN THE MORAL AND
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
● Ethical Sensitivity
○ The perception of moral and social situations,
including the ability to consider possible actions and
their repercussions in terms of the people involved.
● Ethical Judgment
○ The consideration of possible alternative actions and
the rationale for selecting one or more as best.
● Ethical Motivation
○ The selection of moral values most relevant in the
situation and the commitment to act on the
selection
● Ethical Action
○ The ego strength combined with the psychological
and social skills necessary to carry out the selected
alternative
HOW DOES A MORAL CHARACTER DEVELOP? (FOUR
THEORIES)
● External/Social Theory
○ Morality as a product of external imposition in the
form of consequences and the intentional
transmission of social roles and norms respectively.
○ Human Nature is Neutral
○ Conditioning Perspective (Skinner, 1971)
○ Family as the Primary Interpreter of Culture
○ Religion as Central Cultural Forces
● Internal Theory
○ Focused on Genetic and Maturational influences
○ ○ Pre-Conventional
7 JLLA
○ Rousseau: Human nature is essentially good
○ Wilson (1998): Our sense of right and wrong is the
result of biological evolution interacting with culture
and social convention.
○ Clark and Grunstein (2000) found that up to 50% of
variance in behavior may be genetically determined.
● Interactional Theory
○ Constant struggle between biological
predispositions to act selfishly and aggressively and
social pressures to act in a prosocial manner
(instinctual vs. maturational)
○ Freud: Human nature is instinctually anti-social and
undeveloped.
○ Erickson: Developing conscience and morals is
primarily one of middle childhood.
○ Hogan & Emler: There are 3 psychological
transformations in the individual/social relationship:
■ Early Childhood
■ Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence
■ Later Adolescence
● Personality/Identity
○ Virtue is rooted in personality and personal identity
○ Virtues as combination of
■ Natural Predispositions
■ Interactions with the environment that involve
both reflection and commitment to moral values
and behavior
○ Virtues as habitual ways of thinking, feeling,
committing and acting that reflect moral character.
Vessels (1998) states that people with moral character
are predisposed to:
● Display a high level of effort in their daily work, and a
high level of commitment to individual and group
goals and standards.
● Show the courage to be honest and principled
irrespective of circumstances
● Acquire a wide range of abilities that enable them to
independently resolve problems where moral values
and principles may be in conflict.
● Show kindness and compassion with empathetic
understanding
KOHLBERG’S 6 STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
● The American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg based
his work on Piaget's theory of cognitive development
● Lawrence Kohlberg's theory claims that our
development of moral reasoning happens in six
stages.
○ The stages themselves are structured in three levels:
pre-conventional, conventional, and
post-conventional
 ■ Stage 1 & 2
■ Both judge what is right or wrong by the direct
consequences they expect for themselves, and not
by social norms
■ This form of reasoning is common among children
○ Conventional
■ Stage 3 & 4
■ At the conventional level, one responds to peer
pressure and the teacher follows the rules
■ Their morality is centered around what society
regards as right
■ At this level, the fairness of rules is seldom
questioned
■ It is common to think like this during adolescence
and adulthood
○ Post-Conventional
■ Stage 5 & 6
■ At the post-conventional level, one knows that
things are complicated because individuals may
disobey rules inconsistent with their own morality
■ The headmaster follows a universal ethical idea at
complete disconnect with what society thinks or
the rules say. To them, everything is solved
through compassion.
■ The right behavior in their opinion is therefore
never a means to an end, but always an end in
itself
■ Not every person reaches this level
● Stage 1: Moral Judgment
○ At stage one, we make moral judgments based on
obedience and punishment
○ One's sense of good or bad is directly linked to
whether he gets punished or not
■ One sees what is happening to their friend and
wants to help, but they don't because they are
afraid the teacher may punish them if they get
caught fighting
■ One asks themself, how can they avoid
punishment?
● Stage 2: Self-Interest
○ At stage two, we are motivated by self-interest
○ One decides to intervene and help their friend. They
know that they might get punished, but they also
know that they could become a victim herself
someday. If they help their friend now, their friend
might help them in the future
○ They are asking themself: What's in it for me?
● Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord
○ At stage three, interpersonal accord and conformity
guide our moral judgment
○ One sees the fight and wants to intervene. But when
they realize that all the others are just watching, they
decide not to get involved. They want others to see
that they are a good girl who is conforming with the
ethics of the community
○ They ask themself: What do others think of me?
8 JLLA, TJMS
● Stage 4: Authority
○ At stage four, we value authority and want to
maintain social order
○ When the teacher sees the group fighting one
immediately steps in and shouts: Stop! Fighting at
school is forbidden! They feel that, above all, it is
important to follow the rules, otherwise chaos
breaks out. They feel it is their duty to uphold the
rules that sustain a functioning society
○ They ask themself: How can I maintain law and
order?
● Stage 5: Rules
○ At stage five, we understand rules as a social
contract as opposed to a strict order
○ One who watches from afar is not sure how she feels
about this. To them, rules make sense only if they
serve the right purpose Obviously, the school rules
prohibit fighting. But maybe their friend deserves to
finally learn their lesson. Just yesterday their friend
punched a young girl from grade one
○ They ask themself: Does a rule truly serve all
members of the community?
● Stage 6: Ethical Principles
○ At stage six, we are guided by universal ethical
principles
○ All those involved now have to face the headmaster.
They first explain the school rules and why they exist.
They then clarify that rules are valid only if they are
grounded in justice. The commitment to justice
carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust rules.
The headmaster's highest moral principle is
compassion. They believe that all people should
learn to understand each other's viewpoints and that
they don't feel alone with their feelings
○ They ask: What are the abstract ethical principles
that serve my understanding of justice?
CORE LAYERS OF CULTURE
LAYERS OF CULTURE
DENNIS O’NEILL
● First: The body of cultural traditions that distinguish
your specific society.
○ Ex. Shared Language, Shared Traditions, Beliefs
● Second: Subculture Self-Reflection
○ Occurs in a complex, diverse societies in which
people have come from many different parts of the ASIANS AND WESTERNERS
world, they often retain much of their original
cultural traditions. ASIAN CULTURE WESTERN CULTURE
○ As the cultural differences between members of a Collectivistic (community
Individualistic
subculture and the dominant national culture blur and family)
and eventually disappear, the subculture ceases to Risk Avoidance Willing to take risks
exist except as a group of people who claim a Asian men do not compete
common ancestry. directly against Asian Gender-free competition
women, and vice versa
● Third Layer: Cultural Universalis
Attitude: Analytical and
○ Learned behavior patterns that are shared by all of Attitude: Holistic Views
Detailed
humanity collectively. No matter where people live Expresses one’s opinions
in the world, they share these universal traits. Suppresses one’s opinions
freely
Time Orientation: Cyclical Time Orientation: Linear
EXAMPLES OF UNIVERSAL CULTURAL TRAITS OF Stereotyping: Role-Gender
Gender specific values
HUMAN BEINGS assignment
● Communicating with a verbal language, using limited Faith and Religiosity Kanya-kanya Syndrome
set of sounds and grammatical rules. Lack of Self Analysis and
Resiliency
Self-Reflection
● Using age and gender to classify people
● Classifying people based on marriage and descent
relationships and having kinship terms to refer to THE CONCEPT OF TIME
them.
● Raising children in some sort of family setting
● Having rules to guide and regulate sexual behavior
● Distinguishing between good and bad behavior
● Having body ornamentation
● Making jokes and playing games
● Having Art
● Having leadership roles and models for
implementation of
● Language, politics, and even values do not make sense
if they are not transmitted or communicated with
others. Cultures necessitate….people.

FILIPINO CULTURE AND ETHICS ● “How far is the market from your house?”
● Propriety (Hiya) vs. Troubled (Pagkabagabag) ○ Filipino: 20 minutes away.
● Pakikipagkapwa-tao vs. Pakikisama ○ Westerners: 3 Km away
● Personal Initiative vs. Duty/Obligations
● Family Solidarity vs. Universal Principle of Good
MORAL RELATIVISM
● The view that ethical standards, morality, and positions
THE FILIPINO CHARACTER of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore
subject to a person’s individual choice
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES ● No universal moral truths since moral standards are
Pakikipagkapwa-tao Extreme Personalism culture-bound
Extreme Family
Family Solidarity
Centeredness
ARGUMENTS FOR CULTURAL RELATIVISM
Joy and Humour Lack of Discipline
● Different cultures have different moral codes.
Flexibility, adaptability and Passivity and lack of
creativity initiative ● A culture’s moral code is right or correct relative to the
Hard work and Industry Colonial Mentality people of that culture.
Lavishness, Outright display ● Therefore, there are no such things as universal moral
Hospitality
of generosity standards or objective truths in Ethics.
Stereotyping: Role-Gender
Gender specific values
assignment
Faith and Religiosity Kanya-kanya Syndrome
Resiliency Lack of Self Analysis and

9 JLLA, TJMS
 ARGUMENT AGAINST MORAL RELATIVISM
● Moral relativists are accused of inconsistently claiming
that there are no universal moral norms while
appealing to a principle of tolerance as a universal
norm.
● Are they saying that the only absolute thing is there is
absolutely no absolutes?

CULTURAL RELATIVISM
● Take note, cultural differences are real but should not
be exaggerated.
● There is always a “value” behind cultural practices.
Practices may vary and in conflict to one another BUT
the value behind the practices remain constant, thus
universally acceptable.
● Always look for the higher principle that is present in
different practices like justice.
○
○
○
○
○
●

10 JLLA, TJMS