Early Childhood Development: Moral Development

Moral Development

• Morality is understanding the difference between right and wrong or good and bad behavior, which motivates our behavior.

Moral Dilemma

• A moral dilemma is an ambiguous situation that requires a person to make a moral decision, involving conflicts that cause subjects to justify the morality of their choices.

The Heinz Dilemma

• Scenario 1: A woman is ill and needs a drug that costs 4,000,butherhusbandHeinzcanonlyraise4,000, but her husband Heinz can only raise 4,000,butherhusbandHeinzcanonlyraise2,000; should he break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife?
• Scenario 2: Heinz breaks into the laboratory and steals the drug, and a police officer, Brown, who is a friend of Heinz, sees him and has to decide whether to report what he saw.
• Scenario 3: Officer Brown reports what he saw, Heinz is arrested and convicted, and the judge has to decide whether to sentence Heinz to prison.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

• Lawrence Kohlberg's theory describes how one's sense of right and wrong changes with age, and how we develop a sense of justice and learn to make moral judgments.

Level I Pre-conventional Morality

• Stage 1 (2-3 to 5-6 years old): Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where consequences of acts determine whether they are good or bad.
• Stage 2 (5-7 years old, or up to age 9): Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where obeying rules and exchanging favors are judged in terms of the benefit to the individual.

Level II Conventional Morality

• Stage 3 (7-12 years old): Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where ethical decisions are based on concern for or the opinions of others.
• Stage 4 (can start as early as 10 years old): Law and Order Orientation, where right behavior consists in doing one's duty, showing respect for authority, and maintaining the social order for its own sake.

Level III Post-Conventional Morality

• Stage 5 (can start as early as 12 years old): Social Contract Orientation, where rules and laws represent agreements among people about behavior that benefits society.
• Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation, where individuals' judgments of good and bad become influenced by universal moral principles.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development (continued)

• According to Kohlberg, people go through these six stages in the above order.
• Most children have a preconventional morality, and most adults have a conventional one.
• Kohlberg estimated that only 20 to 25% of the adult population attains the post-conventional level of morality.