Question

Moral Development in School-Age Children

Develop a situation that would include a moral dilemma that is likely to be faced by an individual in early school age or middle childhood with whom you might be working in a counseling setting. The moral dilemma can be fictional or nonfictional.

1) In your post, describe how Kohlberg would describe the stage of moral development in the situation you have created.

2) Discuss one other theorist or theory (learning theory, cognitive developmental theory, psychoanalytic theory, or object relations theory) and how the theorist or theory explains the stage of moral development in your situation.

3) According to these theorists, is the child at an age-appropriate stage? What factors would each theorist use to assess moral development in this situation?

Answer 1

There are many examples of a moral dilemma in School-Age children, especially when children come from a household that justifies certain acts as wrong, but then they themselves are seen doing it. For Example, In many cultures small and young boys are taught that they are not supposed to make a girl cry. So, let us take the example of a 8 year-old boy, Tyler. Tyler has been taught from an early age in pre-schools, and by his parents that boys never make girls cry. But, Tyler comes from a household where his father is sometimes seen as verbally abusing his mother when he is angry. He has seen her cry during those times. So, now he is in moral dilemma in which set to believe. Should he believe that it is okay to make girls cry when you are angry or they are at fault, or should he believe that making girls cry is wrong, and that he should not perpetrate any kind of violence against anybody?

1. According to Kohlberg's Theory of moral development, Tyler will be at Pre-conventional morality stage. This stage is applicable for children who are of the age 9-years and younger or older (8-year-old and 10-year-old children are also applicable in his stage). At this stage, Tyler will not have his own personal code of morality instead, he will shape his moral code by perceiving the adults and by seeing the consequences that follow after the code has been violated. Here the authority will be Tyler's parents, or teachers and he will base his reasoning on the consequence of the action. For Example, if Tyler's mother or someone else files a case against Tyler's father or he feels bad and guilty seeing his mother cry (different consequences), Tyler will learn that making girls cry is wrong. In Kohlberg's Pre-Conventional Stage, there are 2 sub-stages:

• Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation where the child will be good in order to avoid being punished. The child sees that the consequence meted out to the person punished might be because they must have done wrong.
• Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange where the child recognizes that there is not just one correct view, but that each individual have their own different viewpoints.

2. Freud is rather famous for his development of different theories and he is also credited as being the Father of Psychoanalysis. Freud tried to explain moral development in children as a struggle or conflict between Ego, Id and Superego. Id is defined as our self-preserving part, doing what it feels is right and pleasurable. Superego is defined as the rules, morals and ethics that govern us and is our mind's seat of logic. Ego is the mediator between Id and Superego, trying to create a balance between them. When it fails ego is responsible for defense mechanisms like repression, sublimation, rationalization, regression, projection, displacement, etc. According to Freud a child is able to suppress his Id and let Superego take over in such situation, that is when moral development takes place. So, in this situation, if Tyler suppresses the thought that Violence is right and lets his superego logically think and tell him that violence is punishable and wrong, then Tyler's moral development will take place.

3. According to most of the theorists, moral development in children starts taking place from infancy. At infancy its moral development is from its own sense of feeling (good or bad). Then, at toddler age it takes place by being told what is right and wrong. Finally, from pre-school years the child starts to internalize its family and cultural values, and starts to form moral codes by watching its consequences and logically thinking about it. So, a child is at age-appropriate stage. Both Freud and Kohlberg agree on the factor that morals are developed when the child logically thinks about the code and its consequences. They both agree that to assess moral development in children, the child should have seen the consequences to that specific code violation. Other factors that form moral development are how a child internalizes the code and its consequences and, how he reaches his conclusion.