Question

Describe Piaget's and Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Give examples of each stage.

Answer 1

Jean Piaget, believed that every individual goes through four stages in life that shapes their cognitive development. The four stages being; sensorimotor stage (0-2 years), preoperational stage (2-7 years), concrete operational stage (7-11 years) and finally the formal operational stage (11-adulthood).

An individual at birth, in the first stage of cognitive development only relies on his reflexes. It is during the course of time that he learns to imitate actions. It's during this stage that he assimilates and accommodates new information which reflects in his thinking process. It is in the second stage of development, preoperational stage, that a child learns to use language, symbol and gestures for cognitive development. At concrete operational stage an individual is egocentric, It does not mean that he/she is selfish but they focus only on their feelings and thoughts and feel that everybody else around them feel and think the same way. The final stage of cognitive development is the formal operational stage where an individual is capable of making logical decisions and solving abstract problems in a more systematic and logical way.

In the preoperational stage, a child lacks to understand relational terms like, lighter, bigger and softer. For instance, there are two lumps of clay, both weighing the same in weight and volume. The first lump of clay is flattened to make it look like a giant cookie while the second lump is made into a small hill. When the child is asked whether do both the lumps of clay measure and weigh the same? The child suggests otherwise and says no. A child at the preoperational stage clearly does not understand relational terms that when the shape changes, the properties do not change. However, this stage shows cognitive growth, as in the sensorimotor stage, a child only learns the concept of object permanance.

The child in the concrete operational stage comes to understand 'reversibility', which suggests that 'physical changes can be undone by a reversal of the original action. For instance, there are two beakers kept, one is wider and shorter, the other is longer and slender. The child at concrete operational stage, comes to the understanding that the volume of water is the same irrespective of whichever beaker it is kept in. Just because the slender beaker looks longer, does not mean that it contains more water than the wider beaker.

At the formal operational stage, children begin to indulge in 'logical thought'. For instance, if a child is asked 'why did his father go to work?', the child replies back with a logical answer, 'because he is the breadwinner of the house'. Younger children would have had a different answer illogical answer like, 'he goes to meet his friends'.

Lawrence Kohlberg, developed a theory to understand the moral reasoning of individuals. Every individual goes through different stages of moral reasoning. Each stage has a different phase. Kohlberg introduced the theory to understand the rationale behind an individual's reasoning, when put in a moral dilemma. In his experiment, he constructed a hypothetical situation where an individual was asked how would have they made a moral decision if they were in place of the character in the story narrated to them. One such dilemma posed by Kohlberg was:

A man had a sick wife who was suffering from a rare kind of cancer. However, it was curable, but the drug that would have saved her was extremely expensive. The pharmacist insisted on selling it for $ 2,000 but the man had only $1,000 with him. The man told the pharmacist that he would pay him the money that he has now, and would pay the remaining amount in a few days. The pharmacist refused to budge into the man's plea. The man was so desperate to save his wife that he chose to steal the drug instead.

Individuals who were a part of the experiment were asked what should have the man done and why?

A child at the Preconventional stage of moral development, basis his moral decision or judgment on the repercussions that would follow. At this stage, a child says that the man should have not stolen the drug because it would lead to punishment. The rationale behind concluding the above is, a child feels that actions that lead to positive reinforcements are good and the ones that lead to punishments are bad. The intention is not considered, it is about bad behaviour being unacceptable.

A child's ability to make judgments increases at the Coventional stage of moral development. At this stage they arrive to an understanding that the society runs according to some set norms, social orders and law. The child rationalised the doings of the man and concludes that 'it's alright for the man to steal because he would not be seen bad in the eyes of people, but if he does not save his wife, then he will never be able to look into anybody's eye again'.

In the last stage of moral development at the Postconventional level, Kohlberg suggested that most individuals enter adolescence and adulthood and it is at this stage an individual's ability to rationalise without any preconceived thoughts attached to society or law, increases. An individual arrives at a judgment that there wasn't anything wrong with the man stealing the drug for his wife as there is nothing above humanity.

A law is not morally wrong, but it is how we perceive it. A law is not necessarily to be abided by if it goes against your morality. Laws and norms are set by the society so that the world could function in a more organised way instead of it being haphazard. A morally matured person obeys to moral norms by the society to stay in alignment with society. However, not always. Their moral judgment comes into the picture and they are likely to avoid abiding by norms set by the society which are not rational.