RUNNING HEAD:Compare/Contrast Moral Development Assignment Title Page 1
Compare/Contrast Moral Development Assignment Title Page
Kayla Hillmann
Liberty University
RUNNING HEAD:Compare/Contrast Moral Development Assignment Title Page 1
Describe Jean Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
Piaget believed that there is a relationship between cognitive stages of development and a child's ability
to reason with moral issues. Cognitive structures and abilities, however, are what develop first. The
cognitive abilities determine the child's ability to reason during a social situation. Moral development can
be developed in predictable stages. Piaget believed that while cognitive abilities are developing, the
understanding of moral issues will grow stronger. There are two specific stages that he thoroughly
explains. The first stage is the heteronomous morality stage. The second being, autonomous morality. He
believed that these two phases overlap. Within the book, there is an example of two children, one broke
15 cups on accident, and the other broke one glass while trying to steal a cookie. The younger children in
the group were asked which child was naughtier; they believed the child who broke more cups was the
naughtier of the two. This is what Piaget believed was heteronomous morality. The older children picked
the second child because of what his intentions were, which was to steal the cookie. This is what Piaget
believed was autonomous morality. Piaget also explained that children before the age of six play, “to their
own idiosyncratic, egocentric rules.” (Schunk, 2018) He also believed that children at or above the age of
six knew about the existence of rules but were inconsistent in following them. He also found that children
did not conscientiously use rules until the ages of ten to twelve. Children at this age tend to base all of
their moral judgements on the intentions of who the actor was, rather than the consequences of the
actions. According to the video provided, “Piaget emphasized that teachers should use cooperative
decision-making and problem solving within the classroom.” (Ryan, 2011)
Describe Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
According to our book, Kohlberg's theory of moral development is simply a deeper elaboration on Piaget's
theory of moral development. Unlike Piaget, he did not study their playing of games, but how they
responded to different structured situations. He believed that people pass through six stages of moral
judgement and reasonings. He grouped them into three different levels; preconventional, conventional,
and post conventional. He discovered that most people go through each stage in the same order. He was
more concerned with a child's reasoning behind their answers. He also believed that most children pass
from preconventional to conventional by the age of nine. Stage one is considered similar to Piaget's
heteronomous morality. This is where children simply obey authority figures in order to avoid being
punished. Stage two is where children's needs and desires become important but are still aware of the
interests of others. They do what makes them “feel good”. The conventional level begins at stage 3.
“Morality is defined in terms of cooperation with peers just like Piaget's autonomous morality.”(Schunk,
2018) Children have an unquestioning belief of “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” This
is because of a decrease of egocentrism. The child becomes capable of being able to be in someone
else's shoes. No longer will they do what won’t get them into trouble. Stage four is now where society’s
rules and laws replace the idea of a peer group. For instance, breaking the law is never justified. Kohlberg
believed that most adults were at this stage. Stage five enters into the post conventional level. “This is a
level of moral reasoning attained by fewer than twenty five percent of adults.” (Schunk, 2018) There is
now a realization that laws and values of a society are important and tailored to that specific society. Laws
are important to keep the social order and ensure basic human rights. Entering into stage six, ethical
principles are now self chosen. They are based on abstract concepts like justice, human rights, and
equality. People who are in this stage believe that if these laws violate those principles they can and
should be ignored.
Kohlberg believed that stages five and six could be combined. Moral dilemmas advance a child's level of
moral reasoning but only one stage at a time. The way this can be achieved is by a child socializing with
someone who may be one or two stages ahead of them.
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Describe Elliot Turiel’s Moral Domain Theory
Elliot Turiel was an American psychologist who came up with the development of moral reasoning and a
child's understanding of authority, rules, cultures, and society. His theory has a framework that involves
three separate components. The child's moral development, their adherence to social conventions, and
their views of themselves and others. (Ryan, 2011) Turiel spent his time attempting to find a resolution to
the inconsistencies in Kohlberg’s Theory. The three ideas are moral, social, and psychological. Children
will pass through each stage in a linear fashion, one after the other. However, the domain theory evolves
in a parallel way, all of them are occurring at the same time. Let's begin with the moral domain. Actions
within the moral domain will have effects on other people. Morality in this segment is concerned with
harm, welfare, and fairness. Turiel found that children as young as three years old, will find that harming
someone is wrong, even if there were no rules to stop it. For example, while playing a game Rosa thought
it would be okay to hit a friend, there was no rule in the game against hitting. However, everyone else in
the group said “Hitting is never okay.” He also discovered that children value fairness, for instance, while
playing a game that involves taking turns. Next is the social domain. In the video provided it says,
“Actions within the social domain have no consequences that relate to the well being of others, but rather
deal with established social norms." (Ryan, 2011) The examples that were provided were things like
receiving a birthday present and saying thank you. It does not do anything for the well being of the person
who gave the gift, it is just polite. Another example provided would be students who know their teachers
first name, but still call them Mr. and Mrs. because it is the polite thing to do. Lastly, the psychological
domain is brought forth. This domain deals with the child’s comprehension of who they are as a person,
as well as their thoughts about people and situations. Eventually, it will get to the point where the child is
able to understand what other peoples thoughts are as well. It can also be referred to as personal domain
because of the choices a child will make on things like friends and activities.
All of these three areas are often connected together. It boils down to the child's understanding of each
area, that is when it allows for the moral development to begin. Turiel's domain theory allows for the
concept of children understanding at a much younger age, unlike Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s theory.
Albert Bandura’s Theory of Moral Development through Social
Learning
Albert Bandura was a Canadian psychologist who examined and studied the idea of moral
development through the social learning theory. He believed that children learn through social
contacts. We have all heard how children imitate what they see. We as adults are molding our
children into how they will be as adults. We are their models. When the child watches our
behaviors, they internalize it and then they experiment with it. Through this experimentation they
develop their own idea of moral concepts. He was an advocate for most human behaviors being
learned through watching and imitating others behaviors. He also believed that most influential
models are warm, powerful, possess desirable characteristics and objects, and are also the
same sex as the child. To follow along with social learning, all action comes from motivations.
Bandura touched on specific motivations for imitating behaviors; post reinforcements, promised
reinforcements, and vicarious reinforcements. For instance, children are awarded for good
behavior with a prize. The motivation for good behavior is the prize itself. He then touched on
the motivations that will keep them from doing a repeated behavior like past, promised, and
vicarious punishments. He also referred to violent tendencies a child, which will grow when
observing others violent behavior through experience, media, or the environment in which they
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are surrounded by. Bandura believed that if a child has witnessed unhealthy behaviors they will
then imitate that behavior. This is why parents should encourage children who witness
behaviors as such, to talk about what better decisions could have been made.
Biblical Integration
My husband and I recently had a baby. She was born on June 19th. I believed that my child
should not be allowed to be associated with any type of technology until she was 2. I truly
believed it would affect her brain development. My husband believed that it would be better for
her because she may learn things through it, store it, and then be able to be ahead of her age
group when it comes time to school. So we compromised; as a christian family we want to raise
her with strong Christian beliefs. So we agreed on Veggie Tales. We do not want her watching
the newer VeggieTales where God was taken out of it, we want her to watch the older versions
that teach values such as; sharing, kindness, compassion, and telling the truth. We also agreed
on Sesame Street. The same deal, not the new Sesame Street that has a seven year old gay
child, but the older versions that touched on friendships, numbers, letters, patterns, and more.
When I worked for an in-home daycare, my supervisor was a big fan of just putting the children
in front of the TV to occupy them. I did not agree, so I made lesson plans and did arts and
crafts, taught them valuable lessons and things they could carry with them when it came time to
school. When I became a personal nanny for a two year old who couldn’t even identify his
alphabet, I worked with him on letters and numbers. I just recently found out that he is in third
grade and is reading at a fifth grade level! I refused to let him watch hour after hour of Paw
Patrol. It is so important that we take the time to train our children in biblical beliefs specifically
because of this newer generation. I remember while nannying, I went to pick up my fifth grader
from school. While walking through the hallways I heard a sixth and seventh grader talking
about having sex! I almost died. If we do not instill a sense of right and wrong, we do not have
children who can be leaders. We have children who will follow. They will fall for the
manipulation, much like in the video, where a friend may say, “Well your my best friend right?
So do this with me.” One of my favorite bible verses says this, “Train up a child in the way he
should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 NIV) What happens if
we are no longer here for our child? I’d like to think that I trained my child enough that if I am no
longer here, she will not depart from the morals and values I taught her. She will know enough
to continue being a light for Christ. Much like Rachel Joy Scott, she can start a chain reaction
and have others follow along; she will be a leader, not a follower. Another verse says this, “And
the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.”
(Luke 2:40 NIV) That is my only goal as a teacher and a mother. To make sure that my child is
growing strong, psychologically, socially, and morally. I want my child/children to be able to
know the difference between right and wrong, to be wise and lead others to Christ. The perfect
way to say it, is to lead by example.
Write 1 solid paragraph of at least 400 words comparing and contrasting the view
of any 2 of theorists from the video of how children develop a sense of right and
wrong. How do their views compare with a biblical worldview? In your
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professional role, how can you help children/students to develop a sense of right
and wrong?
I wanted to compare Piaget,Turiel and Kohlberg. In the video provided we learned that Piaget
believed that a child's development occurs through stages. Meaning, the development
happened stage after stage. Turiel believed that social, psychological, and moral happened all
at the same time. While they had many similarities, the two psychologists who matched up the
most was Kohlberg and Piaget. In Kohlberg's six stages, the first stage was similar to Piaget's
heteronomous morality, where children simply just obey authority figures to keep from being
punished. In his stage three, it matched up with Piaget's autonomous morality, the
unquestioning belief of “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” The decrease in
egocentrism is evident in both theorists stages. Each theorist, built off of each other and filled
holes and voids within each one. Even though Christianity was not mentioned in any of their
theories, we talked a lot about morals and values. In the bible, being fair, well behaved, and
honest, are common principles talked about. Jesus often used his parables to share those
values. It may be far fetched, but as a teacher using tools, especially in this generation, like
media and technology is important. Using things like Veggie Tales helps teach those values in a
wonderful fashion. Stories like King George and his Ducky, which involves teaching the idea of
sharing! Today, many kids have their noses in their phones and T.V. so why not use what is
important to them as a teaching tool? Understanding how each child learns is an important way
as well. My teacher often used movies to reach us with the values he was teaching us in our
bible class. It is important to speak about positives and negatives, using things like world
events. While speaking to my 12 year old niece, she asked me why I won’t let my child listen to
Ariana Grande. I shared with her that I did not agree with her morals. I personally do not feel as
though she is a good role model for girls. From the way she dresses to singing about how she
gets whatever she wants when she wants it.
References
Ryan, K. O. (Producer). (2011). A Child's Mind: How Kids Learn Right & Wrong [Video file].
Learning Seed. Retrieved June 15, 2017, from Education in Video: Volume I.
Smith, S. (2019, October). Bible Verses about Child Development. Retrieved October 1, 2019,
from https://www.openbible.info/topics/child_development.
Slavin, R. E., & Schunk, D. H. (2017). Learning theories: Educ 500
(1st ed.).
