Theories of Development

Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory & Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

C. SETTLEY 2016

Piaget's Stage Theory of Development-

Pg 75 in Human Development• The Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years)• During this time, Piaget said that a child's cognitive

system is limited to motor reflexes at birth, but the child builds on these reflexes to develop more sophisicated procedures. They learn to generalize their activities to a wider range of situations and coordinate them into increasingly lengthy chains of behaviour.

Important stages during this period:•Reflex stage (0-1 month). •Symbolic representation through mental combinations (18-24 months). When children think out solutions to problems. •Object permanence. understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be observed (seen, heard, touched, smelled or sensed in any way).

Important stages during this period:

Important stages during this period:•Symbolic function (2-4 years). When children have the ability to imitate things mentally. Role playing.

• Pre-Operational Thought (2 to 6 or 7 years)• At this age, according to Piaget, children acquire

representational skills in the areas mental imagery, and especially language. They are very self-oriented, and have an egocentric view; that is, preoperational children can use these representational skills only to view the world from their own perspective.

• Pre conceptual thought. • Intuitive thought- (Liquid, number, volume, mass etc)

Conservation. • VIDEO

•Egocentrism

•Julie: "I love my dolly, her name is Tina"

•Carol: "I'm going to colour the sun yellow"

•Julie: "She has long, curly hair like my auntie"

•Carol: "Maybe I'll colour the trees yellow, too"

•Julie: "I wonder what Tina's eyes are made of?"

•Carol: "I lost my orange crayon"

•Julie: " I know her eyes are made”

• Concrete Operations (6/7 to 11/12)• As opposed to Preoperational children, children in the

concrete operations stage are able to take another's point of view and take into account more than one perspective simultaneously.

• They can also represent transformations as well as static situations. Although they can understand concrete problems, Piaget would argue that they cannot yet perform on abstract problems, and that they do not consider all of the logically possible outcomes.

• Logic • Reversibility (6+2=8, 2+6=8, 4+4=8)

• Formal Operations (11/12 to adult)• Children who attain the formal operation stage

are capable of thinking logically and abstractly. They can also reason theoretically. Piaget considered this the ultimate stage of development, and stated that although the children would still have to revise their knowledge base, their way of thinking was as powerful as it would get.

• Reasoning, scientific thinking, etc

Theory of Moral Development

Theory of Moral Development

Theory of Moral Development• Kohlberg theorized that there were 6 stages of moral development,

separated into 3 levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. Age ranges are considerably more vague in Kohlberg’s theory, as children vary quite significantly in their rate of moral development.

• At the pre-conventional level, children are only interested in securing their own benefit. This is their idea of morality. They begin by avoiding punishment, and quickly learn that by pleasing others they can secure positive benefits as well. No other ethical concepts are available to children this young. The parallel with Piaget’s sensorimotor phase is obvious – for a child whose conceptual framework does not extend beyond their own senses and movements, the moral concepts of right and wrong would be difficult to develop

Theory of Moral Development• The conventional level is the one in which children learn about

rules and authority. They learn that there are certain “conventions” that govern how they should and should not behave, and learn to obey them. At this stage, no distinction is drawn between moral principles and legal principles. What is right is what is handed down by authority, and disobeying the rules is always by definition “bad.” This level is split into two stages: in the first, children are interested in pleasing others and securing the favor of others. In the second, they extend that principle to cover the whole of their society, believing that morality is what keeps the social order intact. Kohlberg believed that many people stay in this stage for their whole lives, deriving moral principles from social or religious authority figures and never thinking about morality for themselves

Theory of Moral Development• At the post-conventional level, children have

learned that there is a difference between what is right and wrong from a moral perspective, and what is right and wrong according to the rules. Although they often overlap, there are still times when breaking a rule is the right thing to do. Post-conventional moral principles are either utilitarian principles of mutual benefit (closely related to the “social order” stage, but universal and non-authoritarian in nature)

References • http://people.uwec.edu/piercech/fas/fas...htm. Retrieved

08/01/2015.• http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-mothers-be-held-

criminally-responsible-for-their-children-having-fetal-alcohol-syndrome. Retrieved 08/01/2015.

• http://sahlgrenska.gu.se/english/news_and_events/news/News_Detail/different-methods-can-reduce-hospital-fear-in-children.cid1053604

• http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/g/def_habituation.htm