Describe the stages of Moral development of a baby

Although a number of studies have been carried out in a child's moral development the focus
will be on the findings of Piaget and Kohlberg as expanded by Groenewgen 1998 Piaget
assigned three main stages of development in the child's ability morality of insight from birth
to until 7-8 years. This stage is characterized by;
i) Heteronomy in which morality is based on authority .one behaves morally because of the
authority of the adults and rules laid down by them. Rules are therefore obeyed
because of those who set them.
ii) Morals realism: the morality of behavior is judged on the basis of its objective
consequences i.e. the mount of punishment due depends on the nature of damage
done regardless of the motive behind the action. For instance, in the reasoning of a
child of that age, a person who breaks 10 cups should have a heavier punishment than
one who breaks one cup regardless of the motive behind the action.
2. Morality of cooperation from 7-8 years until 11-12 years .this is characterized by:-
i) Growing autonomy in where the rules can be argued and bargained about
ii) Growing reciprocity in which instead of measuring the morality of damage done one now
takes motives into account.
3. Morality of contract from 11-12years. This is where there is consideration of the relevance of circumstances to the moral judgment over the act. The judgment that moral rules as conventions make sense for the sake of the common good.
It is important for a teacher to be aware of these various stages so that s/he will be able to
know what to emphasis at a given age e.g. for a child who is in pre-school to primary class 3
the appeal should be more on the rules set by God the parents and the teacher. These are
authority figures in the lives of children and whatever they say is likely to be accepted and
therefore obeyed. For a child who is in class six and seven, the teacher has to allow discussions
on the importance of rules set. Kohlberg (1963) like Piaget found three levels of moral
development but each with two stages
1. The pre- conventional level stage. This has two stages
Stage 2: marked by obedience to rules for the sake of obtaining rewards
2. The level of conventional role conformity
Stage 3: marked by obedience to rules for the sake of getting adults approval
Stage 4: marked by obedience to rules for the make of avoiding social censure and the guilt
resulting from it
3. The level of post-conventional morality
Stage 5: this is marked by a readiness to abide by social contract and democracy
Stage 6: marked by the acceptance of principles of conscience
It is important to note that all these stages are not only found among children but also in adults.
In adults most stages play a part although many of them never reach the stage of autonomy.
Based on the above moral development stages Kohlberg came up either a developmental model,
which is essential to teaching of moral education. In this model, the teacher is expected to
present moral issues to learners in order to be challenged and to progress to a subsequent stage.
The model employs an intervention strategy where moral dilemmas are discussed by learners to
enhance their moral judgment. The teacher task is that of facilitating the learners natural
impulses towards development in an environment supportive to the growth of moral thinking
(Were 2003)
Value and attitude formation and internalization go through many steps according to Langen
(1995):
i) Receiving :the child learns about new values by getting or receiving information on the
new values or being exposed to experiences about the new attitudes and values
ii) Responding to or assuming or participating actively in practicing a new value or attitude.
The child responds by practicing the new value.
iii) Valuing or attaching worth to the new value or attitude thereby beginning to build a
consistent value system. The child starts attaching value to the new attitude or value
system.
iv) Organizing and bringing together different values system. The child starts selecting and
building his/her own value system from the experiences she has been exposed to
v) Internalizing or adopting and applying a new system that shows consistent and stable
behavior patterns

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Titany answered the question on November 2, 2021 at 06:52