Moral Development in Childhood

There are several developmental psychologists' theories about how exactly moral development occurs; we will explore some of these theories next.

Social and Moral Development in Early Childhood

It is suggested that from a young age children learn their understanding of moral, right or wrong behaviour from those around them. The reactions from authority figures caused by the child's behaviour can lead the child to think that that specific behaviour is good (if rewarded) or bad (if punished).

Morals are also learned in a social manner as they are developed through interacting and learning socially acceptable ways to treat others.

When older, children develop their sense of morality based on these individual experiences and their understanding of the world around them. Next, we will explore some examples of this development.

Fig. 1 - Moral development involves learning socially acceptable ways to behave.

Examples of Moral Development in Early Childhood

One of the early psychological theories on moral development in childhood comes from Piaget (1932), who suggested morality is a concept children build from their thoughts and action. Children were thought to show two kinds of moral thinking:

• Heteronomous morality (moral realism) - occurs from ages 5-9. Children obey rules and laws set by authority figures at this age, often without questions and thinking they are unchanging. They know that 'bad' behaviour will have consequences they won't like and consider it a punishment.

• Autonomous morality (moral relativism) - happens at around 9-10 years old. Here children learn that rules can be changed and about moral responsibility. They start to consider that people's intentions matter when behaving morally. If something 'bad' happens, but someone acts with good intentions, then this is not morally wrong, and there will be little or no punishment.

Moral Development Stages

Kohlberg's (1968) Stages of moral development are based on Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Reasoning, which is the process of deciding what is just, fair and right to do in a situation; this has three main aspects:

• Cognition (thoughts about right/wrong).
• Affective (feelings about right/wrong things).
• Behaviour (acting on a right/wrong thought/feeling).

This evolves into a stage theory. Children progress through each stage before going on to the next; in this case, most adults don't reach the final stages. In Kohlberg's stages of moral development, there are three levels, each with two stages described in the table below.

Limitations of the stages of moral development include:

• Reflects a traditionally masculine perspective and Western values.
• Assumptions that being guided by individual rights are more important than the social good.
• Assumptions that being guided by objective justice is more advanced than your emotions or empathy.

Activities for Moral Development in Early Childhood

While being a morally good role model for children to observe is one way for adults to encourage socially acceptable behaviour in children, morals can be developed in other subtle ways.