Understanding Moral Growth and Development - Essay Example

Understanding Moral Growth and Development Understanding moral growth and development is a complex topic to discuss. Identifying their meanings as individual factors could help the study to understand their relevance and relationship to one another. Moral is concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles. While the term growth and development have been continually used in most readings in psychology, in certain respects both terms through parallelism have imply different meanings (Gilligan, 1982) Growth essentially refers to quantitative changes in an individual as he progresses in chronological age. It is also define as (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a complex level (Gilligan, 1982). Development on the other hand, refers to the progressive series of changes of an orderly and logical type leading to the individual's maturation; this definition implies that for development to be progressive there is a direction in the manner in which changes occur, development is also coherent essentially because the sequence of changes that occur are related to each other and do not haphazardly or abruptly (Gilligan, 1982). It also vital to study the Importance of studying stages of development, factors in growth and development, for us to have a clear picture of how one's morality grows and develop, since morality matures along with individual'sgrowth and development. Importance of Studying Stages of Development. In many instances people meet children of varying ages and wonder why each of them displays different characteristics (Erikson, 1959).The focus of study of development precisely points to these observations. A teacher, who expects to meet the needs of his/her learners, must be aware of the variety of developmental differences among his/her learners.The knowledge of the pattern of human development will certainly help a teacher to know what to expect of children and at what approximate ages certain patterns of behavior may appear or are expected to appear. Planning for instruction should also be based on certain development principles, which to a great extent determine what type of learning and amount of learning are appropriate for different age groups.In other cases knowledge of developmental patterns will allow teachers to identify learners with developmental lags or delays so as to provide guidance and intervention as early as possible.Thus teachers must learn to recognize the significance of this knowledge to their teaching success as well as to the learning process (Boeree, 2003). Factors in Growth and Development. Two general factors influence human development namely: 1. Maturation or natural growth resulting from heredity; 2. Environmental Influences in and through which the growing takes place. These two are factors are so thoroughly interrelated that it is impossible to isolate their specific influences. Every individual is born with definite potentialities of development passed on to him by his parents through hereditary potentialities for many kinds of behavior patterns continue to develop for months or even years, this process by which heredity exerts its influence long after birth is called maturation (Erikson, 1959). Modes of behavior at a given time in the life of an individual are not determine by heredity or environment working alone, instead they are the product of the interaction between his inherited tendencies and potentialities and those environmental influences by which he is stimulated an that is the starts when one's morality grows and develops Beginnings of Morality. Babies have no scale of values and no conscience, they are therefore moral nor immoral but non-moral in the sense that their behavior is not guided by moral standards eventually they will learn moral codes from their parents, and later from their teachers and playmates as well as the necessity for conforming to these codes (Erikson, 1959). Learning to behave in morally approved manner is a long, slow process, however foundations are laid in babyhood and on these foundations children build moral codes which guide their behavior as they grow older.Because of their limited intelligence, babies judge the rightness or wrongness of an act in terms of the pleasures or pain it brings them rather than in terms of its good and harmful effects on others (Boeree, 2003). They have no sense of guilt because they lack of definite standards of right or wrong, they do not feel guilty when they take things that belong to others because they have no concept of personal property rights.The baby is in a stage of moral development (Erikson, 1959). Moral Development in Early Childhood. Moral development in early childhood is on a low level. The reason for this is that young children's intellectual development has not yet reached the point where they can learn or apply abstract principles of right and wrong, and neither do they have the necessary motivation to adhere to rules and regulations because they do not understand how these benefit them as well as members of the social group (Piaget, 1962). Because of their inability to comprehend the whys and wherefores of moral standards, young children must learn moral behavior in specific situations. They merely learn how to act without knowing why they do so, and because the retention of young children even those who are very bright, tends to be poor learning how to behave in a socially approved way is a long difficult process. Children may be told not to do something one day but by the next day, or even day after that, they may have forgotten what they were told not to do, thus what may appear to adults to be willful disobedience is often only a case of forgetting. Early childhood has been characterized by what Piaget (1962) has called "morality by constraint" in this stage of moral development, children obey rules automatically, without using reason or judgment and they regard adults in authority as supreme or omnipotent. They also judge all acts as right or wrong in terms of their consequences rather than in terms of the motivations behind them, according to the way young children view a matter a "wrong" acts results in punishment, which is dealt with either by other human beings or by natural or supernatural factors.Kohlberg has also elaborated on and extended Piaget's stages of moral development during early childhood years to include two stages of this first level which he has labeled "preconventional morality" (Level One) - Children judgment are based on external criteria, standards of right or wrong are absolute and laid down by authority, in which children are obedience-and-punishment oriented in the sense that they judge acts as right or wrong in terms of physical consequences of these acts (Piaget, 1962). In the second stage which called as the "conventional morality" (Level Two) - children's judgments are based on the norms and expectations of the group, wherein children conform to social expectations in hope of gaining rewards.As early childhood comes to end, habits of obedience should be established, provided children have had consistent discipline. However young children have not yet developed conscience. As a result they do not feel guilty or ashamed if caught doing something they know is wrong, instead they may be frightened at the prospect of punishment or they try to rationalize their acts in the hope of escaping punishment. Four common hazards in moral development during early childhood. First inconsistent disciplineslows down the process of learning to conform to social expectations, when different people have different rules relating to the same behavior, such as where children may play with their toys. Children are understandably confused about why what they did yesterday is regarded wrong today. They are also confused and annoyed when they are punished severely for an act today which yesterday went unpunished or was only mildly reproved, this encourages them to be sly and to lie if threatened by punishment (Kohlberg, 1964). Second if children are not reprimanded for misdemeanors or bad behaviors and if they are permitted to get temporary satisfaction from the admiration and envy of their peers when they misbehave, this likely encourage them to persist in their misbehavior, it is possible to spot potential delinquents at two or three years of age not just by their behavior but even more important by their attitudes towards their misbehavior. Third, too much emphasis on punishment on misbehavior and too little emphasis on rewards on good behavior can lead to unfavorable attitudes towards those in authority, children who are punished more often than they are rewarded are less apt to be repentant than to be angry, rebelliousand determined to get even with the person who punished them. Fourth, and most serious of all from long term point of view, young children who are subjected to authoritarian discipline, which puts major emphasis on external controls are not encouraged to develop the internal controls over their behavior that form the foundations for the later development of a conscience, development of these internal controls must begin early, it is best accomplished through democratic discipline, which encourages the child to want to learn to conform to group expectations. (Noddings, 1995) Changes in Morality during Adolescence. One of the important developmental tasks adolescence must master is learning what the group expects of them and then being willing to mold their behavior to conform to these expectations without the constant guidance, supervision, prodding, and threats of punishment they experienced as children. They are expected to replace the specific moral concepts of childhood with general principles and to formulate these into a moral code which will acts as a guide to their behavior. They must now exercise control over their behavior, a responsibility that was formerly assumed by parents and teachers (Selman, 1980). According to some psychologists, there are five fundamental changes in morality adolescents must take, these are; 1. The individual's moral outlook becomes progressively more abstract and less concrete. 2. Moral convictions become more concerned with what is right and less concerned with what is wrong justice emerges as a dominant moral force. 3.Moral judgment becomes increasingly cognitive this encourages the adolescent to analyze social and personal codes more vigorously than during childhood and to decide on moral issues. 4.Moral judgment becomes less egocentric. 5.Moral judgment becomes psychologically expensive in the sense that it takes an emotional toll and creates psychological tension. By adolescence, boys and girls have reached what Piaget has called the stage of formal operations in cognitive ability. They are now capable of considering all possible ways of solving a particular problem and can reason on the basis of hypotheses or propositions. (Gilligan, 1982) That is why they can look at their problems from several points of views and can take many factors into accounts when solving them.According to Kohlberg, the third level of morality development, the postconventional morality, should be reached during adolescence. This is the level of self-accepted principles, and it consists of two stages, in the first stage. The individual believes that there should be flexible in moral beliefs to make it possible to modify and change moral standards if this will be advantageous to group members as a whole. In second stage individuals conform to both social standards and to internalize ideals to avoid self-condemnation rather than to avoid social censure or harsh criticism and disapproval of the society, in this stage morality is based onrespect for others rather than on personal desires. According to some psychologists, they said that even with the best foundations in achieving adult morality, there are three major tasks to accomplish; 1. Replacing specific concepts with general moral concepts. 2. Formulating these newly developed concepts into moral code as a guideline for behavior. 3. Assuming control over one's own behavior. These are very difficult for many adolescents to achieve, some fail to make the shift to adult morality during adolescence, others not only fail to make the shift but they build a moral code on socially unacceptable moral concepts. Building a moral code happens when a person reached adolescent period. Children will no longer accept in an unquestioning way a moral code handed down to them by parents, teachers or even their contemporaries. (Gilligan, 1982) They now want to build their own moral codes on the basis of concepts of right and wrong which they have changed and modified to meet their more mature level of development and which they have supplemented with laws and rules learned from parents and teachers some adolescents even supplement their moral codes with knowledge derived from their religious teaching. Building a moral code is difficult for adolescents because of inconsistencies in standards of right and wrong they encounter in daily life. These inconsistencies confuse them and impede their progress in building a moral code which is not only satisfactory to them but which will also lead to socially approved behavior. Sooner or later most adolescents discover for example, that peers of different socioeconomic, religious or racial backgrounds have different codes of right and wrong; that their parent's and teachers' codes are often stricter than those of their contemporaries. Along with this, in spite of the breaking down of the traditional sex-approved roles, there is still double standard which is far more lenient for boys than for girls.(Salovey and Meyer, 1990) While older children may condemn lying on moral grounds, many adolescents feel that "social lies" or lies told to avoid hurting other people's feelings, are sometimes justified, much the same sort of confusion is apparent in high school and college students' attitudes toward cheating. Many feel that since it is so widespread, their contemporaries must condone, excuse, overlook, or make allowances for or be lenient with it. (Salovey and Meyer, 1990) They also claim that it is justified when they are pressured to get good grades in order to be accepted by a college and thus succeed socially and economically in later life. As interest in members ofthe opposite sex increases, adolescents discover that certain patterns of behavior are not only approved but even applauded for boys while they are harshly condemned for girls. (Gilligan, 1982) References Boeree, George C. (2003). General Psychology. 23 April 2008 retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsyfetaldev.html Campbell, V. and Bond, R. (1982). Evaluation of a character education curriculum. New York. Irvington Publishers Erik, Erikson (1959). Identity and life cycle. New York. International University Press Gilligan, Carol (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press Kohlberg, Lawrence (1984). The psychology of moral development. New York. Harper and Row Noddings, Nel (1995). The challenge to care in the schools. Los Angeles. University of California Press Piaget, Jean (1962). The moral judgement of the child. New York. Collier Salovey, P. and Meyer, J.D. (1990). Emotional intelligence: imagination, cognition, and personality. University of New Hampshire. Selman, R.L. (1980). The growth of interpersonal understanding: developmental and clinical analyses. New York. Academic Press Read More