Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
Moral development is the process by
which individuals acquire a sense of right
and wrong,to use in evaluating their own
actions and the actions of others.
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? Piaget spent a great deal of time watching children
play marbles(弹珠） and asking them about the rules
of the game,Piaget felt that by understanding how
children reasoned about rules,he could understand
their moral development,His findings are:
? (1) There are no true rules before about the age of six,
Children of about 2 years old simply played with the
marbles,From 2 to 6,they expressed an awareness of
rules but did not understand their purpose or the need
to follow them,They are egocentric and have difficulty
taking the perspective of other people.
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? (2) Between the ages of 6 and 10,children
begin to acknowledge the existence of rules,
though they are inconsistent in following
them,They see rules as being imposed by
some higher authority and unchangeable,He
called this phase heteronomous(他律的）
morality,or morality that is subject to rules
imposed by others,characterized by the view
that rules are absolute.(moral realism)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? (3)Between the ages of 10 and 12,they play the
game and follow the same set of rules,They
understand the rules existed to give the game
direction and to minimize disputes between
players,He referred to this stage as autonomous
morality,the level at which children understand
that people both make up rules and can change
the rules,which are now seen as the products of
people’s agreements.( morality of cooperation)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? Kohlberg's stage theory of moral reasoning is
an elaboration and refinement of Piaget's,Like
Piaget,Kohlberg studied how children (and
adults) reason about rules that govern their
behavior in certain situations,Kohlberg did not
study children's game playing,but rather
probed for their responses to a series of
structured situations or moral dilemmas,His
most famous one is the following,
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? In Europe a woman was near death from cancer,One
drug might save her,a form of radium that a druggist in
the same town had recently discovered,The druggist was
charging $2,000,ten times what the drug cost him to
make,The sick woman's husband,Heinz,went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money,but he could
only get together about half of what it cost,He told the
druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it
cheaper or let him pay later,But the druggist said ‘No.’
The husband got desperate and broke into the man's
store to steal the drug for his wife,Should the husband
have done-that? Why? (Kohlberg,1969)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? grouped these six stages into three levels,
preconventional,conventional,and
postconventional
? These three levels are distinguished by how the
child or adult defines what he or she perceives
as correct or moral behavior,As with other
stage theories,each stage is more sophisticated
and more complex than the preceding one and
most individuals proceed through them in the
same order (Colby and Kohlberg,1984),
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? Evaluation:
? First,the scoring is somewhat subjective,and can
lead to errors of interpretation.
? Second,stages of moral development seem to be less
domain general than Kohlberg’s theory suggests.
? Third,Kohlberg’s own finding that people can
regress in their behavior points out the weak link
that often exists between thought and action.
? Finally,the theory was originally validated on a
relatively small sample of white,middle-class
American males under 17 years of age.
and Moral Trait
Moral development is the process by
which individuals acquire a sense of right
and wrong,to use in evaluating their own
actions and the actions of others.
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? Piaget spent a great deal of time watching children
play marbles(弹珠） and asking them about the rules
of the game,Piaget felt that by understanding how
children reasoned about rules,he could understand
their moral development,His findings are:
? (1) There are no true rules before about the age of six,
Children of about 2 years old simply played with the
marbles,From 2 to 6,they expressed an awareness of
rules but did not understand their purpose or the need
to follow them,They are egocentric and have difficulty
taking the perspective of other people.
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? (2) Between the ages of 6 and 10,children
begin to acknowledge the existence of rules,
though they are inconsistent in following
them,They see rules as being imposed by
some higher authority and unchangeable,He
called this phase heteronomous(他律的）
morality,or morality that is subject to rules
imposed by others,characterized by the view
that rules are absolute.(moral realism)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.1 Piaget’s theory of moral development
? (3)Between the ages of 10 and 12,they play the
game and follow the same set of rules,They
understand the rules existed to give the game
direction and to minimize disputes between
players,He referred to this stage as autonomous
morality,the level at which children understand
that people both make up rules and can change
the rules,which are now seen as the products of
people’s agreements.( morality of cooperation)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? Kohlberg's stage theory of moral reasoning is
an elaboration and refinement of Piaget's,Like
Piaget,Kohlberg studied how children (and
adults) reason about rules that govern their
behavior in certain situations,Kohlberg did not
study children's game playing,but rather
probed for their responses to a series of
structured situations or moral dilemmas,His
most famous one is the following,
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? In Europe a woman was near death from cancer,One
drug might save her,a form of radium that a druggist in
the same town had recently discovered,The druggist was
charging $2,000,ten times what the drug cost him to
make,The sick woman's husband,Heinz,went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money,but he could
only get together about half of what it cost,He told the
druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it
cheaper or let him pay later,But the druggist said ‘No.’
The husband got desperate and broke into the man's
store to steal the drug for his wife,Should the husband
have done-that? Why? (Kohlberg,1969)
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? grouped these six stages into three levels,
preconventional,conventional,and
postconventional
? These three levels are distinguished by how the
child or adult defines what he or she perceives
as correct or moral behavior,As with other
stage theories,each stage is more sophisticated
and more complex than the preceding one and
most individuals proceed through them in the
same order (Colby and Kohlberg,1984),
Chapter 12 Moral Development
and Moral Trait
? 12.2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
? Evaluation:
? First,the scoring is somewhat subjective,and can
lead to errors of interpretation.
? Second,stages of moral development seem to be less
domain general than Kohlberg’s theory suggests.
? Third,Kohlberg’s own finding that people can
regress in their behavior points out the weak link
that often exists between thought and action.
? Finally,the theory was originally validated on a
relatively small sample of white,middle-class
American males under 17 years of age.
