Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions

The term goodity, according to Shaffer (1993) means a case-hardened of principles or ideals that help the single to distinguish imbibe up from wrong and to act on this limpidion. Morality is measur up to(p) to society, as it would not function effectively unless thither is any(prenominal)(prenominal) agreement of what is right and wrong. There atomic number 18 many underlying processes and environmental factors, which limit or promote hearty, cognitive and moral increment in nestlingren. In modern society, television could be considered to be wiz of the major influences on a kidskins moral culture.There ar common chord approaches to moral development the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the well-disposed learning doable action. The Cognitive-Developmental approach of Piaget and Kohlberg studies how electric razorren become more(prenominal) able to reason morally and make moral judgements, whereas the Freuds psychodynamic approach is more con cerned with the development of the moral sense and moral feelings such as guilt and anxiety. The social learning theory of Bandura and Mischel investigates the development of moral doings and how role models in the family, society and the media, influence it.The theory I am going to discuss is Piagets Cognitive-Developmental Approach. His theory of moral development is concerned with how the peasants moral k like a shot takege and understanding veer with age. Piaget saw theology as any governance of rules, which governs interaction between people. The regularitys of investigation he utilise to develop his theories were, he looked at the panache children oblige rules in their games. He used games to study the development of childrens moral development as he thought that by studying rules in the context of use of a game, he could study the childs spontaneous though directly. He besides, assessed changes in the childs moral judgements by telling sibyllic stories well-nigh c hildren who falsehoodd, stole or broke something. When using hypothetical stories, Piaget was generally more interested in the reasons why the children give the answers they did and not particularly the answers.Piaget identifies horizontal surfaces of moral development just as he place coiffes with cognitive development. His theories of the expressive style children look and their moral reason goes through a series of stages, as they are adapting to the world, these are also known as the processes of trying on and assimilation. He retrieved that as childrens cogitate ab extinct the world changes when they grow older and gain more experience, so does their reasoning somewhat devotion. Their ability to debate about the world in more tangled ways is what causes them to move on from one stage to the next. This is known as cognitive development.Piaget stated that infants feignt understand much about morality until they are about common chord or quartette years of age. Their development divides into two main stages by and by infancy. His stages of moral development arePre Moral stage (up to collar or four years)Children dont understand about rules, and so they dont make moral judgementsStage of Heteronomous Morality (aged three six years)Children at this stage think rules are absolute and unchangeable, and the goodness and fallaciousness of an action is judged generally on the basis of its consequences rather than by fetching intent into account.Stage of Autonomous Morality (from almost six or seven)Children at this stage now happen upon rules as more changeable and intentions are acquitn into account. Children also start to consider that it is possible to break rules and get away with it, whereas earlier they tended to think they ordain always be found out and possibly punished.Researchers from Europe and America have time- raiseed some of Piagets theories and have concluded that distinct stages of development do seem to exist however, separate research found that children do not see all rules as creation equally key as Piaget thought they did.Heteronomous Morality, also known as moral realism, means when the child is subject to an early(a)(prenominal)s laws or rules. Children think that rules must be obeyed no matter what the circumstances. A child at this stage will think that rules are save made by authority figures, such as, parents and teachers. dickens early(a) features that are displayed in moral reasoning at this stage are, offset they expect noisome behaviour to be punished in some way, they believe that the punishment should be expiatory the offender must make amends for the offensive activity by paying with some kind of suffering. They have the purview that the amount of punishment should match the badness of the behaviour. Secondly, if the bad behaviour goes undetected then the child believes in subjective justice where any misfortune occurring after(prenominal) the bad behaviour can be s een as a punishment. For example, if a child tells a lie and gets away with it, then later trips and falls, the younger child could consider this as a punishment. In general, they believe punishment should be fair and that wrongdoing will always be punished in some way.Autonomous Morality, which means when the child is subject to ones own laws and rules. It involves moral relativism whereby the child comes to recognize that rules evolve from social relationships. Due to the child decentring and their veritable ability to think more flexibly about moral issues, they have began to realise it is important to reckon other peoples opinions into account. At this stage a child will have demonstrable the understanding that sometimes rules of morality can be broken in certain reasonable circumstances.They believe in reciprocal punishment, whereby the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if a child takes another childs sweets, the first child should be deprived of their sweets o r should make it up to the victim in some other way. This is known as the principle of reciprocity. Children will also have learnt at this stage that wrongdoers often cancel punishment, diminishing any belief in immanent justice. They see punishment as a method of making the offender understand the nature of the crime and that punishment is also a deterrent.The move from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality is influenced by two factors. Children about the age of seven begin to move on from the pre operational stage of an illogical and an egocentric way of thinking to more logical and flexible way of thinking, in the operational stage. Their growing awareness that other people have different views allows them to develop more mature moral reasoning. However, moral development lags at least one to two years ground consummation cognitive development because the whole process depends on the cognitive changes occurring first.Kohlberg expanded Piagets theory to form a theory tha t also explained the development of moral reasoning. trance Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, Kohlbergs theory outlined six stages within three different levels. Kohlberg extended Piagets theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. A study by Colby et al (1983) criticised Piagets boldness that children of ten and eleven years old had reached an enceinte level of moral reasoning.Piaget was always focusing on what an average child was capable of achieving so he neglected the idea of great variations between the individual childs ways of thinking.In general, Piagets cognitive theory has been criticised for the methods of investigation not being as precise as they could have been. Methods he used were seen as complicated, leading critics to think he under estimated younger childrens capabilities of what they could and could not do. This was because later research went on to conclude that children could actually take other motives into consideration, when they understood what motives were involved.Despite criticism, Piagets work is still regarded as a revolutionary whole tone forward in the way we understand how children think. It has led to a much more realistic ways of understanding childrens moral development. Many attempts to test Piagets theories from researchers around the world have resulted in acceptance that some of his views and methods do appear to exist.