Moral development

This article is about the development of morality in individuals. For theories about the development of morality on a societal scale, see moral progress.

Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood. The theory states that morality develops across the lifespan in a variety of ways. Morality is influenced by an individual's experiences, behavior, and when they are faced with moral issues through different periods of physical and cognitive development. Morality concerns an individual's reforming sense of what is right and wrong; it is for this reason that young children have different moral judgment and character than that of a grown adult. Morality in itself is often a synonym for "rightness" or "goodness." It also refers to a specific code of conduct that is derived from one's culture, religion, or personal philosophy that guides one's actions, behaviors, and thoughts.[1]

Some of the earliest known moral development theories came from philosophers like Confucius, Aristotle and Rousseau, who took a more humanist perspective and focused on the development of a sense of conscience and virtue. In the modern-day, empirical research has explored morality through a moral psychology lens by theorists like Sigmund Freud and its relation to cognitive development by theorists like Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, B. F. Skinner, Carol Gilligan, and Judith Smetana.

Moral development often emphasizes these four fundamentals:

  1. Feeling or emotion aspect: these theories emphasize the affective aspect of moral development and include several altruism theories.
  2. Behavioural aspect: these theories mainly deal with moral behaviour.
  3. Cognitive aspect: these theories focus on moral judgment and moral reasoning.
  4. Integrated perspectives: several theorists have also attempted to propose theories which integrate two or three of the affective, behavioural, and cognitive aspects of morality.[2]
  1. ^ Kohlberg, Lawrence; Hersh, Richard H. (1997). "Moral Development: A Review of the Theory". Theory into Practice. 16 (2). College of Education, The Ohio State University: 53–59. doi:10.1080/00405847709542675. JSTOR 1475172 – via JSTOR Journals.
  2. ^ Ma, Hing Keung (18 November 2013). "The Moral Development of the Child: An Integrated Model". Frontiers in Public Health. 1: 57. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2013.00057. PMC 3860007. PMID 24350226.