What is morality? The development of ethics in childhood
Our day to day is marked by different choices or attitudes that have an ethical aspect. Doing "good" or "bad" is a dilemma that usually presents itself to us from a very young age.
But... What exactly is morality? How do we develop it in the first years of life? In today's article we are going to know everything necessary to understand the development of ethics in childhood and adolescence.
What is morality?
The morality is the set of principles or ideals that help the individual to distinguish good from evil, to act in accordance with this distinction and to feel proud of virtuous behavior and guilty of behavior that violates his norms.
The internalization It is the process of adopting the attributes or norms of other people; take these rules as your own
How Development Scholars View Morality
Each of the three main theories of moral development focuses on a different component of morality: Moral Affects (Psychoanalysis), moral reasoning (Theory of cognitive development) and moral behavior (Social Learning Theory and information processing).
Psychoanalyst explanations of moral development
Sigmund Freud states that infants and toddlers lack superego and they act on their selfish impulses unless parents control their behavior. However, once the superego arises, it acts as an internal sensor that makes the child feel proud or ashamed of her behavior.
Freud's Theory of Oedipal Morality
The superego develops in the phallic stage after the Oedipus complex or Electra. It is then, when the child internalizes the moral values of his parent of the same sex. For Freud, the internalization of the superego in a girl is weaker than in the case of boys.
Evaluation of Psychoanalysis
Theory of cognitive development
For cognitive development theorists, both cognitive growth and social experience are determining factors for moral development.
Piaget's theory of moral development
The first works of Piaget on morality they focused on respect for the rules and conceptions of justice.
The premoral period: The first 5 years of life, when children show little respect or interest in socially defined rules
Heteronomous morality (5 to 10 years): Piaget's first stage of moral development, in which children consider the rules of authority figures to be sacred and unchangeable. They tend to focus on consequences. Immanent conduct: unacceptable conduct will be invariably punished and justice is always present in the world
Autonomous morality (10-11 years): children realize that rules are arbitrary agreements that can be challenged and modified with the consent of the people who govern them. They tend to focus on intention. Reciprocal punishment: so that he understands what he has done.
The movement from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality occurs when children learn to place themselves in the point of view of others.
Children who take part in group activities as leaders tend to make more mature moral judgments.
Children place more weight on consequences, but that doesn't mean they ignore intentions.
- Parents can impede children's moral development when they adopt an authoritarian approach, although they rarely use this type of discourse on moral values. At 6 or 7 years old, children already make moral judgments, as long as their parents instill them without challenge.
Kohlberg's theory of moral development
In order to Kohlberg, moral development is not yet complete at 10-11 years. For him, development occurs in an invariable sequence (cognitive development is required) of 3 levels that is divided into 2 stages each. Each stage represents a type of moral thinking and not a moral decision.
Bibliographic references:
Piaget, J., Inhelder, B. (2008). "Child psychology". Morata.
Shaffer, D. (2000). "Psychology of development, childhood and adolescence", 5th ed., Ed. Thomson, Mexico, pp.