JEAN PIAGET

Jean Piaget (Moral Reasoning Stage Theory)

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Jean Piaget (Moral Reasoning Stage Theory)

Introduction

Jean Piaget is among the first psychologists whose work remains directly relevant to contemporary theories of moral development. In his early writing, he focused specifically on the moral lives of children, studying the way children play games in order to learn more about children's beliefs about right and wrong(1932/65). (Garcia, 2010) According to Piaget, all development emerges from action; that is to say, individuals construct and reconstruct their knowledge of the world as a result of interactions with the environment. Based on his observations of children's application of rules when playing, Piaget determined that morality, too, can be considered a developmental process. For example, Ben, a ten year old studied by Piaget, provided the following critique of a rule made-up by a child playing marbles: "it isn't a rule! It's a wrong rule because it's outside of the rules. A fair rule is one that is in the game". Ben believed in the absolute and intrinsic truth of the rules, characteristic of early moral reasoning. In contrast, Vua, aged thirteen, illustrates an understanding of the reasoning behind the application of rules, characteristic of later moral thinking. (Norman et al. 2011)

The thesis statement for this paper is that young children are concerned with outcomes rather than intentions whereas older children look at motives behind actions rather than consequences of actions.

Brief background of the theorist

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist whose domain of research and study included understanding cognitive development of human intelligence in children. Piaget's views and theories are regarded to be one of the greatest works by a psychologist, when it comes to understanding child development. Piaget suggested that children, irrespective of geographical restrictions, adapt to a new environment and learn new things, in a same pattern (Maddix, 2011).

Jean Piaget was one of the earliest psychologists who took up the study of child development. His study of the behavior of children through observation, led him to conclude and draw upon a distinct theory as a part of cognitive psychology which said that the way in which children think and take certain decisions, is guided by a process and divided into stages. He said that children are not capable of undertaking certain tasks until they have reached a particular age and maturity. This process of cognitive development was universal, he said, and no matter how bright or dull a child was, he went through these stages. Jean Piaget theory focuses on explaining cognitive development through these stages and what each of them means. In the following paragraphs, we will focus on Jean Piaget's theory and understand the nuances of it.

Key Concepts

Schemas - A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world.

In Piaget's view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. As experiences happen, this new information is used ...