LESSON 4: COGNITIVE AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Cognitive development - concerned with the changes in intellectual abilities, mental activities, and behaviors through which knowledge of the world is attained.
• Cognitive development - requires an understanding of a variety of interrelated factors including biological, social, environmental, experiential, and motivational factors as well as the emotional life of the individual. 
• 4 UNDERLYING CAUSAL FACTORS DETERMINING COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

  • Maturation - Physical growth leading to developmental changes.
  • Physical Experience - Interaction with the environment necessary for cognitive assimilation and accommodation.
  • Social Interaction - Exchange of ideas between individuals, shaping cognitive understanding.
  • Equilibration - Internal self-regulating system reconciling maturation, experience, and social interaction for developmental change.
• Moral Development - Encompasses the progression of individual understanding and adherence to societal norms and its ethical principles
• Moral Development - Essential to socialization, it also involves the internalization of societal rules and values, leading guidance to individual behavior
• KEY CONCEPTS OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Socialization and Internalization of Norms
  • Cognitive Development and Moral Reasoning
  • Aspects of Morality
• JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Premoral (age of 5)

  • Children have limited awareness of rules and reasons for them, they instead play games because it is fun and make up their own rules.
• JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Heteronomous morality/Moral Realism (5-10 yrs old)

  • rules are given by parents/authority figures
  • children opted to follow these rules and they developed respect for it, indicating that a punishment shall follow if they disobey.
• JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Autonomous morality/Moral Relativism (10-adulthood)

  • children are aware of why such rules exist and rules are an outcome of mutual consent and respect.
  • children began to see these rules as arbitrary agreements that can be challenged, questioned, and changed.
  • They also consider others’ feelings and perspectives when judging their behavior and administering punishments for rule-breaking.
• LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Preconventional Level

  • Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation
  • children obey to avoid punishment
  • Stage 2: Self-Interest Orientation
  • Individuals obey rules to gain rewards
• LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Conventional Level

  • Stage 3: Interpersonal accord and conformity
  • children seek approval from others and conform to societal expectations to maintain relationships
  • Stage 4: Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
  • uphold rules and laws to maintain social order
• LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

  Postconventional

  • Stage 5: Social Contract
  • recognize the importance of social contracts and uphold just and fair laws but may challenge them
  • Stage 6: Individual Principled Conscience
  • adhere to self-chosen ethical principles that transcend societal norms and laws, guided by principles of justice, equality and human rights
• 3 STAGES OF GILLIGAN’S FEMINIST THEORY

  Stage 1: Self-survival (PRECONVENTIONAL)

  • Concerned with caring for oneself
  • Caring only for one’s self comes to be selfish, and women begin to acknowledge their responsibility towards others.
• 3 STAGES OF GILLIGAN’S FEMINIST THEORY

  Stage 2: Caring for others (feminine goodness) (CONVENTIONAL)

  • Responsibility to care for others—especially for those who are dependent and unequal.
  • They totally exclude themselves from the equation and are concerned only with their
  • acceptance by and responsibility toward others.
  • Self-sacrifice is goodness
• 3 STAGES OF GILLIGAN’S FEMINIST THEORY

  Stage 3: Interdependence of self and others (POSTCONVENTIONAL)

  • Women recognize that the needs of self and the needs of others must be balanced: this leads to a recognition of interconnection, interdependence, and an appreciation of dynamics of relationships.
  • Involves “critical reinterpretation of the conflict between selfishness and responsibility”
  • Instead of seeing interdependence as a weakness, women come to appreciate relationships as a source of moral strength.
• 6 STAGES OF THEORY OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT

  Stage 1: Primal Faith (infancy)

  • Experience of maternal and paternal presence shapes pre-images of ultimacy.
  • Consistent nurturance by parents yields a basic sense of mutuality and trust about the universe and the divine
  • Harmful experiences can result from a punitive or arbitrary and undependable God
• 6 STAGES OF THEORY OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT

  Stage 2: Intuitive-Projective Faith (Early Childhood, Beginning about Age 2)

  • Language and symbolization starts to develop
  • Gives rise to imaginative fantasy about mysterious and the ultimate, drawing on symbols learned from family and people
• Stage 3: Mythic-literal Faith (Middle Childhood, Beginning about Age 6, and Beyond)

  • The child is able to develop and learn more sophisticated stories, morals, and values from the family’s community.
  • God is seen as a being who gives just rewards and punishments.
  • Visualize the image of God in physical form
• Stage 4: Synthetic-Conventional Faith (Adolescence and Beyond)

  • A personalized myth of identity and ideas about ultimacy are formed with greater influence from social reference groups beyond the family.
  • Formulating their own belief system
• Stage 6: Universalizing Faith (midlife and beyond)

  • They are able to take the perspective of other people, nationalities, and faith traditions.
  • They develop a sense of nonjudgmental love and valuing for all people and all beings.
  • This love for all beings gives rise to a commitment to social action for justice.
• Stage 5: Individuative-Reflective Faith (Young adulthood and beyond)

  • Young adults and adults question the beliefs and stories they have received from family, friends, and other social groups.
  • They demythologize their learned master stories and construct a deeper sense of life or ideology.