Childhood: Voyages in Development, Essay Example

Moral dilemma: Billy, 6, has been told by his parents that he is not allowed to throw things in the house. On one occasion, he disobeyed this dictum, and accidentally broke a cup his mother had left on a low stool. However, Billy’s 18-month-old sister is playing nearby, and she frequently gets into things. It would be relatively easy for Billy to make it look like she broke the cup, but after thinking about how his parents have always taught him to tell the truth, Billy decides to do the right thing and confess to his parents.

In this situation, Billy displays considerable moral fortitude in confessing to a transgression when he could probably get away with it without facing any consequences at all. The fact that he opts to do the right thing as he understands it, rather than pin the blame on someone else, is a clear sign that he has moved beyond stage 1 in level I, preconventional, Kohlberg’s theory (Newman & Newman, 2012, p. 252). In stage 1, children are consequence-oriented: something is good if it is reinforced, and bad if it is punished. The fact that Billy is willing to potentially face more consequences indicates that he has probably moved past stage 2, which is concerned with benefits for self or loved ones, and on to level II, stage 3, wherein judgments are based on approval or disapproval of authority figures (p. 252). He may conceivably be at the higher end of stage 2, and not want his sister to incur their parents’ displeasure; information about his reasoning would enable Kohlberg to ascertain the truth of it.

Piaget would describe Billy’s moral judgment as heteronomous, wherein rules are rules: they are fixed, unchangeable, and unchallengeable (p. 251). The shift to autonomous morality, wherein rules are seen as more arbitrary and negotiable, occurs later. At Billy’s age, Piaget would predict that his moral reasoning in this situation would be rather simple: Billy tells the truth because his parents have taught him that this is right (Rathus, 2011, p. 375). Further information about Billy’s moral reasoning would enable Piaget to confirm or deny this.

References

Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2012). Development through life: A psychosocial approach (11^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Rathus, S. A. (2011). Childhood: Voyages in development (4^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.