Megan Kanatzar and Katherine Wright Cognition and Moral Development
Transcript
Slide 1
Slide 2
Megan Kanatzar and Katherine Wright
Slide 3
Moral Judgment of Piaget & Kohlbergs Stages of Moral
Reasoning. Specifically, does a childs ability to conserve affect
their score in Kohlbergs moral reasoning??
Slide 4
Born in Switzerland Age 10 studied albino sparrow Age 15
convictions lacked scientific foundation. Age 21 earned Doctorate
natural sciences Age 23 came up with plan of action 1920 decided to
study children in Paris Laboratory Interested in childrens wrong
answers Mainly observed children 4-12(spontaneous activities)
Methodology was greatly criticized 1960s great revival of his
work!
Slide 5
Four stages Sensorimotor (6 subsets -Infancy) intelligence
demonstrated thru motor activity without symbols Object permanence
comes - 6mnths Pre-operational (2 subsets - toddler and early
childhood) use of symbols, language matures, memory/imagination
develop Egocentric thinking remains dominate Concrete operational
thought (7 types of conservation - elementary and early
adolescence) logical, systematic manipulation of symbols
operational thinkingegocentric thought diminishes Formal
operational thought (adolescence and adulthood) Logical use of
symbols related to abstract concepts return to egocentric
thought-early on 35% high school grads achieve Formal
operations
Slide 6
About what ages do kids transition from preoperational to
concrete operations? SENSORIMOTOR PERIOD Birth to 2 years
PREOPERATIONAL PERIOD 2-7 years CONCRETE OPERATIONS 7-11 years
FORMAL OPERATIONS 11 years-adulthood
Slide 7
Children are in considered in the Preoperational Stage if He or
she is determined that one glass has more water than the other.
Children are considered in a transitional sub-stage if He or she
cant decide between the two glasses, or shows signs of beginning to
grasp the concept, but does not yet get it. Children are considered
in Concrete operational if He or she clearly knows that the glasses
still have the same amount of water. The child can also use the 3
arguments of identity, compensation, inversion to justify their
opinion.
Slide 8
Hometown: Bronxville, New York Attended the University of
Chicago He became interested in Piagets work, specifically in his
investigation of moral judgments in children. Kohlberg took Piagets
brief work with moral development and expanded it extensively.
Slide 9
Kohlberg tested children by presenting the children with a
moral dilemma, and asking them questions to ascertain their
understanding of morality. The yes/ no responses were not the main
criteria for placement in a particular stage of moral development.
The explanation of why the child holds a certain opinion that
reveals how advanced their moral judgments are.
Slide 10
Dilemma: Two young men, brothers, had got into serious trouble.
They are secretly leaving town in a hurry and needed money. Karl,
the older one, broke into a store and stole a thousand dollars.
Bob, the younger one, went to a retired old man who was known to
help people in town. He told the man that he was very sick and that
he needed a thousand dollars to pay for an operation. Bob asked the
old man to lend him the money and promised that he would pay him
back when he recovered. Really Bob wasnt sick at all, and he had no
intention of paying the man back. Although the old man didnt know
Bob very well, he lent him the money. So Bob and Karl skipped town,
each with a thousand dollars.
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1) Which is worse, stealing like Karl or cheating like Bob? Why
is that worse? 2) What do you think is the worst thing about
cheating the old man? Why is that the worst thing? 3) In general,
why should a promise be kept? 4) Is it important to keep a promise
to someone you dont know well or will never see again? 5) Why
shouldnt someone steal from a store? 6) What is the value or
importance of property rights? 7) Should people do everything they
can to obey the law? Why or why not?
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In Kohlbergs dissertation, he provided example answers for each
of the questions in this dilemma. He also compiled a list of common
trends and key words to look for in the childrens answers.
Slide 13
The child understands rules to be set and given by a higher
authority. Their main concern is with the consequences, whether the
person will be punished or not. Typically this stages is seen
between the ages of 4 and 10. For example, a stealing is wrong
because you can go to jail for a very long time. Plus you can get
in serious trouble -4 th grade girl (age 9)
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Punishment is no longer evidence that something is wrong.
Instead, it is a risk that one naturally wants to avoid (Crain
160). The idea of right and wrong is slightly more flexible, and
the first priority is doing what is most beneficial for themselves.
For example, stealing is worse [than cheating] because you are more
likely to get in trouble for stealing than cheating. -6 th grade
girl (11)
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Strong desire to win approval from peers and adults. Emphasis
on avoiding disapproval. Kids tend to cite a persons intentions, or
motives as proof of right & wrong. For example, cheating is
wrong because youre always supposed to do the right thing. -4 th
grade girl (age 9)
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Child becomes more concerned with society as a whole, and how
the rules are made for a purpose. people want to keep society
functioning (Crain 162) Can focus on the effect an action has on
society. For example, keeping promises is important because when
you promise something, you follow through with it, and hold your
end of the bargain. 6 th grade girl (age 12)
Slide 17
The person is generally entering adolescence at this stage, and
they are able to consider the big picture or society as a whole.
They have respect for the laws not because they are told to, but
because it is detrimental to society if they disobey. For example,
stealing is worse than cheating because you are doing something
bad, the cops will chase you could hurt someone in the process 8 th
grade boy (age 14)
Slide 18
The person considers how the characters in the dilemma can best
achieve a just result. The person also examines the parameters of
the situation to see if they are most likely to promote a good
outcome. For example, when someone is given the Heinz dilemma, they
might say that their should be laws forbidding price gauging in
pharmacies.
Slide 19
The purpose of our study is to discover if Piagets and
Kohlbergs theories of cognitive development complement each other.
Do children who are able to conserve score higher or lower on
Kohlbergs moral development stages than children who fail to
conserve?
Slide 20
If a child demonstrates the ability to conservation, he or she
will also demonstrate more advanced moral reasoning than the
children who could not conserve.
Slide 21
Worksheets for the Kids Two identically sized cups One
graduated cylinder Water Blue food coloring (optional) And children
ranging from ages 9 -14
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On the first side of the handout was their age, grade, and
gender The questions regarding conservation which glass has more
water in it? On the second side of the handout was One of Kohlbergs
dilemma Questions that Kohlberg wrote himself for that particular
dilemma.
Slide 23
Holy Family of Nazareth School We tested children in grades 4,
6, and 8. When Kohlberg performed his investigations, he tested
kids at ages 10, 13, and 16.
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1. Children sat together in a group. 2.Hand out the pencils,
and evaluation sheets. 3. Then, we will fill up two plastic cups
with equal amounts of water. 4.Next, we will pour the water from
one cup into a different size cup, taking all the water from one to
the other. 5. Now ask them whether there is more or less water in
the second cup compared to the first one. Have them record what
they think on the worksheet, 6.Then, we will read the dilemma to
them (which will also be written on the worksheet). 7. Then the
students will answer the questions about the dilemma on their
worksheets.
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Overall, we compared the moral development level of the
children who could conserve to those who could not conserve. Each
grades data was slightly different
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4 th Graders who CAN conserve: Moral L E V E L Fourth
Graders
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4 th Graders who can NOT conserve: Moral L E V E L Fourth
Graders
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6 th Graders who CAN conserve: Moral L E V E L Sixth
Graders
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There was only 1 eighth grader, and he was able to conserve.
His Moral Reasoning level was determined to be in level 5.
Slide 30
Drum roll, please
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Those who CAN Conserve Those who Can NOT Conserve Average Moral
Development Levels
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AVG. L E V E L 4th Grade 6th Grade 8th Grade
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AVG. L E V E L 4th Grade 6th Grade 8th Grade (None)
Slide 34
Overall, our hypothesis was confirmed. The average stage of
moral reasoning of the children who could conserve was slightly
higher than the children who could not conserve. However, given the
limited amount of test subjects we were able to test, the results
are not as adequate as we would have liked.
Slide 35
If we could do the project over again what would we change?
Environment where the kids were tested was very loud and chaotic.
Accuracy of results? If any errors were made, it is likely they
were made in the grading of the childrens moral reasoning
answers.
Slide 36
(Main Sources) Crain, William C. "Piaget's
Cognitive-Developmental Theory." Theories of Development: Concepts
and Applications. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. Kohlberg,
Lawrence (1958). "The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices
in Years 10 to 16". Ph. D. dissertation, University of Chicago.
Kohlberg, Lawrence. The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral
Stages and the Idea of Justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row,
1981.