Social and Moral Development Essay example

Words: 1109
Pages: 5

Much of what we know about the intellectual, social and moral development of infants at birth and as they grow into adults are through the developmental theories. Some of the developmental theories are sexual development, social development and moral development. Both Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg view similarities as well as differences between the theories they each believe in regards to the development of a child social and moral development. Jean Piaget put forth the theory of cognitive development wherein he established a clear as well as a logical connection between the age factor and the child’s learning and comprehension abilities. Nonetheless, the two theorists held views that worked against each other in some aspects. …show more content…
These are the most significant stages of moral development wherein an individual in stage five weighs the importance of legal rules in the light of justice. What is legal may not appear just or impartial to many. In the last stage, every individual decides for him or her as to what is ethically correct. The moral definition, thus in this stage takes a drastic change from what is socially acceptable to what has been learned through experience and perception. Unlike Kohlberg’s theory, Piaget’s theory is based on only four stages with different age brackets and his work discusses cognitive development rather than only moral development. Sensor motor stage begins at the time of a child’s birth and culminates at the age of 2 years. The sensor motor stage is a time of learning through action, as babies go from responding primarily through reflexes to organizing their activities in relation to the environment. Behavior channeled in order to accomplish a goal and the concepts pertaining to the goal form a part of the preoperational stage lasts from the age of two years to seven years. Children at this level remain unable to observe things in their right perspective. However, they are able to assign casually or otherwise formed symbols to words, meanings and images. In this stage, they learn to make use of numbers, figures, and words and are capable of imitating