COGNITIVE AND MORAL

DEVELOPMENT
PRESENTED BY: FRANCESCA ELISEO & PATRICIA PARAC
 JEAN PIAGET (1896-1980)
 A Swiss psychologist known for his
work in child development, the
“Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive
Development” published in the
year 1952 after years of extensive
observation of children in their
natural environment.
  Cognitive development is the
construction of thought processes,
including remembering, problem
solving, and decision-making, from
DEFINITION childhood through adolescence to
adulthood.
  A child's knowledge is composed of
schemas, basic units of knowledge used
to organize past experiences and serve
SCHEMA
as a basis for understanding new ones.

ASSIMILATION  Schemas are modified by two

complementary processes: Assimilation
refers to the process of taking in new
information by incorporating it into an
ACCOMODATION
existing schema. On the other hand,
accommodation is what happens when
the schema itself changes to
EQUILIBRATION accommodate new knowledge.
 FORMAL
OPERATIONAL

CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL

4 STAGES PRE-
OPERATIONAL

SENSORIMOTOR
  During the early stages, infants are only
aware of what is immediately in front of
them.
 They constantly experiment and learn
through trial and error.
SENSORIMOTOR  (7-9 months), infants begin to realize that
an object exists even if it can no longer
STAGE
be seen. Known as object permanence --
a sign that memory is developing.
 (18-24 months), infants reach language
development, a sign that they are
developing some symbolic abilities.
  Young children are able to think about
things symbolically.
 Their language use becomes more
mature.
PRE-  They develop memory and imagination,
which allows them to understand the
OPERATIONAL difference between past and future, and
STAGE engage in make-believe.
 Their thinking is based on intuition and
still not completely logical.
  ages 7 to 11 – they are able to
demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning.
 thinking becomes less egocentric and
they are increasingly aware of external
CONCRETE events.
OPERATIONAL  They begin to realize that one's own
STAGE thoughts and feelings are unique and may
not be shared by others or may not even
be part of reality.
  Adolescents --11-plus -- are able to
logically use symbols related to abstract
FORMAL concepts, such as algebra and science.
OPERATIONAL  Continued intellectual development in
STAGE adults depends on the accumulation of
knowledge.
 MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
  Lawrence Kohlberg (1958) agreed with Piaget's (1932)
theory of moral development in principle but wanted to
develop his ideas further.

PROPONENT
  process through which
children develop proper attitudes
and behaviors toward other people
DEFINITION in society, based on social and
cultural norms, rules, and laws.
6 STAGES
  JUDGED THE MORALITY OF AN
ACTION BY ITS DIRECT
CONSEQUENCES.
PRE-
CONVENTIONAL  NOT YET ADOPTED OR
LEVEL INTERNALIZED SOCIETY’S
CONVENTION REGARDING WHAT
IS RIGHT OR WRONG.
  INDIVIDUALS FOCUS ON THE
STAGE 1 DIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF
OBEDIENCE THEIR ACTIONS ON THEMSELVES
AND
PUNISHMENT For example

ORIENTATION A child’s seatmate tries to dare the child to

skip on school. He refused to skip in school
because he would get punished.
  EXPRESSES “THE WHAT’S IN IT FOR
ME” POSITION
STAGE 2
“You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch
yours” mentality.
INSTRUMENTAL
-RELATIVIST For example
ORIENTATION A child is asked by his parents to do
something. The child asks, “what’s in it for
me?”. The parents offer a child an incentive
by giving him an extra allowance.
  JUDGED THE MORALITY OF
ACTIONS BY COMPAIRING THEM
TO THE SOCIETY’S VIEWS AD
CONVENTIONAL
EXPECTATIONS.
LEVEL
 INDIVIDUALS OBEY RULES AND
FOLLOWS SOCIETY’S NORMS.
  INDIVIDALSARE RECEPTIVE TO
APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL FROM
STAGE 3 OTHERS AS IT REFLECT SOCIETY’S
VIEWS
 JUDGED THE MORALITY OF AN
INTERPERSONAL ACTION BY EVALUATING
CONSEQUENCES IN TERMS OF
CONFORMITY PERSON’S RELATIONSHIP

For example
A child is trying to be a good boy or good girl
to live up to these expectations.
  ONE’S DUTY TO OBEY RULES AND
LAWS
STAGE 4  MAINTAINING A FUNCTIONAL
SOCIETY
LAW AND  SEPARATE BAD DOMAINS FROM THE
ORDER GOOD ONES
ORIENTATION For example
If one person will violate a law, perhaps
everyone would – thus there is an obligation
and duty to uphold laws and rules.
THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
  INDIVIDUALS OWN PERSPECTIVE
MAY TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER
SOCIETY’S VIEW.
POST-
CONVENTIONAL  ELEVATE THEIR OWN MORAL
LEVEL EVALUATION OVER SOCIAL
CONVENTION.

PRINCIPLED LEVEL
  LAWS ARE REGARDED AS SOCIAL
STAGE 5 CONTRACT
 PERSPECTIVE ARE MUTUALLY
SOCIAL RESPECTED
CONTRACT  “Greatest good for the greatest
ORIENTATION number of people.”
 STAGE 6  BASED ON ABSTRACT REASONING
 INDIVIDUAL IMAGINING WHAT
UNIVERSAL THEY WOULD DO IN ANOTHER’S
ETHICAL SHOES, IF THEY BELIEVE WHAT
PRINCIPLES THAT OTHER PERSON IMAGINES
TO BE TRUE.
 REFERENCES

www.healthofchildren.com/M/Moral-Development.html
https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
https://www.webmd.com/children/piaget-stages-of-development#1