Uka Tarsadia University

The Department of Humanities

General Psychology
B.A Psychology Semester – 3

Unit - 2

By Rahul Sambad
 Index

Sr. Understanding Developmental Processes

1 Cognitive development – Piaget

2 Moral development – Kohlberg

3 Psycho-social Develoment
UNIT - 3. UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES
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 INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

From the moment the human child is first conceived, till the death, the individual keeps
changing constantly and developing. While some of the changes humans undergo are as a result
of chance incidents and personal choices, the vast majority of life changes and stages the human
passes through, are due to certain common biological and psychological factors which are partly
inherited and partly environmental.

Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to
death. Development does not just involve the biological and physical aspects of growth, but also
the cognitive and social aspects associated with development. The scientific study of human
development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This
field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho
physiological processes. Cognitive development involves areas such as problem solving, moral
understanding, and conceptual understanding; language acquisition; social, personality, and
emotional development; and self-concept and identity formation. The scientific study of
development is important not only to psychology, but also to sociology, education, and health
care. By better understanding how and why people change and grow, one can then apply this
knowledge to helping people live up to their full potential.

Developmental changes may occur as a result of genetically-controlled processes known as

maturation, or as a result of environmental factors and learning, but most commonly involves an
interaction between the two. A systematic attempt has been made to study these changes
which is known as developmental psychology. Life-span developmental psychology is the field of
psychology that examines both constancy and changes in human behaviour across the lifespan
(Baltes, 1987).The goal of developmental psychologists is to expand the knowledge about the
general principles of development and the differences and similarities in development across
individuals, from a variety of different perspectives. Thus, while studying different domains of
development, different perspectives are considered to understand development. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area focused on the study of children. It emerged
as an area of study in the beginning itself when psychology as a discipline was evolving. Charles
Darwin (1877) is considered to be a pioneer in the study of child behaviour. He kept records of
his infant son and tried to understand human development from the perspective of theory of
evolution by natural selection. American psychologist G. Stanley Hall, was one of the first
developmental psychologist whose research on child development focused on the question,
‘what do children know when they go to school?’ (Hall, 1891). In 1950s research started on
adolescence stage and the relationship between child-rearing practices and adult personality.
The historical roots of development studies from the west are the theories posited primarily by
Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, and Kohlberg. By reading the sub-branches of psychology till now, you
must have realized that the research in psychology is from a European or an American
perspective (since the discipline originated in the ‘West’). The Indian scholars in the beginnings
were trained in the Western frameworks and relied heavily on experimentation. However, there
are certain culture-specific concepts that have received the attention of Indian scholars and have
 thus been explored in the Indian context. Some of the important researches in the area of
development psychology in India, have been highlighted in the end of unit. Also, important
studies are cited at relevant places in the ensuing Units. This unit thus, will introduce you to the
concepts of development and growth. Then we describe developmental stages that humans go
through, that are conceptions to birth, infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. This unit
will also focus on the principles of life-span development, its characteristics, and research
methods in studying developing psychology. Finally, we will present some of the important
empirical studies from an Indian perspective.

 CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH

Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to
death. It refers to development as patterns of change over time. It does not just involve the
biological and physical aspects of growth, but also the cognitive (changes in thought processes),
emotional (changes in emotional understanding and experiences), and social aspects
(relationships, self-concept and identity formation) related to development. The scientific study
of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change
throughout life. Thus, development occurs in different domains. Many developmental
psychologists restrict themselves to qualitative reorganizations in the structure of a behaviour,
skill or ability (Crain, 2000). Heinz Werner posited that development refers only to changes
which increase the organization of functioning within a domain. Werner put forward two
processes involved in development, namely, integration and differentiation. The former is a
process that integrates more basic, previously acquired behaviours into new, higher-level
structures. The latter is a process that involves progressive ability to make distinctions among
things.

In other words, development is defined as a progression towards maturity. Even though

development is a continuous process with competencies developing, then disappearing, only to
appear at a later age, it is not continuous in the sense that it increases constantly but rather in a
series of waves with whole segments of development reoccurring repetitively. For example, new
born’s walk, if held, and then this ability disappears only to reappear at eight or ten months of
age.

From newborns to teenagers, parents often have questions if their children are developing
normally. WHO is also coordinating an international effort to develop child growth standards for
infants and young children (age 0-5 years). There is a process of child development, which makes
a growth curve. Growth curve is defined as a statistical curve derived from plotting weight and
height against chronological age for comparing an individual child’s growth pattern with the
average age of growth.

Increasing age by itself, contributes nothing to development. What is important here is

maturation and changes that result from experience, intervening between different ages and
stages of childhood. Maturation, thus refers to those aspects of development that are primarily
under genetic control, and which are relatively influenced by the environment. Growth and
development are in a way intertwined. Growth is a process that results in structural and
physiological changes that are quantitative in nature. The changes maybe thus be progressive or
regressive and may or may not involve development. Development on the other hand is a
progressive change as a result of maturation and learning. The changes are thus qualitative in
nature and are possible in absence of growth as well. In the words of Crow and Crow, “growth
refers to structural and physiological change, while development refers to growth as well as
those changes in behaviour which result from environmental stimulation.” Another important
characteristic is that development is observed and growth can be measured. Growth also stops
at maturity while development spreads across the lifespan.

As children grow up from one stage to another, they learn to make use of their body parts, learn
how to express themselves and communicate with others. They also learn to form relationship
with others. Over the years, people who study children have created theories to explain how
children develop. While these theorists realise that every child is special and grows in his or her
unique way, they also have recognised that there are general patterns that children tend to
follow as they grow up, and these patterns have been documented by the theorists. For
example, Gesell (published Gesell Development Schedule in 1925) believed that development is
the result of genetic endowment (maturation). Gesell focused on norms that are characteristic
of a child development, that is, when children typically acquire a given behaviour (like walking)
and secondly, the extent to which many behaviours are affected by environmental factors (such
as practice or training).

Related to growth and development, there are four areas in which a child’s growth and
development take place and these are discussed below.

1. Physical: Physical growth is perhaps the most obvious. Children grow in height and weight
over the years and their appearance changes to a great extent during puberty. Children also
develop certain physical abilities during their progression towards adulthood, including crawling,
walking, running and (possibly) writing. Their motor coordination gradually becomes well
refined.

2. Psychological and cognitive: Children also develop psychologically and cognitively as their
brains absorb more information and they learn how to use that information. Literally, children
have to learn how to think on purpose and to process or organise all the information that comes
to them from the environment. They learn how to solve problems, to talk, and to complete
mental tasks such as remembering telephone numbers or using computers.

3. Social and emotional: Children grow socially and emotionally. They learn how to interact,
play, work, and live with other people such as family, friends, teachers, and significant others.
They learn how to understand both their own feelings and that of others’ emotions. They also
learn ways of dealing with strong emotions. In order to function well as independent adults,
children develop a sense of self-esteem as they go through the long process of figuring out one’s
identity. They also develop a sense of morality as they learn the difference between right and
wrong.

4. Sexuality and gender identity: Children also develop sexually and form a gender identity. This
development is unique because it spans development across the other physical, psychological,
and social channels. Early on, children learn how their bodies works or looks and what it means
to be a boy or a girl; they learn how boys and girls are different. As they grow older and enter
adolescence and puberty, they continue to learn how their bodies work sexually and how to
responsibly handle their sexuality so as to balance their sexual desires and appropriate
 behaviour. They continue to decide for themselves what it means to be masculine or feminine
throughout their lifespan.

 FACTORS INFLUENCING DEVELOPMENT

According to developmental psychologists, a number of factors can affect human growth and
development. Some of the major factors are as follows:

1) Heredity: The genes that we inherent from our parents and ancestors certainly plays
important role in development. Not just physical attributes but social attributes are also
transmitted from parents to off-springs through these genes. Colour of your eyes, height, hair,
intelligence and aptitude everything depends significantly on your genes.

2) Sex: Sex is a very important factor which influences human growth and development.
Difference in sex leads to difference in growth pattern and development pattern. Studies have
suggested that teenage girls’ physical growth is faster than boys.

3) Socioeconomic: Socioeconomic factors have been found to influence at multiple levels.

Children from better socioeconomic level were found to have better intelligence level, better
height and better mental health. The most important reasons behind this are better nutrition,
better facilities, regular meals, sleep, and exercise.

4) Hormones: Our body is regulated by a number of hormonal activities. One of such important
group of hormones is known as endocrine glands. These glands secrete hormones directly into
our bloodstream and thus regulate the process of growth and development. Undersecretion or
oversecretion of any hormone can lead to abnormal developmental growth.

5) Nutrition: Our body requires a good amount of calories and nutrition for optimal growth.
Since, growth is directly related to nutrition, poor nutrition or malnutrition may lead to many
problems such as being underweight, shorter height, and of low height for age, known as
stunting. Further, malnourished may also slows down overall growth process.

6) Race: Every race has its unique physical characteristics. Therefore, depending on your race,
height, weight and colour your skin varies.

7) Culture: Every culture have their unique values, customs, code of conduct, expectations and
appropriate rearing methods. These differences in culture significantly affect developmental
processes.

 Cognitive Development

In laymen’s language, cognition refers to your knowledge about the world. Whereas, cognitive
processes are those mental processes through which we acquire information about the world
around us. Thus, cognitive development refers to a child’s development in terms of information
processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning etc. This unit deals with
two major theories of cognitive development namely, Piaget’s cognitive theory of development
and Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development. Then, the unit also discusses the moral
development with the help of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
 Jean Piaget’s Theory

Piaget’s stage theory describes the cognitive development in

children. Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive
process and abilities. In Piaget’s view, early cognitive
development involves processes based upon actions and later
progresses into changes in mental operations. How do
humans think? How do they make sense of their world? How
does knowledge about the world grow from infancy to
adulthood? How do humans come to ‘know’ the world better
as they grow-up? What is the process in which thinking
develops or becomes more complex and sophisticated as we
grow from child to adult? These are some questions which we
would attempt to understand through the theory proposed by
a thinker called Jean Piaget. His ideas are critical in
understanding not only the development of thinking but also many issues about knowledge.
Let us first read who Piaget was and how he developed this theory.

Piaget (1896 – 1980) was born in Switzerland. He was a student of biology, and also had keen
interest in psychology and philosophy. His interest in study of cognition evolved while working in
a laboratory, Alfred Binet laboratory, where he was assisting in IQ test (intelligence quotient)
related research. During this work he interacted with many children and observed some
interesting things about children’s thinking. He realized that the older children were able to
answer more questions on the same test. Also, there were qualitative differences between the
answers and the logic that the older children applied. That is, as compared to the younger
children older children were able to apply logic which was more adult-like. Piaget further
realized that incorrect answers given by children helped in analysing children’s logic and thought
better than the correct answers. Moreover, there was a similarity between the ‘incorrect’ logic
among the children of same age.

With these understandings that appear very simple Piaget proceeded to understand the process
of cognitive development. From his experience he understood that in controlled and structured
environment, children are unable to express themselves. Therefore, he followed a different
method of interacting with children. He interacted with children in settings in which they were
comfortable – natural setting of children. He observed them and conversed with them while
they worked on activities he set. He did not interrupt children while they interacted with him. He
asked a question from children, and based on how children answered the question, he framed
the next question.In this process he outlined how process of thinking, and knowledge develop
during early years of life. This approach or the method he followed is known as Clinical Probing.
In order to follow a more natural approach, and for comprehensive and long-term study, he
studied his own children.

Because his work dwelt in issues about growth of knowledge, and study of the universal human
capacity to think, his work is also referred to as Genetic Epistemology.
Processes central in Cognitive Development:
Piaget’s theory has three central Concepts –

a) Schemes for organization:

Piaget proposed that people are born with a tendency to organize their thinking into schemes
(schema). These schemes are psychological (mental) categories in which people organize
knowledge. These schemes develop and become more complex with experience as one grows
from infant to an adult. For example, suppose Raman, a child in his early childhood, sees a dog
for the first time? When he first time sees a dog does he ‘know’ that the animal he sees is a dog?
He does not, however, his experience of observing the dog for first few times, helps him in
developing a scheme for understanding dogs. For first few times when he sees a dog, he is
unable to understand what it is. He observes the dog. He finds that it has four legs, a tail, it is
furry, it makes a barking sound, and the like. His mother tells him that what he sees is a dog.
Now, he has this character scheme to understand dogs. When he will next see a dog he will
recognize it. We have similar mental schemes for everything we ‘know’. These schemes
continuously develop with new experience and become 61 more complex. The following
concepts explain this process.

b) Adaptation:

Adaptation, as you may have studied in Biology, is a process through which living beings adjust
with their environment. If you recall we read above that Piaget was a Biology student, so many
of his concepts are drawn from Biology. Just as human beings adapt to environment, their
thinking also adapts to the changes they experience. These changes lead to changes in the
mental schemes. Two basic processes are involved in adaptation: assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation takes place when people try to understand something new by
fitting it into what we already know. Accommodation occurs when a person must change
existing schemes to respond to a new situation. Let us take two cases in continuation with the
scheme to understand dogs:
Case 1: Raman who now ‘knows’ the animal-type called dog, sees a cat for the first time. He sees
that the animal has a tail, is furry, and has four legs – just like his scheme to understand dog. He
now calls the cat a dog. What has Raman done? He has used an existing scheme/knowledge of
dog to make sense of a new animal he sees. Despite the fact that cat does not look exactly the
same like dog he understands the cat as a dog. This fitting of new experience into already
existing scheme is called Assimilation. This is one process in adaptation of thinking.
Case 2: Now one day Raman has a new experience with cats. He finds out that the cat does not
make a barking noise – it makes a different noise. This doesn’t match his scheme. He gradually
notes more differences between the two animal types. One day when he calls cat a dog in an
interaction with his mother, the mother corrects him. She says, “Raman, this is not a dog, it is a
cat”. Now Raman must change his existing scheme for understanding dog (in which he includes
cat). He will now have a different scheme for understanding cats. This modifying of existing
schemes (and developing of new ones) in order to make sense of new experience is called
Accommodation. This is the second process in adaption.
c) Equilibration:

When Raman could no more fit his observation of cat into the existing scheme ‘dog’, he must
have felt some mental confusion or a situation of imbalance. This is known as cognitive
disequilibrium. He would have wanted to remove this imbalance and regain balance. And in this
process of trying to regain balance, a new mental scheme got developed – he constructed new
knowledge(about cats and also about dogs).This process of searching for a balance to make
sense of a new experience is called Equilibration. It was this process which led the child to a
better and more sophisticated knowledge of his experience. All these processes are influenced
by child’s experience and activity, social interactions, and biological process of becoming mature
(maturation).
The processes of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration are central to the development
of cognition. These processes continuously lead children to understand the world in a more
sophisticated adult-like way as they grow. Based on these processes, Piaget explains cognitive
development in four stages. These are explained in the following section.

Stages in Cognitive Development:

Piaget’s theory proposes that Cognitive Development universally follows a pattern of four
stages. As a person progresses to higher stages, her/his thinking becomes more refined and
evolved. The first three stages span from birth to about eleven years; that is mainly during early
to late childhood. Fourth stage is the highest stage of cognitive development and is primarily
located during pre-adolescence age till adulthood. As per the theory, all people may not reach
the highest stage. Also Cognitive Development does not happen from one stage to another,
within each stage there is an order of development.

Sensorimotor stage: This stage spans from birth to two years. As the name of the stage suggests,
children during initial part of this stage, primarily make sense of the world through their senses –
touching, tasting, listening, seeing, and sensing. The child’s behaviour includes more reflexes or
natural responses like sucking, crying. As they progress in age they are able to do more complex
physical actions like crawling, moving body, babbling. They gradually become capable of
engaging in goal directed activities by the end of this stage. They are able to chase somebody,
they are able to put take out their toys from a box and put them back. The developments that
take place in this stage include:

o Co-ordinating reflexes
o Greater control over body movements
o Co-ordinating simple motor actions

Another important development that takes place during this stage is object permanence. In the
initial years of this phase, the infant’s thinking is not developed enough to understand that
objects continue to exist even if he cannot see/sense them. You must have seen that it is very
easy to distract a baby and take away some object from her. However, by the time she reaches 2
years of age, she is able to look for her toys, even if she can’t see them. This is called object
permanence. Language also starts developing during this age. From the first babbling to the first
signs of language, appear but they more significantly develop in the next stage.

Preoperational stage:
This stage spreads from two years to seven years. It is crucial for elementary school teachers to
understand this stage as the child starts attending school during later part of this stage. The
mental processes described in previous stage are fairly developed by this stage. The
development proceeds on the basis of these processes. Despite the fact that the child has
schemes for many actions, there are several limitations in ability to think like adults. The child
can do an action only physically but not mentally. That is the child cannot mentally imagine
doing an action or reversing it. The capacity to mentally do and reversing an action is known as
operations or operational thinking. Since this second stage comes before development of such
thinking, it is known as preoperational. This is the stage which prepares for such operational
thinking. First step in this direction is development of a language system. Children learn to name
and identify objects even when they don’t Cognitive really see them. Like for example they can
see the picture of an apple and identify it. They become capable of symbolic actions like
pretending to drink tea from an empty cup (Woolfolk, 2004, p. 67).

However, the child’s thought primarily uses one-way logic. This can be explained through
following situation (Woolfolk, 2004, p. 67):

Rinku (5 years) and her teacher Suman are working on an activity. Suman shows Rinku two
identical glasses both have equal amount of water.
Suman asks: Rinku, do these glasses have same amount of water or one has more?
Rinku: They have same water! Suman transfers the water from one beaker into a taller glass, and
from the other beaker to the broader glass infront of Rinku.
Suman: Now tell, do these glasses have same amount of water or one has more? Rinku selects
the tall one and says: This has more!
Suman: Why? Rinku touches the level at which the water is in taller glass: See, it is more.
This task is based on the principle of Conservation. This principle says that even if there is a
change in the appearance of the object, its characteristics remain the same.Rinku doesn’t seem
to have this concept. She is unable to see that broadness might set-offorcompensate the
height.Rinku is only focussing on the height of the water level.That is, she can only focus on one
dimension/aspect at one time. She is unable to decentre or consider more than one aspect at
the same time (not considering the breadth). She is also not able to reverseher thinking (not
being able to see that water was equal when transferred from the identical glasses). There are
some other related concepts (like classification and seriation) involved in the ability to
conserve,which the child has not fully developed. We will read more about them in the next
stage of the theory
Not only are children of this age able to decentre aspects or dimensions, they are also not able
to decentre their view. That is they cannot take cognizance of other people’s view. Like a five
year old child thinks that because he enjoys running around, his mother also enjoys it. Thus, he
forces the mother to run with him. This is known as egocentrism or centring on own view point
only.
Further, we all would have seen children in the age-group three to six years, despite being in
group, not listening to each other and talking on unrelated matters; may be even talking to
oneself. This is also an outcome of egocentrism, it is called collective monologue. It is one reason
why children in classes one and two might appear ‘selfish’, and less capable of ‘respecting’
teachers’ instructions. But the teacher must understand that this is not intentional, it is a
developmental feature of the stage which they are experiencing. The important learning here is
that conservation, decentring and reverse thinking, are basic operations on which mathematical
concepts and learning of grammar, reading and writing is based. At the pre-operational the child
is not developmentally prepared to apply these abilities. Therefore learning in these content
areas will be organised differently by the teacher. Let us note the bearings this would have on
teaching. The next stage takes the process of cognitive development further

Concrete operational stage:

This stage spans from seven years to eleven years. That is, middle school years. In this phase
children become capable of decentring and reversing actions mentally. Therefore, they can apply
conservation principle. Now, they will be able to understand that the amount of water in taller
and flatter vessel could be equal even if it is at a higher level in terms of height in taller
vessel.This leads to the ability to think in following ways (Woolfolk 2004, p. 68):

● Children can understand that if we add and subtract same amount from a given thing then
there is no change, or there is a compensationfor the change.
● They are also able to do classification of objects based on one feature (say pick up all square
objects from several shapes).
● They develop capacity of applying a logic requiring seriation. That is, make sense of a series
like A<B<C. Children can understand that B can be greater than A but smaller than C at the same
time.
● Children develop ability to engage in thinking based on reversibility. That is, s/he will be able
to understand that if 4 + 2 = 6, then 6 – 2 = 4.

In short, the child at this age overcomes most of the limitations of the previous stage. That is,
the child gradually develops ability to understand others perspective (moving ahead from
egocentrism). S/he initiates movement from perceptual or observable towards more symbol
based logical thinking, but the thinking is still based on the material world. The ability of
reversibility in thinking opens new avenues for learning. Therefore, the system of logic fairly
develops to become much more adult-like. The child is now able to engage in operational
thinking to some extent. However, the child’s thought is still based on the material reality. That
is, her/his logic is still tied to concrete world – s/he cannot think in abstraction. That is why this
stage is called concrete operational.

Formal operational stage:

This stage starts from around eleven years and goes on till adulthood. Remember, it was stated
in the beginning that this stage is of highest 65 order in development of thinking, and that many
people never reach this stage. This is the age when the child is in late elementary classes. In this
phase as the name suggests children are able to engage in operational thinking. That is, they
gradually become capable of abstract thinking. That is, their thought is no longer tied only to
concrete things; they can think and engage with symbols (like numbers). It is important to note
that mathematics and grammar are subjects that demand higher abstract thinking as the
student has to work with symbols and with ideas that may not be visible in concrete reality. It is
only in this stage that children’s capacity to think mathematically emerge. Such thinking
demands ability for hypothetical (assumptions based), and deductive reasoning. You must have
heard of the syllogism –
 All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Socrates is mortal.
This involves deductive logic. The conclusion that Socrates is mortal is derived (or deduced) from
the first major premise about all humans, and second minor premise. It is only after children
develop such thinking, they will be able to understand questions like, “let us assume that x = y”
or make sense of poetry. The teacher can now provide for tasks that involve more abstract
reasoning, which involve more creative expression. However, the teacher must not forget that
just because a child is eleven, s/he will develop ability for abstract thinking. It is a process that
happens at its own pace, and may not necessarily happen. So the teacher has to select, and
organize the subject matter as per the developmental needs of different children. This means
that s/he will have to understand his/her learners closely and identify their developmental
needs. This will demand from her working closely with children, observing them while they are
engaged in activities, talking to them, and facilitating an environment where every child is able
to express.
School and the Piagetian theory:
In a broader sense this theory says that as a child grows older his mental processes show a
qualitative change/improvement. This change can be understood in certain phases that chalk
out cognitive development. The ability to learn is related to the stage of this development.
Children who are at a certain stage will not be able to make sense of the concepts of a higher
stage. Thus, the curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, would have to be according to the stage
and preparedness of the learners. At the same time, there would be a need to provide a space
for disequilibrium (recall the basic concepts we read in the beginning of the section explaining
Piaget’s theory). As per this framework, given the readiness to learn, the curriculum and
classroom processes would be organized in a manner that can present the child with situations
leading to a process of cognitive-disequilibrium and search for equilibrium. Thus,teaching-
learning would happen more in a problem solving mode.

 MORAL DEVELOPMENT

When you ask what ‘morality’ is to people across different

developmental trajectory and cultures, the answer will be very
diverse. Think about your own growing up years. When you were a
toddler, what seemed ‘moral’ to you? In school, how did this idea
change? As you grew up, in college how did you start interpreting
your own and people’s behaviour as moral or immoral? Is there a
universal notion of morality? Do people behave morally because
they have to? Do we instinctively do the ‘right’ thing? What is
morality? Philosophers, religious leaders, parents, teachers have
struggled with this idea forever. How did you learn to decipher the
right from the wrong? Are there any universal ethics?

Different and influential developmental psychologist like Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan have
comprehensively elaborated upon their own notions of morality by taking different theoretical
positions.In order to gain a better understanding and insight into the notions of morality and its
development, let us start with understanding some of the most popular theories on moral
development.
LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL REASONING

Lawrence Kohlberg worked upon and modified Piaget’s theory of morality and explained how
moral reasoning is developed in children. His work laid the groundwork for the current debate in
the area of moral development within the field of psychology. In cognizance with Piaget, he
proposed that children’s sense of morality is shaped by their thought processes and
interpretation and understanding of moral concepts like equality, fairness, justice and universal
welfare. Piaget gave a two-stage theory of moral development and Kohlberg expanded and gave
a three-tier theory that has six different levels and asserted that morality is a lifelong process
and is more gradual than as proposed by Piaget. Kohlberg referred to his theoretical approach to
morality “cognitive developmental” to describe his contextualization of moral development
within social and cognitive development. Morality in this framework basically refers to the moral
judgement or rational evaluation of the prescriptive values in the context of what is right or
wrong in the given sociocultural context.

Kohlberg used the moral judgement interview to test his theory. Children were presented with
stories that involved conflicts between two moral values and had to justify their decisions.
Basically, they had to choose between obeying rules or ignoring these rules and instead focusing
on the welfare of another person.

Kohlberg used the now classical Heinz’s Dilemma to study morality. He presented the
participants with an ambiguous situation that involved perspective taking and the scenario was
reasonably emotionally provocative. The story elicited moral judgement and explanation for
those judgements about the story (Kohlberg, 1973, 1976, 1981). Kohlberg used many such
vignettes, but Heinz’s Dilemma has remained popular in teaching moral development. The utility
lies in helping in applying Kohlberg stages of morality into concrete examples. In addition, it also
demonstrates how research in the area could be design and implemented.

Heinz’s Dilemma- Heinz’s wife has cancer and her doctors believe that only one drug could save
her. A local pharmacist had discovered the drug, a form of radium and was able to make it for
$200 per dose and was selling it for $2,000 per dose. Heinz, after much difficulty was able to
raise only $1,000 to buy the drug. He tried negotiating with the pharmacist for a cheaper or
lower price or requested for a loan that he would repay back later for the drug. The pharmacist
however, refused to negotiate or accept partial payment for the drug. Not being able to
convince and feeling rejected, Heinz broke into the pharmacy and stole the drug to save his
wife’s life. Kohlberg asked, “should Heinz have done that?’ (Kohlberg, 1963).

Levels of Moral Development

As a theorist and researcher, Kohlberg was not so much interested in the answer as to whether
he was right or wrong but the reasoning all participants had for their decision. He used this
moral reasoning into stages of his theory of moral development. Each level in Kohlberg’s theory
represents a vital shift in the social-moral perspective of the individual.

Level 1- Pre-Conventional Morality- At this level, morality is externally controlled. Behaviours

are driven by obedience due to fear of punishment and expectation of rewards. It has two stages
that define whether behaviour is obedience and fear driven or is shaped by the expectation of
rewards

Stage 1- Obedience and punishment orientation-Behaviour is shaped by the consequences.

Children will indulge in behaviours and obey adults in order to avoid punishment. This earliest
stage is applicable for children but sometimes adults are also capable of this type of reasoning.
Children perceive the given rules as fixed and absolute, and it is important to obey rules because
it will help in avoiding punishment. Actions are by and large evaluated by the possibility of a
punishment and not in terms of goodness or badness. Obedience to power is the crux at this
stage. Wrong or right is shaped by what is punished or not punished. Children obey because
adults tell them to obey.

Stage 2- Instrumental personal orientation-Morality at this stage is based on rewards and self-
interest. Children and individual are driven by focus on what brings in satisfying rewards.
Children interpret and judge actions based on how well they fulfill individual needs. In the
classical Heinz dilemma, children expressed that the best solution for Heinz would be the one
that best served Heinz’s needs. This stage is driven by the instrumental pragmatic notions of an
action.The principle of moral reciprocity acquires salience. Moral thinking is based on rewards
and self- interest. Children obey when it is in their best interest to obey. What is right is what
feels good and what is rewarding. Concern for the needs of others is largely a matter of “You
scratch my back, I will scratch yours,” not out of loyalty, gratitude or justice. Right and wrong is
determined by what is rewarded.

Level 2- Conventional Morality- At this level, adherence or conformity to social rules gains
precedence. Self-interest takes a back seat and adherence to social relationships gains focus.
Society, parents, teachers and peers their attitude defines this notion of morality. Individuals are
most concerned about the opinions of their peers and other significant figures. Norms and
adherence to those norms become important at this level as understanding these norms and
conventions appear to be important in upholding the needs of a cohesive society. Individuals
self-identify with these rules and try upholding them constantly as its then in accordance with
the societal notions of right and wrong.

Stage 3- Interpersonal Relationships- This stage focuses on living up to social roles and
expectations and often focusses on the development of morality in the context of “good boy”
and “good girl” orientation. There is a lot of prominence on conformity to expected social roles
and ‘scripts’, being ‘nice’, and attention to how choices impact and influence relationships with
prominent figures in the social context of the individual.

Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order- Society plays an important role at this stage of moral
development. People initiate moral decision-making keeping society in mind. The focus is on
maintaining law and order by following the rules set by society, dispensing one’s duty and
respecting authority.

Level 3- Post Conventional Morality- This final level in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
is characterized by reasoning based on notions and principles of morality which underlie rules
and norms but at the same time reject a uniform application of a rule or norm. Morality is
judged in terms of abstract notions and principles and not by existing rules that govern the
society and social order.This last level entails moral reasoning embedded in the ethical fairness
principles. All laws are evaluated in terms of their soundness and alignment with the basic
principles of fairness rather than an arbitrary existing social order. There is a deep understanding
that elements of morality such as regard for human life and welfare surpasses societal and
cultural norms and are upheld irrespective of the conventional or societal obligations.
Interestingly, many people may not enter this stage of moral development.

Stage 5- Social Contract and Individual Rights- At this stage, individuals begin to reason for the
differing values, beliefs and opinions of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining
a just and fair society, but members of the society should collectively agree upon these
standards. The person understands that values and laws are relative for each person and while
laws are important but the interpretation in the context of the individual and her/his/their life
may be looked at differently. The individual tends to believe that some values like freedom are
greater than law. Support and upholding law is based on rational choices and rules are upheld
for the greater good based upon democratic agreement.

Stage 6- Universal Principles- Kohlberg’s final stage of moral reasoning is based upon universal
ethical principles and abstract reasoning in morality. People follow and express, internalized
notions and principles of justice, even if they are in conflict with laws and rules. The individual
develops moral judgements that are based on universal human rights. When faced with a
dilemma between law and one’s own conscience, the individual makes a choice based of
her/his/their conscience. Behaviour is guided by self-driven ethics that mostly tend to be general
and universal and a very high value is placed on humanitarian values, justice, equality and
dignity of life.

Critics

Criticisms for Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg's theory played an important role in the development of moral psychology. While the
theory has been highly influential, aspects of the theory have been critiqued for a number of
reasons:

Moral reasoning does not equal moral behaviour: Kohlberg's theory is concerned with moral
thinking, but there is a big difference between knowing what we ought to do versus our actual
actions. Moral reasoning, therefore, may not lead to moral behaviour.

Overemphasizes justice: Critics have pointed out that Kohlberg's theory of moral development
overemphasizes the concept of justice when making moral choices. Factors such as compassion,
caring, and other interpersonal feelings may play an important part in moral reasoning.
Cultural bias: Individualist cultures emphasize personal rights, while collectivist cultures stress
the importance of society and community. Eastern, collectivist cultures may have different moral
outlooks that Kohlberg's theory does not take into account.

Age bias: Most of his subjects were children under the age of 16 who obviously had no
experience with marriage. The Heinz dilemma may have been too abstract for these children to
understand, and a scenario more applicable to their everyday concerns might have led to
different results.

Gender bias: Kohlberg's critics, including Carol Gilligan, have suggested that Kohlberg's theory
was gender-biased since all of the subjects in his sample were male. Kohlberg believed that
women tended to remain at the third level of moral development because they place a stronger
emphasis on things such as social relationships and the welfare of others.

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

Erikson was a psychoanalytic like Freud, but differs from Freud

in regard to psycho sexual development. This means that he
accepts Freud’s ideas as basically correct. Erikson was much
more culture-oriented than Freud and his theory is labeled
Psychosocial instead of Psychosexual.

The epigenetic principle Development functions by the

epigenetic principle which means that our personality develops
through a predetermined order i.e., one stage after another
only. In his theory he proposed that this unfolding of
personality takes place in eight stages. Our progress through
each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages.
Psychosocial virtues or strengths (positive outcomes) Each stage involves certain developmental
tasks that are psychosocial in nature and has a certain optimal time as well. If a stage is managed
well, we carry with us certain virtue or psychosocial strength that will help us through the rest of
the stages of our lives.
Psychosocial maladaptations and malignancies (negative outcomes) If a child is able to pass
successful through the different stages and development, one can expect a positive healthy
person. However if the person faces more failure than success, his personality will be unhealthy.
Maladaptation’ and ‘Malignancies’ represent the negative outcomes arising from an unhelpful
experience through each of the crisis stages. If we do not manage the task well, we may develop
maladaptation and malignancies, which will endanger all our future development. A malignancy
involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect such as a person who does
not trust at all whereas maladaptation involves too much of the positive and too little of the
negative, such as a person who trusts too much.

The Eight stages of development

Erik Erikson explained eight stages of development through which a healthy developing person
would pass. These are:

1) Trust vs. Mistrust (Infants, 0 to 1 year)

In this stage, the role of caregiver is most important. If the behaviour and care provided to the
child by the primary caregiver is consistent, predictable and reliable then the child will develop a
sense of trust. This sense of trust will be carried over by the child throughout his life and make
him perceive this world as secure place and other people trustworthy who will always there to
help him. On the other hand, inability of parents or primary caregiver in providing secure
environment and consistent love then it will lead to mistrust. According to Erikson, successful
completion of this stage will develop the virtue of hope in the growing child.

2) Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3 years)

The second stage is the anal-muscular stage of early childhood. This is an important period of
“hold and let go”. As children gain control over eliminative functions and motor abilities, they
begin to explore their surroundings. If parents and caregivers encourage self-sufficient
behaviour, toddlers develop a sense of autonomy that is a sense of being able to handle many
problems on their own. But if caregivers demand too much too soon, refuse to let children
perform tasks of which they are capable, children may instead develop shame and doubt about
their ability to handle problems. If a child gets proper, positive balance of autonomy the person
will develop the virtue of willpower, or else, the maladaptive tendency of impulsivity and the
malignant tendency of compulsion will develop. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of
will.

3) Stages of Development Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool, 4 to 6 years)

During this stage a child start exerting his assertive abilities. He learns to take initiatives- “a
positive response to the world’s challenges, taking on responsibilities, feeling purposeful and
learning new skills” (Tandon, 2002). Play is central to this stage. It gives a child to take initiative
and have a control over his or her surroundings. If parents encourage and support children’s
activities and imagination, then it will make child confident of his abilities. This will help the child
in leading others in future and taking decision on its own. On the other hand, if the child’s
initiative is criticised and controlled by parents then it will develop a sense of guilt. Success in
this stage will lead to the virtue of purpose.

4) Industry vs. Inferiority (Childhood, 7 to 12 years)

At this stage, the child learns to develop various skills such as, reading, writing, doing math etc.
Peer group and teachers plays vital role during this stage. If the child’s initiative is accepted,
encouraged and reinforced then he or she will feel competent and confident i.e., industrious.
While, on the other hand if the child is continuously criticized and ridiculed of his initiatives then
it will make him feel inferior of his abilities. The right balance of industry and inferiority will
develops the virtue called competency. If the child experiences failure then he may develop
maladaptive tendency of narrow virtuosity and the malignant tendency of inertia.

5) Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescents, 13 to 19 years)

The fifth stage is identity vs. role confusion, and it occurs during adolescence, from about 12-18
years. “This is the crossroad between childhood and maturity” (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). The goal
of this stage is to develop social identity and occupational identity. During this stage children
have become more independent and try to become part of the society by developing their social
and occupational identity. If society provides clear guideline and rites of passage then it will help
the adolescent in achieve clear role identity. If failed to negotiate this stage, the individual may
develop maladaptive tendency of fanaticism and the malignant tendency of repudiation.
Further, success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity.
6) Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adults, 20 to 34 years)

This stage takes place in young adulthood i.e. between 18 years to 40 years. In this stage,
individual tries to establish stronger friendship and to have an intimate relationship with other
individuals. Failure to develop an intimate relationship with another person may lead to
loneliness, alienation, social withdrawal, and maladaptive behaviour. Success in this stage will
develop the virtue of love.

7) Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood, 35 to 65 years)

Generativity vs. stagnation is the seventh stage of Erikson’s theory. This stage occurs during the
middle adulthood i.e., from 35 years to 65 years. The healthy aim of this stage is to develop an
extension of love and care for future generation. During this stage an individual tries to become
productive for work and for his or her society by raising family and kids and being sensitive for
their needs and requirements. These standards of generativity are defined and shaped by one’s
culture. On the other hand, if an individualis unable to be productive w.r.t. work and society, it
will lead to stagnation and self-indulgence. Success in this stage will develop the virtue of care.

8) Ego Integrity vs. Despair (seniors, 65 years onwards)

This is the last stage and according to Erikson this is a stage of review in which the older adult
looks back at one’s life and review it as a whole. If the older adult perceives his life consist of
meaning and happy experience then it will lead to integrity- feeling at peace with oneself and
world. Whereas, on the other hand if the older adult perceive his life full of disappointments,
unaccomplished goals and negative experiences then it will develop despair which will lead to
the feeling of depression and hopelessness. Success in this stage will develop the virtue of
wisdom.