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Week 2 Lesson in Psychology

STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT


1. Conception

2. Zygote (first through third day).

3. Blastocyst (second day through second week)


a. By the end of the 2nd week, implants itself in uterine wall ("nidation")

4. Embryo (third through eighth week)


a. Occasional primitive heart contractions at 2 weeks;
b. Heart pumps blood and ECG tracing looks normal by 4th to 5th week;
c. Some brain activity by the end of the 6th week;
d. Normal heart functioning after the end of the 7th week.

5. Fetus (9th week until birth)


a. develops fingernails, vocal chords, taste buds, and salivary glands and begins to urinate (3rd
month)
b. "quickening" = spontaneous movement, between the 13th and 20th week (3rd, 4th or 5th month).
c. develops hair and eyelashes (5th month)
d. "viability" = fetus can survive outside the mother; occurs at approximately the 24th week.
(By convention, "fetus" is sometimes used generically to refer to all the stages of pregnancy.)

6. Infant (birth until one year)


a. Meltzoff research--rudimentary shape concepts
b. self-motivated activity

7. Child (ages 1 year to 12 years)


a. capacity to communicate
b. presence of self-concepts and self-awareness
c. reasoning (developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems)
d. morally responsible

Mary Ann Warren's Five Criteria for Personhood:


1. consciousness
2. reasoning (developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems)
3. self-motivated activity
4. capacity to communicate
5. presence of self-concepts and self-awareness.

Week 3 Lesson in Psychology

Theories of Development

Psychosexual Stages Sigmund Freud

Freud (1905) proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a series of fixed
stages.
These are called psychosexual stages because each stage represents the fixation of libido (roughly
translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body. As a person grows physically
certain areas of their body become important as sources of potential frustration (erogenous zones),
pleasure or both.Freud believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. Freud also believed that all
tension was due to the build up of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from its discharge.

In describing human personality development as psychosexual Freud meant to convey that what develops
is the way in which sexual energy accumulates and is discharged as we mature biologically. (NB Freud
used the term 'sexual' in a very general way to mean all pleasurable actions and thoughts).

Freud stressed that the first five years of life are crucial to the formation of adult personality. The id must
be controlled in order to satisfy social demands; this sets up a conflict between frustrated wishes and
social norms.
The ego and superego develop in order to exercise this control and direct the need for gratification into
socially acceptable channels. Gratification centers of different areas of the body at different stages of
growth, making the conflict at each stage psychosexual.
The Role of Conflict
Each of the psychosexual stages is associated with a particular conflict that must be resolved before the
individual can successfully advance to the next stage. The resolution of each of these conflicts requires
the expenditure of sexual energy and the more energy that is expended at a particular stage the more the
important characteristics of that stage remain with the individual as he/she matures psychologically.

To explain this Freud suggested the analogy of military troops on the march. As the troops advance they
are met by opposition or conflict. If they are highly successful in winning the battle (resolving the conflict)
then most of the troops (libido) will be able to move on to the next battle (stage).

But the greater the difficulty encountered at any particular point the greater the need for troops to remain
behind to fight and thus the fewer that will be able to go on to the next confrontation.

Frustration, Overindulgence and Fixation


Some people do not seem to be able to leave one stage and proceed on to the next. One reason for this
may be that the needs of the developing individual at any particular stage may not have been adequately
met in which case there is frustration. Or possibly the person's needs may have been so well satisfied
that he/she is reluctant to leave the psychological benefits of a particular stage in which there is
overindulgence.

Both frustration and overindulgence (or any combination of the two) may lead to what psychoanalysts call
fixation at a particular psychosexual stage.

Fixation refers to the theoretical notion that a portion of the individual's libido has been permanently
'invested' in a particular stage of his development. It is assumed that some libido is permanently invested
in each psychosexual stage and thus each person will behave in some ways that are characteristic of
infancy, or early childhood.

Psychosexual Stages of Development


You can remember the order of these stages by using the mnemonic: old (oral) age (anal) pensioners
(phallic) love (latent) grapes (genital).
Oral Stage (0-1 year)
In the first stage of personality development the libido is centered in a baby's mouth. It gets much
satisfaction from putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido, and thus its id demands. Which
at this stage in life are oral, or mouth orientated, such as sucking, biting, and breast-feeding.

Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all around
us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb suckers. Oral personalities engage in such
oral behaviors particularly when under stress.

Anal Stage (1-3 years)


The libido now becomes focused on the anus and the child derives great pleasure from defecating. The
child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can bring them into
conflict with the demands of the outside world (i.e. their ego has developed).

Freud believed that this type of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose
restrictions on when and where the child can defecate. The nature of this first conflict with authority can
determine the child's future relationship with all forms of authority.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an anal-retentive personality who hates mess,
is obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their
cash and possessions. This is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their faeces when toddlers,
and their mum's then insisting that they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they perform!

Not as daft as it sounds. The anal expulsive, on the other hand, underwent a liberal toilet-training regime
during the anal stage. In adulthood the anal expulsive is the person who wants to share things with you.
They like giving things away. In essence they are 'sharing their s**t'!' An anal-expulsive personality is
also messy, disorganized and rebellious.

Phallic Stage (3 to 5 or 6 years)


Sensitivity now becomes concentrated in the genitals and masturbation (in both sexes) becomes a new
source of pleasure. The child becomes aware of anatomical sex differences, which sets in motion the
conflict between erotic attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear which Freud called the Oedipus
complex (in boys) and the Electra complex (in girls). This is resolved through the process of
identification, which involves the child adopting the characteristics of the same sex parent.

Oedipus Complex
The most important aspect of the phallic stage is the Oedipus complex. This is one of Freud's most
controversial ideas and one that many people reject outright.

The name of the Oedipus complex derives from Greek myth where Oedipus, a young man, kills his
father and marries his mother. Upon discovering this he pokes his eyes out and becomes blind. This
Oedipal is the generic (i.e. general) term for both Oedipus and Electra complexes.

In the young boy, the Oedipus complex or more correctly conflict, arises because the boy develops
sexual (pleasurable) desires for his mother. He wants to possess his mother exclusively and get rid of
his father to enable him to do so. Irrationally, the boy thinks that if his father were to find out about all
this, his father would take away what he loves the most. During the phallic stage what the boy loves
most is his penis. Hence the boy develops castration anxiety.

The little boy then sets out to resolve this problem by imitating, copying and joining in masculine dad-
type behaviors. This is called identification, and is how the three-to-five year old boy resolves his
Oedipus complex. Identification means internally adopting the values, attitudes and behaviors of
another person. The consequence of this is that the boy takes on the male gender role, and adopts an
ego ideal and values that become the superego.

Freud (1909) offered the Little Hans case study as evidence for the oedipus complex.

Electra Complex
For girls, the Oedipus or Electra complex is less than satisfactory. Briefly, the girl desires the father,
but realizes that she does not have a penis. This leads to the development of penis envy and the wish
to be a boy.

The girl resolves this by repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for a penis with
the wish for a baby. The girl blames her mother for her 'castrated state' and this creates great tension.
The girl then represses her feelings (to remove the tension) and identifies with the mother to take on
the female gender role.

Latency Stage (5 or 6 to puberty)


No further psychosexual development takes place during this stage (latent means hidden). The libido is
dormant. Freud thought that most sexual impulses are repressed during the latent stage and sexual
energy can be sublimated (re: defense mechanisms) towards school work, hobbies and friendships.
Much of the child's energies are channeled into developing new skills and acquiring new knowledge and
play becomes largely confined to other children of the same gender.

Genital Stage (puberty to adult)


This is the last stage of Freud's psychosexual theory of personality development and begins in puberty. It
is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a
loving one-to-one relationship with another person in our 20's. Sexual instinct is directed to heterosexual
pleasure, rather than self pleasure like during the phallic stage.

For Freud, the proper outlet of the sexual instinct in adults was through heterosexual intercourse. Fixation
and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual perversions may develop. For example,
fixation at the oral stage may result in a person gaining sexual pleasure primarily from kissing and oral
sex, rather than sexual intercourse.

PSYCHO SOCIAL - Eric Erickson

Erik Erikson (1950, 1963) does not talk about psychosexual Stages, he discusses psychosocial
stages. His ideas, though, were greatly influenced by Freud, going along with Freuds (1923) ideas
about the structure and topography of personality.

However, whereas Freud was an id psychologist, Erikson was an ego psychologist. He emphasized
the role of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, whereas
Freud emphasized the conflict between the id and the superego.
According to Erikson, the ego develops as it successfully resolves crises that are distinctly social in
nature. These involve establishing a sense of trust in others, developing a sense of identity in society,
and helping the next generation prepare for the future.

Erikson extends on Freudian thoughts by focusing on the adaptive and creative characteristic of the
ego, and expanding the notion of the stages of personality development to include the entire lifespan.
Erikson proposed a lifespan model of development, taking in five stages up to the age of 18 years
and three further stages beyond, well into adulthood. Erikson suggests that there is still plenty of
room for continued growth and development throughout ones life. Erikson put a great deal of
emphasis on the adolescent period, feeling it was a crucial stage for developing a persons identity.

Like Freud and many others, Erik Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined
order, and builds upon each previous stage. This is called the epigenic principle. The outcome of this
'maturation timetable' is a wide and integrated set of life skills and abilities that function together
within the autonomous individual. However, instead of focusing on sexual development (like Freud),
he was interested in how children socialize and how this affects their sense of self.

Psychosocial Stages
Eriksons (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight distinct stages.

1. Trust vs. Mistrust


Erikson's first psychosocial crisis occurs during the first year or so of life (like Freud's oral stage of
psychosexual development). The crisis is one of trust vs. mistrust.
During this stage the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live. To resolve these feelings of
uncertainty the infant looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and consistency of care.

If the care the infant receives is consistent, predictable and reliable they will develop a sense of trust which will
carry with them to other relationships, and they will be able to feel secure even when threatened.

Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope. By developing a sense of trust, the infant can have hope
that as new crises arise, there is a real possibility that other people will be there are a source of support.
Failing to acquire the virtue of hope will lead to the development of fear.

For example, if the care has been harsh or inconsistent, unpredictable and unreliable then the infant will
develop a sense of mistrust and will not have confidence in the world around them or in their abilities to
influence events.

This infant will carry the basic sense of mistrust with them to other relationships. It may result in anxiety,
heightened insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them.Consistent with Erikson's
views on the importance of trust, research by Bowlby and Ainsworth has outlined how the quality of early
experience of attachment can effect relationships with others in later life.

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt


The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. Between the ages of 18 months and three,
children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with,
and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc.

The child is discovering that he or she has many skills and abilities, such as putting on clothes and shoes,
playing with toys etc. Such skills illustrate the child's growing sense of independence and autonomy. Erikson
states it is critical that parents allow their children to explore the limits of their abilities within an encouraging
environment which is tolerant of failure.

For example, rather than put on a child's clothes a supportive parent should have the patience to allow the
child to try until they succeed or ask for assistance.

So, the parents need to encourage the child to becoming more independent whilst at the same time protecting
the child so that constant failure is avoided.

A delicate balance is required from the parent .... they must try not to do everything for the child but if the child
fails at a particular task they must not criticize the child for failures and accidents (particularly when toilet
training). The aim has to be self control without a loss of self-esteem (Gross, 1993). Success in this stage
will lead to the virtue of will.

If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more
confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world.

If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel
inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem,
and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their own abilities.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt

Around age three and continuing to age five, children assert themselves more frequently. These are
particularly lively, rapid-developing years in a childs life. According to Bee (1992) it is a time of vigor of action
and of behaviors that the parents may see as aggressive".
During this period the primary feature involves the child regularly interacting with other children at school.
Central to this stage is play, as it provides children with the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills
through initiating activities.

Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity,
children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions.

Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt.
They may feel like a nuisance to others and will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative.

The child takes initiatives which the parents will often try to stop in order to protect the child. The child will often
overstep the mark in his forcefulness and the danger is that the parents will tend to punish the child and restrict
his initiatives too much.

It is at this stage that the child will begin to ask many questions as his thirst for knowledge grows. If the parents
treat the childs questions as trivial, a nuisance or embarrassing or other aspects of their behavior as
threatening then the child may have feelings of guilt for being a nuisance.

Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact with others and may inhibit their creativity. Some guilt is, of
course, necessary otherwise the child would not know how to exercise self control or have a conscience.A
healthy balance between initiative and guilt is important. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of
purpose.

4. Industry (competence) vs. Inferiority


Children are at the stage (aged 5 to 12 yrs) where they will be learning to read and write, to do sums, to make
things on their own. Teachers begin to take an important role in the childs life as they teach the child specific
skills.

It is at this stage that the childs peer group will gain greater significance and will become a major source of the
childs self esteem. The child now feels the need to win approval by demonstrating specific competencies that
are valued by society, and begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in
their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted by parents or teacher, then the
child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and therefore may not reach his or her potential.

If the child cannot develop the specific skill they feel society is demanding (e.g. being athletic) then they may
develop a sense of inferiority. Some failure may be necessary so that the child can develop some modesty. Yet
again, a balance between competence and modesty is necessary. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue
of competence.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion


During adolescence (age 12 to 18 yrs), the transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children
are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families,
housing, etc. The individual wants to belong to a society and fit in.

This is a major stage in development where the child has to learn the roles he will occupy as an adult. It is
during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity and try to find out exactly who he or she is.
Erikson suggests that two identities are involved: the sexual and the occupational.

According to Bee (1992), what should happen at the end of this stage is a reintegrated sense of self, of what
one wants to do or be, and of ones appropriate sex role. During this stage the body image of the adolescent
changes.
Erikson claims that the adolescent may feel uncomfortable about their body for a while until they can adapt and
grow into the changes. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity.Fidelity involves being able to
commit one's self to others on the basis of accepting others even when there may be ideological differences.

During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based upon the outcome of
their explorations. Failure to establish a sense of identity within society ("I dont know what I want to be when I
grow up") can lead to role confusion. Role confusion involves the individual not being sure about themselves or
their place in society.

In response to role confusion or identity crisis an adolescent may begin to experiment with different lifestyles
(e.g. work, education or political activities). Also pressuring someone into an identity can result in rebellion in
the form of establishing a negative identity, and in addition to this feelings of unhappiness.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation


Occurring in young adulthood (ages 18 to 40), we begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We
explore relationships leading toward longer term commitments with someone other than a family member.

Successful completion of this stage can lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of commitment, safety,
and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation,
loneliness, and sometimes depression. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of love.

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation


During middle adulthood (ages 40 to 65), we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own
families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.

We give back to society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community
activities and organizations.By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Success in
this stage will lead to the virtue of care.

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair


As we grow older (65 years and over) and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity, and
explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to
develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life.

Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our past, or feel that we did not
accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression
and hopelessness. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look
back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.

INTELLECTUAL Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) was employed at the Binet Institute in the 1920s, where his job was to
develop French versions of questions on English intelligence tests.

He became intrigued with the reasons children gave for their wrong answers on the questions that
required logical thinking. He believed that these incorrect answers revealed important differences
between the thinking of adults and children.

Piaget (1936) was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. His
contributions include a theory of cognitive child development, detailed observational studies of
cognition in children, and a series of simple but ingenious tests to reveal different cognitive abilities.
Before Piagets work, the common assumption in psychology was that children are merely less
competent thinkers than adults. Piaget showed that young children think in strikingly different ways
compared to adults.

According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and
evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based.

Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several Ways:

o It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.

o It focuses on development, rather than learning per se, so it does not address learning of
information or specific behaviors.

o It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather than a


gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc.

The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the
child, develops into an individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.

To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of


biological maturation and environmental experience. Children construct an understanding of the world
around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover
in their environment.

There Are Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory:

Schemas - (building blocks of knowledge).


Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another
(equilibrium,assimilation and accommodation).
Stages of Development:
sensorimotor,
preoperational,
concrete operational,
formal operational.

Schemas

Piaget (1952) defined a schema as 'a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component
actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning'.
In more simple terms Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior a way
of organizing knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as units of knowledge, each
relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions and abstract (i.e. theoretical) concepts.

Wadsworth (2004) suggests that schemata (the plural of schema) be though of as 'index cards' filed
in the brain, each one telling an individual how to react to incoming stimuli or information.

When Piaget talked about the development of a person's mental processes, he was referring to
increases in the number and complexity of the schemata that a person had learned.

When a child's existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to
be in a state of equilibrium, i.e. a state of cognitive (i.e. mental) balance.
Piaget emphasized the importance of schemas in cognitive development, and described how they
were developed or acquired. A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of
the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we
store these mental representations and apply them when needed.

For example, a person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a
stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and
paying the bill. This is an example of a type of schema called a 'script'. Whenever they are in a
restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation.

The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this - especially those used by infants. He
described how - as a child gets older - his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate.

Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas - even before they have
had much opportunity to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures
underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us.

For example babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. A
baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person's finger. Piaget therefore assumed that the
baby has a 'sucking schema'.

Similarly the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby's hand, or
the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, were
assumed to result operations: for example shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas,
grasping and shaking.

Assimilation and Accommodation

Assimilation
Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.

Accommodation
This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed
to deal with a new object or situation.

Equilibration
This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development
did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.
Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through
assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot
be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).

Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and
will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation).

Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will
continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.

Example of Assimilation
A 2 year old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long
frizzy hair on the sides. To his fathers horror, the toddler shouts Clown,
clown (Siegler et al., 2003).

Example of Accommodation
In the clown incident, the boys father explained to his son that the man
was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clowns, he
wasnt wearing a funny costume and wasnt doing silly things to make
people laugh.

With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of
clown and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of clown.

Stages of Development

A child's cognitive development is about a child developing or constructing a mental model of the
world.Imagine what it would be like if you did not have a mental model of your world. It would mean
that you would not be able to make so much use of information from your past experience, or to plan
future actions.

Piaget studied children from infancy to adolescence, and carried out many of his own investigations
using his three children. He used the following research methods:

Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of children. These were mainly his own
children and the children of friends. From these he wrote diary descriptions charting their
development.

He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand
questions and hold conversations.Piaget believed that children think differently than adults and stated
they go through 4 universal stages of cognitive development. Development is therefore biologically
based and changes as the child matures. Cognition therefore develops in all children in the same
sequence of stages.

Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and no stage can be missed out - although
some individuals may never attain the later stages. There are individual differences in the rate at
which children progress through stages.

Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions of the
stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage.
Piaget (1952) believed that these stages are universal - i.e. that the same sequence of development
occurs in children all over the world, whatever their culture.

Stage of Development Key Feature Research Study

Sensorimotor
Object Permanence Blanket & Ball Study
0 - 2 yrs.
Preoperational
Egocentrism Three Mountains
2 - 7 yrs.

Concrete Operational
Conservation Conservation of Number
7 11 yrs.

Manipulate ideas in
Formal Operational
head, e.g. Abstract Pendulum Task
11yrs +
Reasoning

Educational Implications
Piaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have
explained how features of Piaget's theory can be applied to teaching and learning.

Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching. For example, a
review of primary education by the UK government in 1966 was based strongly on Piagets theory.
The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden report (1967).
Discovery learning the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring - was seen
as central to the transformation of primary school curriculum.

'The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play
in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the
evaluation of children's progress - teachers should 'not assume that only what is measurable is
valuable.'

Because Piaget's theory is based upon biological maturation and stages the notion of 'readiness' is
important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to
Piaget's theory children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate
stage of cognitive development.

According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive
one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered.Within the classroom
learning should be student centred a accomplished through active discovery learning. The role of the
teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition. Therefore teachers should encourage the
following within the classroom:

MORAL Kohlberg

Lawrence Kohlberg (1958) agreed with Piaget's (1932) theory of moral development in principle but
wanted to develop his ideas further. He used Piagets story-telling technique to tell people stories
involving moral dilemmas. In each case he presented a choice to be considered, for example
between the rights of some authority and the needs of some deserving individual who is being unfairly
treated.

One of the best known of Kohlbergs (1958) stories concerns a man called Heinz who lived
somewhere in Europe.

Heinzs wife was dying from a particular type of cancer. Doctors said a new drug might save her.
The drug had been discovered by a local chemist and the Heinz tried desperately to buy some,
but the chemist was charging ten times the money it cost to make the drug and this was much
more than the Heinz could afford.
Heinz could only raise half the money, even after help from family and friends. He explained to the
chemist that his wife was dying and asked if he could have the drug cheaper or pay the rest of the
money later. The chemist refused saying that he had discovered the drug and was going to make
money from it. The husband was desperate to save his wife, so later that night he broke into the
chemists and stole the drug.
Kohlberg asked a series of questions such as:
1. Should Heinz have stolen the drug?
2. Would it change anything if Heinz did not love his wife?
3. What if the person dying was a stranger, would it make any difference?
4. Should the police arrest the chemist for murder if the woman died?

By studying the answers from children of different ages to these questions Kohlberg hoped to
discover the ways in which moral reasoning changed as people grew older. The sample comprised 72
Chicago boys aged 1016 years, 58 of whom were followed up at three-yearly intervals for 20 years
(Kohlberg, 1984). Kohlberg told several dilemma stories and asked many such questions to discover
how people reasoned about moral issues. He identified three distinct levels of moral reasoning each
with two sub stages. People can only pass through these levels in the order listed. Each new stage
replaces the reasoning typical of the earlier stage. Not everyone achieves all the stages.

Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development


Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality
At the pre-conventional level (most nine-year-old and younger, some over nine), we dont have a
personal code of morality. Instead, our moral code is shaped by the standards of adults and the
consequences of following or breaking their rules. Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is
based on the physical consequences of actions.

Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. The child/individual is good in order to avoid
being punished. If a person is punished they must have done wrong.

Stage 2. Individualism and Exchange. At this stage children recognize that there is not just one
right view that is handed down by the authorities. Different individuals have different viewpoints.

Level 2 - Conventional morality


At the conventional level (most adolescents and adults), we begin to internalize the moral standards
of valued adult role models.

Authority is internalized but not questioned and reasoning is based on the norms of the group to
which the person belongs.

Stage 3. Good Interpersonal Relationships. The child/individual is good in order to be seen as


being a good person by others. Therefore, answers are related to the approval of others.

Stage 4. Maintaining the Social Order. The child/individual becomes aware of the wider rules of
society so judgments concern obeying rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt.

Level 3 - Post-conventional morality


Individual judgment is based on self-chosen principles, and moral reasoning is based on individual
rights and justice (1015% of adults, not before mid-30s).

Stage 5. Social Contract and Individual Rights. The child/individual becomes aware that while
rules/laws might exist for the good of the greatest number, there are times when they will work
against the interest of particular individuals. The issues are not always clear cut. For example, in
Heinzs dilemma the protection of life is more important than breaking the law against stealing.

Stage 6. Universal Principles. People at this stage have developed their own set of moral
guidelines which may or may not fit the law. The principles apply to everyone. E.g. human rights,
justice and equality. The person will be prepared to act to defend these principles even if it means
going against the rest of society in the process and having to pay the consequences of disapproval
and or imprisonment. Kohlberg doubted few people reached this stage.

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