How moral development occurs :An exploratory study by Jean Piaget on moral reasoning i.e. all about Heteronomous morality ( moral realism) and Autonomous morality (moral relativism) in young children,its educational implications and criticism. Especially for NET/SLET/CTET/B.Ed./M.Ed./M.A and entrance Aspirants..

1. Jagannath Kunar
Dept. of Higher Education
Govt. of Odisha
Email:jkuanr01@gmail.com

2. Skeletal framework
 Moral Development by Jean Piaget
 Main types of moral thinking
 Heteronomous Morality(moral realism)[5-9 Yrs.
 Autonomous morality(moral relativism)[9-10 Yrs.
 Educational Implications
 Criticism

3. Moral Development by Jean Piaget
 Jean Piaget (1932) was not interested in whether children
break rules or not, but in what way they think.
 In other words he was principally interested in children’s
moral reasoning.
 Piaget sketched out three main aspects of children’s
understanding of moral issues .These are..
1. Understanding of rules: who makes rules, can it be
changed/unchangable forever)
2. Understanding of moral responsibility: behavior is
judged as “bad” in terms of consequences, Is there a
difference between accidental and deliberate wrongdoing
3. Understanding of justice: Should the punishment fit
the crime? Are the guilty always punished?

4. Main types of moral thinking:
 Piaget (1932) suggested two main types of moral
thinking:
1. Heteronomous Morality(moral realism)[5-9 Yrs.]
2. Autonomous morality (moral relativism) [9-10 Yrs.]

5. 1. Heteronomous Morality(moral realism)[5-9
Yrs.
 Children considered morality as obeying rules and laws
(made by parents, teacher, Government and God) ,which
is absolute & can’t be changed.
 Breaking rules leads to punishment, they believes in “Tit
for tat”/an eye for an eye
 Immanent justice: interpret misfortune as if it were
some kind of punishment from God
 Behavior can be judged as good/bad in terms of
consequences regardless on the intention or reasons

7. Cont….
 The children in this stage (pre & concrete operational
stage) may not judge the intention behind rather they
consider severity of consequences
 Example: If someone put a dilemma like :A child
named Uttam broke 6 glasses accidentally while
serving his friends and a child named Tanaya out of
anger ,throw a glass and broke ,Who is naughtier,
they will answer Uttam. This is moral realism as per
Piaget.

8. 2. Autonomous morality(moral relativism)[9-10
Yrs.
 As children get older their whole attitude to moral
questions undergoes a radical change
 Children recognize there is no absolute right or
wrong and that morality depends on intentions not
consequences.
 Overcome the egocentrism & developed the ability
to see moral rules from other people’s point of
view.

9. Cont…
 Making the more independent moral judgments
 Children now understand that, People make rules and
can be changeable.
 Children don’t just take the consequences into account
they also consider motives
 Punishment: the emphasis now moves from
retribution(an eye for an eye) to restitution(bringing
something back to its original state)

10. •Teacher
•Teacher
educator
•Researcher :
•Curriculum
framer:

11. Educational Implications ……..
 Therefore the type of moral education suitable for the children(age specific)
will need to be varied as the child grows older and advances in intellectual
growth.
 The traditional approaches to character development such as indoctrination ,
rewards, punishment, and modeling are all valuable methods and should not
be abandoned.
 Teacher should create an empathetic atmosphere in class room to foster
moral development.
 Teacher educator should trained with different brain compatible strategies
for moral development of young student teachers
 As Pieget did this experiment with small sample , hence a great scope for
the researcher to study moral development of young children.
 Curriculum framer may take suggestions from developmental psychologist
,stakeholders while framing curriculum . So that the curriculum may
includes activities and strategies for moral development of children
Moral
Development
Cognitive
Development

12. Critics….
 Piaget used observation/interview to judge moral
development so generalization is a primitive question
 The age range for moral realism” to “moral relativism
is not appropriate. Nelson (1980) found that even 3-
year olds could distinguish intentions from
consequences
 Many psychologists argue that what is far more
important is not what children think about moral
issues but how they actually behave, which was not
answered by piaget.

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPdjgMQ2pZQ&t=4s