WHEN CHILDREN DISTINGUISH GOOD FROM EVIL: THE MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

How many times have you told your child "don't do that, what's wrong"? But do you know if you clearly understand the concepts of good and evil? Do youWhen children learn the difference between good and evil? Knowing the process of moral development of our children will help us to accompany them (and help them) along the way.

Acquisition by stages: classical theories.

The most important theories about the acquisition of morality in children in recent decades have come from the hand of such relevant authors as Piaget and Kolhberg, who postulated that such moral development was produced by stages or phases.

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According to these authors, children come to the world "formatted" without moral information, blank, and it is the contact with the environment (family, school ...) and society that make their morals develop.

This process would occur, as I said before, through a series of phases or stages through which all human beings would pass, stages that are conditioned by the level of cognitive development of each child, according to Piaget's theory, and in addition to this, by the interaction with the environment, according to Kolhberg's.

1. The phases according to Piaget are:

Premoral stage: from 2 to 6 years old, and is characterized by heteronomy, that is, "it is not I who says what is right or wrong, but my parents."
Heteronomous or moral realism stage: from 5 to 10 years. They understand that the rules are imposed by powerful sources of authority, but not only parents, but also the law, authorities ... They have a dichotomous vision, that is, things are right or wrong, without nuances, without considerations. At the end of this stage they begin to understand that the rules are established not only by the authority, but also among equals, for the good of the group, so at this stage they already participate in group games accepting and understanding the rules as a good thing for the development of the activity.
Moral stage: from 10 years old. They understand that the norms are social agreements, agreed and established by people, so they can be transgressed, especially in certain situations for the common or personal good, or for certain needs. As the child's cognitive development occurs, they establish their own moral notion, with their own norms that articulate it.

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2. The phases according to Kolhberg are:

Preconventional stage (between 4 and 10 years old), in which the moral judgment is based on the needs and perceptions of the child, regardless of that of others. It is characterized by responding to reinforcements and punishments (something is bad because it is punished, because it is punished). That is, it is judged based on whether the conduct is punished or rewarded.
Conventional stage (between the ages of 10 and 13): in addition to one's own needs, the moral considerations of society come into play and it is understood that there is something called the Law, that it has to be complied with and that sets the guidelines for “right and wrong” .
Postconventional stage (from the age of 13 ... or never, because according to this author, not everyone reaches this level of moral development), in which social norms are questioned and it is understood that there are levels higher than personal and social levels moral (it's quite complex).

Latest studies: is morality innate?

However, despite the weight that these theories have had, recent studies indicate that there would be some innate morality, contrary to the postulated by Piaget and Kolhberg.

Specifically, a well-known study carried out in Yale by P. Bloom, concluded that babies come to the world with a kind of "embryonic moral" that leads them to distinguish between "good and bad" behaviors with only 6 or 10 months. That is to say, since 6 months old, babies seem to show certain moral patterns.

Another study from the University of Illinois concluded that babies between 19 and 21 months can already distinguish between “fair and unfair” situations and behaviors, and that they show positive expectations, that is, they tend to expect others to behave in a way fair.

Another study developed by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany) concluded that babies as young as 18 months tend to help others achieve their goals. That is, they would show "prosocial" behaviors.

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The cocktail of moral development

Despite the importance of these studies, their conclusions are at least controversial, since it is not entirely possible to isolate the variables that influence the development of children, much less in the case of babies who have no language. Therefore it cannot be concluded that these results are due exclusively to something innate.

The consensus today is that although there is a predisposition to the confidence that others will act “well” (babies tend to think that we are going to take care of them, not to harm them, hence there is attachment and they are calm), and that therefore there could be a "preconception" of good and evil, moral development occurs inherently in the hands of the child's cognitive development, a development that occurs, of course, in a context, with a family that educates, with a school that teaches and with friends who modulate.

That is, moral development is the result of a combination of variables, like almost everything concerning the human being.

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