Name: Arevalo, Maria Angelica D.

Section: I-AAC
Activity 1: TAKE HOME #1
Question: Differentiate the focus of cognitive-moral development theories of Piaget and Kohlberg.
Resource:
Dennis Coon, (1986) Introduction to Psychology: Exploration of Application Fourth Edition,
West Publishing Company, pp. 375-381 and pp.477-479

ANSWER:
Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist born in 1896 who is famous for his
theories of child development. Piaget's theories focused on the cognitive and moral development of
children as they interact with their biological environment. He was the first to put forth the theory
that children develop in specific stages. Lawrence Kohlberg was an American developmental
psychologist born in 1927 whose primary focus was on how children develop a sense of morality.
The theories of Kohlberg are based on those of Piaget, although their theories and approaches
differ as well.
Piagets theory tells that intellectual growth occurs through a combination of assimilation
and accommodation. He also held that children go through a fixed series of cognitive stages. The
stages approximate age ranges are: sensorimotor (0-2), preoperational (2-7), concrete operations
(7-11), and formal operations (11-adult). His theory tells that young children believes rules are
dictated by either their parents or by God. Young children base their moral judgments on
consequences rather than intentions. For Piaget, the way of thinking about morality changes for
children around age 10 starts to understand that morals are based on their own judgments and
intentions. His point is that children move from a concrete understanding of morality to a more
abstract one, where they realize that rules are not absolute but are ways for humans to cooperate
and get along. While Kohlbergs theory was built upon Piaget's theory, but offers a more
sophisticated understanding of childhood morality, in a six-stage model. I noticed that like Piaget,
Kohlberg saw children's beginning understanding of morality as having to do with rules and
consequences. I noticed too that Kohlberg believed that children struggle, over time, with issues
connected to morality such as individual rights, relationships, social order and universality. I noted
that Kohlberg's theory offers more detail and a deeper understanding of human development of
morality than Piaget's.