Exploring Moral Reasoning among Young Children through Moral Dillemas (original) (raw)

The Construction of Children Moral Reasoning in Strengthening Self-Control

RETORIKA: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pengajarannya

Self-control is achieved by popular children stories, by which they are able to help children see themselves and change their way of life to ensure a sustainable future. Besides, the stories also function to identify, investigate, evaluate, and take appropriate actions in order to maintain, protect, and develop one’s mentality and characters, environment, and society. The purpose of this study was to reveal the construction of children moral reasoning in children stories contained in a national daily newspaper of Suara Merdeka in 2018. As based on the research substance, this present study relied on the qualitative and critical analysis methods. The results suggests that children, as the main characters in every story, have morals and do reasoning in dealing with problems. The construction of moral reasoning is classified into three, i.e., construction of moral reasoning in children’s relationship with family, with friends, and with society. Such constructions will give relevance to...

A Longitudinal Study of Moral Reasoning

Child Development, 1989

Several issues concerning Gilligan's model of moral orientations and Kohlberg's models of moral stages and moral orientations were examined in a longitudinal study with 233 subjects (from 78 families) who ranged in age from 5 to 63 years. They participated in 2 identical interviews separated by a 2-year interval. In each interview, they discussed hypothetical dilemmas and a personally generated real-life dilemma, which were scored for both moral stage and moral orientation (both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's typologies). Results revealed few violations of the stage sequence over the longitudinal interval, supporting Kohlberg's moral stage model. Sex differences were almost completely absent for both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's moral orientations, although there were clear developmental trends. Hypothetical and real-life dilemmas elicited different moral orientations, especially in terms of Kohlberg's typology. The interrelations between the 2 models of moral orientations were generally weak, indicating that they are not synonymous.

Moral judgement in adolescents: Age differences in applying and justifying three principles of harm

European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2013

This study investigated the application and justification of three principles of harm in a cross-sectional sample of adolescents in order to test recent theories concerning the source of intuitive moral judgements. Participants were 46 early (M age ¼ 14.8 years) and 40 late adolescents (M age ¼ 17.8 years). Participants rated the permissibility of various ethical dilemmas, and provided justifications for their judgements. Results indicated participants aligned their judgements with the three principles of harm, but had difficulty explaining their reasoning. Furthermore, although age groups were consistent in the application of the principles of harm, age differences emerged in their justifications. These differences were partly explained by differences in language ability. Additionally, participants who used emotional language in their justifications demonstrated a characteristically deontological pattern of moral judgement on certain dilemmas. We conclude adolescents in this age range apply the principles of harm but that the ability to explain their judgements is still developing.

Sociomoral reasoning in children and adolescents from two collectivistic cultures

European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2014

This study compared the sociomoral reasoning of 7-, 9-, 12-, and 15-year-old children and adolescents of two collectivistic cultures in the 1990s: Spain (horizontal collectivism; N = 208) and Russia (vertical collectivism; N = 247). Participants reasoned about choices and moral justifications of a protagonist in a sociomoral dilemma where participants can focus on different moral and non-moral concerns (e.g., going with their best friend, going with a new classmate or trying to do something with both). Results support previous research in western societies: Participants tend to choose the option "visiting the best friend", and selfinterest tends to decrease with age whereas altruism tends to increase. Moreover, Spanish participants tended to consider all parties involved in the dilemma (i.e., old friend and new classmate), whereas Russian participants did not. These results are discussed in light of their differences as horizontal and vertical collectivistic societies. Overall, the results open an avenue for new studies when comparing the effects of culture on children's and adolescents' development.

The Moral Reasoning of Adolescent Boys and Girls in the Light of Gilligan’s Theory

International Education Studies, 2012

The study was conducted to assess the moral reasoning of adolescent boys and girls in the light of Gilligan theory. The main objectives of the study were to investigate the moral reasoning of adolescent boys and girls with reference to responsibility orientation versus justice orientation and to compare the frequency of adolescent boys and girls with right orientation and responsibility orientation. The population of study consisted of all adolescent boys and girls studying in SSC and F.A/FSc of Fazaia Inter College Chaklala Rawalpindi. They all were sixteen to twenty years of age. The sample of study consisted of 40 boys and 40 girls studying in Matric and F.A/FSc of Fazaia Inter College Chaklala Rawalpindi, were taken applying random sampling technique. The scale developed by Baker and Role (2002), an objective measure of the two orientations was translated into Urdu language for the collection of the data of the study. The main conclusions of the study were that adolescent girls found to be more care oriented than boys, however, they were found to be equal on justice oriented. It was also inferred that religion is the most important factor which influence the moral judgment and justice oriented approach of boys and girls. The present study partially supports Gilligan's theory and it was also concluded that cultural norms do play an important role to make the boys more assertive to boys as compared to girls. It is expected from girls that they should be submissive, introvert and caring as compared to boys.

The morality of young children in their early years setting

Childhoods Today

One afternoon, when my son, Daniel, had just turned 3, we paid a rare visit to a local playgroup. Being a relative stranger to the place, Daniel chose to play by himself with the wheeled toys but soon ran into a large plastic Wendy House from which he reappeared almost immediately, followed by a little girl he did not know. They were both giggling. For a couple of minutes, they played a chaotic game of tag around the house and then Daniel ran to me and said, 'She's my friend!' The game carried on for a few minutes more, during which time the children made several gleeful declarations of friendship. And then, just as suddenly as their play had started, it stopped. The two paid no attention to each other for the next 10 minutes and I assumed that their collaboration was over. But then a little boy snatched the policeman's hat from Daniel's head, and Daniel burst into tears. Almost immediately, Daniel's new friend ran across the play area, pushed over the little boy and grabbed the hat, shouting, 'No! That's my friend's hat!' She walked calmly to Daniel, gave him his hat, smiled, and went back to what she had been doing. They did not play with each other again.