SYMPOSIUM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL VALUES IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Summary.— Piaget has contrasted the ‘morality of constraints’ of early childhood, with its complete reliance upon external authority, and a rigid system of rules, with the ‘morality of co‐operation’ of later phases of development, in which there is a flexible interpretation of rules in favour of the general interest. There has, however, been a marked lack of field studies tracing this development, particularly in the period of adolescence.Studies following Piaget (Harrower, MacRae, Lerner, Havighurst, and others) together with the Columbia Character Education Inquiry, have shown:(a) a tendency for personal values to increase in consistency with increasing age; (b) the content of judgments to become more complex and individualised with age; (c) social‐class differences in ‘moral realism’; (d) differences in ‘moral realism’ between some primitive societies and modern industrial societies; (e) the many‐sided nature of moral development; (f) few striking sex differences in judgments.A study of value‐judgments of pupils at a London co‐educational grammar school (with supplementary material from two Manchester schools) included responses to fourteen problem‐situations, presented in the course of individual interviews. Pupils were asked what should be done and then what would be done by someone of their age in each of these situations. Judgments showed: (1) changes in the direction of greater autonomy and equity with increasing age; (2) marked discrepancies between what should be done and what would be done. On both levels there was a blend of normative, self‐interested and other elements in the judgments at all ages. Steady development of normative judgment occurs only on the ‘prescriptive’ level. Discrepancies between normative elements on the two levels tend to increase; (3) there were fluctuations in development in the middle forms of the school (third and fourth); (4) sex differences in judgments were slight, with the exception of an earlier age for girls in ‘pubescent fluctuations,’ and rather wider discrepancies for girls; (5) rather greater conformity was found in the modern‐school. Some implications of this study are that: (a) we need further study of individual differences in moral development, in view of the marked degree of individuality of responses; (b) further investigation of the social factors affecting judgments; (c) we must distinguish between the different levels at which value‐judgments influence behaviour, with a view to the constructive reduction of discrepancies.