Which researcher believed that moral developed paralleled ones cognitive development?

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Highlights

A framework incorporating social information processing and moral development is introduced.

The framework integrates cognitive and affective skills and social neuroscience.

The framework bridges the gap between developmental psychology and social neuroscience.

This framework can guide moral development research in typical and atypical populations.

Abstract

How moral decision-making occurs, matures over time and relates to behaviour is complex. To develop a full picture of moral decision-making, moral development and moral behaviour it is necessary to understand: (a) how real-time moral decisions are made (including relevant social and contextual factors), (b) what processes are required to develop to enable mature moral decisions, (c) how these processes develop over time, and (d) how moral decisions relate to behaviour. In this paper, psychological and social neuroscience theories of moral decision-making and development are briefly reviewed, as is the development of relevant component processes. Various component processes and factors are seen as required for moral decision-making and development, yet there is no comprehensive framework incorporating these components into one explanation of how real-time moral decisions are made and mature. In this paper, we integrated these components into a new framework based on social information processing (SIP) theory. Situational factors, and how both cognitive and affective processes guide moral decisions was incorporated into the Social Information Processing-Moral Decision-Making (SIP-MDM) framework, drawing upon theories and findings from developmental psychology and social neuroscience. How this framework goes beyond previous SIP models was outlined, followed by a discussion of how it can explain both real-time moral decisions and moral development. We concluded with how the SIP-MDM framework could be used to guide future research and theory development in this area.

Keywords

Moral decision-making

Moral development

Moral reasoning

Perspective taking

Social information processing

Abbreviations

SIP

social information processing

SIP-MDM

Social Information processing-Moral Decision-Making framework

vmPFC

ventromedial prefrontal cortex

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© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Abstract

Kohlberg has proposed that both cognitive and perspective-taking development are necessary though not sufficient conditions for moral development. This study examined that proposition by attempting to stimulate moral development to stage 3 as a function of attainment of hypothesized prerequisites in cognitive and perspective-taking development. After assessing stage of development in each domain of reasoning, fourth-through seventh-grade children were exposed to moral stage 3 reasoning in a brief role-playing situation. This treatment was followed by a moral reasoning posttest and a follow-up. Results indicated that transitions to moral stage 3 were found only for those children who had attained the hypothesized prerequisites of "beginning formal operations" and "perspective-taking stage 3," thus confirming Kohlberg's proposition and implying the relevance of these prerequisites for the efficacy of moral education programs.

Journal Information

As the flagship journal of the Society for Research in Child Development, Child Development has published articles, essays, reviews, and tutorials on various topics in the field of child development since 1930. Spanning many disciplines, the journal provides the latest research, not only for researchers and theoreticians, but also for child psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, specialists in early childhood education, educational psychologists, special education teachers, and other researchers.

Publisher Information

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Who believed that moral development like cognitive?

Kohlberg believed that moral development, like cognitive development, follows a series of stages.

Who researched moral development?

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) Lawrence Kohlberg was a 20th century psychologist known primarily for his research into moral psychology and development.

What is Jean Piaget's theory of moral development?

Piaget conceptualizes moral development as a constructivist process, whereby the interplay of action and thought builds moral concepts. Piaget (1932) was principally interested not in what children do (i.e., in whether they break rules or not) but in what they think.

What is cognitive moral development theory?

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of cognitive-moral development focuses on the process of thinking about moral issues rather than on moral values themselves. Such an approach avoids the clash between secular and religious value systems, problems of indoctrination, and even the problem of moral relativism.