Your aunt and uncle are concerned about whether their teenage children, your cousins, will develop into moral adults. They ask you about adolescent moral development and, in particular, they want to know what they should expect in regard to moral behavior for their children. They want to know what they can do to ensure the healthy moral development of their teens. They are also specifically concerned about whether there is a gap between moral reasoning and moral behavior. Explain what you know about the three levels of moral reasoning. Give an example of when and why there might be a gap between a teenager's moral reasoning and behavior.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

According to the cognitive-developmental perspective, there are three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional (based on rewards and punishments), conventional (based on the rules and conventions of society), and postconventional or principled (when society's rules and conventions are seen as relative and subjective). Preconventional reasoning dominates during childhood, and conventional reasoning appears during preadolescence. Children move to higher stages of moral reasoning when they are developmentally ready and when they are exposed to more advanced reasoning by other people, such as parents. Although postconventional reasoning is relatively rare, by late adolescence an individual who is exposed to this type of reasoning may achieve it. Adolescents whose parents engage them in discussion, elicit their point of view, and use authoritative parenting display more advanced moral reasoning than their peers. Higher levels of moral reasoning are also associated with age and with schooling. Moral reasoning does not necessarily mean a person will behave morally; however, the two do parallel each other, and behavior is related to reasoning-individuals who reason at higher levels tend to behave in more moral ways, although situational factors also affect behavior. On the other hand, if an adolescent assesses a situation as a matter of personal choice rather than a moral dilemma, moral reasoning does not apply. For instance, a teenager might be more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as experimenting with drugs, if he or she sees the activity as a personal decision, rather than an ethical one.

Key Points:

a) Moral development moves from preconventional (system of rewards and punishments) to conventional (basing one's actions on societal norms) to postconventional (principles take precedence over society's rules).

b) By preadolescence, youngsters typically achieve the conventional level of moral reasoning; by late adolescence some are capable of reasoning at the postconventional level.

c) Advanced levels of moral reasoning are more likely when children are exposed to them, with authoritative parents, and with higher levels of schooling.

d) Although moral reasoning does not necessitate moral behavior, they strongly parallel each other.

e) Moral behavior may not follow from moral reasoning when affected by particular situational factors or if an adolescent perceives a risk-taking activity as personal choice rather than a moral dilemma.