Children Understanding Of Morality

Running head: CORRELATION BETWEEN COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND MORALITY 1

Correlation between Cognitive Development and Morality

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Correlation between Cognitive Development and Morality

Morality is the capability to distinguish between right or worn and understand how to

make the right choices. As one of the other aspects of cognitive psychology of development,

morality does not form independently from the other areas of psychology. Children’s

experiences at homes, the environment around them and the emotional, physical, social skills and

cognitive impact on their developing sense of morality (right or wrong). Therefore, moral

development deals with the concepts of morality that children learn from infancy through to

adulthood.

Infants cannot moralize because of their sense of right and wrong rely on their feelings

and desires. The stage where a child develops some morality starts at the age of 2 to 3 years. A

toddler realizes that others have rights and needs as well; however, a toddler is yet to grasp the

difference between right and wrong. A 2 or 3-year child might show empathy-based guilt and

moral behaviors depending on the actions passed by the parents; toddler understands obedience

is the norm. The facial expression or the sounds made by the caregivers when encouraging or

discouraging a toddler from doing a particular activity creates some sense of morality in

children. For example, a 2-year child knows that is not right to take away a toy from a sibling

only because he or she might land himself or herself in trouble. A child may also not know that it

is wrong hitting someone, but he or she understands that hitting someone leads to punishment.

Therefore, a toddler tends to follow the rules to avoid punishment.

According to Fu et al., (2007) are socialized to comply with the moral and the social

value systems of their culture and to act what is seen as right and avoid what is considered

wrong. Therefore, children are believed to promote a coherent kind of morality and socially

accepted behaviors. This means that sometimes it is difficult for children to cope with the

universal morality since they tend to deal with what their caregivers showcase to them. For

example, in China children stick to certain cultures that are considered right in China, but

contrarily the same behaviors might not be acceptable in the United States. Contradiction in the

moral-values has also advocated by Fu et al., (2007) in that they give the difference between

Chinese and Canada on matters relating to the home and faith communities of the child, in that in

Canadian children are not heavily subjected to communitarian values as compared to the Chinese

toddlers. Therefore, in most cases, Chinese toddlers believe in community involvement, but the

Canadians always understand that it is not the responsibility of the community to look after them.

The study by Fu et al., (2007), indicate that lying and telling the truth is determined by

environment children are developed in; for example, if children are in the community where

lying is considering being wise, then such toddlers can eventually grow to be worst liars in the

community. It means that cultural processes in the society serve a significant impact in the

toddlers’ wellbeing.

At the age between 3 and five years, toddlers develop the ability to internalize family

values. This is because rules and cultures are essential for discipline in the families in that before

children are given a chance attend school; parents make sure that toddlers understand the essence

of rules and norms since they aid in keeping them away from wicked activities such as fighting

with other kids at school. At the age of 3, a child is believed to comprehend the role of child and

adult and expect maturity to be directed towards them (Fu et al., 2007). Another aspect that is

expected from preschool children is that they are supposed to know that actions have

consequences. For example, when a child acts the right way he or she is rewarded and contrarily

when a child failed to act the according to adults anticipation, he or she is punished accordingly

as a form of shaping towards the existing rules and culture of the family and the entire

community. It means that positive parental direction can make the children connected, and

behave well. The unconnected children will act what they feel like, unless and until they do not

get caught. At the age of 7-10, children start developing questions for adults. For example, if the

people holding authoritative posts in society, such as teachers and parents, are infallible.

Therefore, at this bracket children develop a strong sense of what they should and should not do;

hence they would want to participate in rules making. In the contemporary world, children tend

children easily develop a sense of fairness and understand the importance of rules. Furthermore,

at this age toddlers get to understand their rights as well as filter rules based on what it suits

them. According to Piaget, children cognitive developments go through two stages namely. It

states that between birth and two years sensorimotor stage and in age between 2 and seven

children pass through preoperational stage. This is because Piaget advocates that the child takes

the world in accordance with his or her motor development. In the second stage two, children

develop decenter the meaning of their actions. However, in the two Piaget’s stages, the child is

still not capable of differentiating between what belongs to him/her and what belongs to the

others. Therefore, he or she is still characterized by egocentric.

Evans and Lee (2013), engaged in a study about the aspect of lying in the young children,

and they concluded that toddler begins to tell lies as young as two years, but most of the 2-year

old kids are still highly honest. The executive functioning skills of young children are

considered the key factor that makes children more truthful as compared to adults. This means

that cognitive development contributes to lying in that as children grow old, they tend to lie

especially when trying to avoid punishment. It can be true because based on personal experience

most of the children deny their mistakes as a way of escaping punishment from parents, but

eventually they develop some lies that benefit them — for example, faking sicknesses as a way

of avoiding school or when demanding certain types of food.

In conclusion, cognitive development is significant as far as children conduct and culture

are concerned. The major determinant of the cognitive development among the children include

family and community culture since parents are the paramount persons who raise children; hence

they convey either right conducts or wrong that can either make the child excellent or naughty.

The community, as well as great impact in that policies and conditions, are developed by the

authoritative bodies in the society. Rules go in hand with the religion and most of the people in

the communities shape their children’s behaviors based on religious discourse. Therefore,

parents should always understand that their children’s behaviors majorly rely on them. This

means that it is still essential to understand universal good morals such as acting truthfully and

treating others well. Children’s needs to be guided according to across all the childhood stages as

a way of setting standards that can lead to the development of good behaviors among all the

children in the society. Lying is a sign of immorality, and thus children are supposed to be

prevented from learning how to deceive at a tender age. It is, therefore, essential to

understanding the age where children development lying behaviors to make sure they are advised

and enlightened about good morals that are accepted universally.

References

Evans, A. D., & Lee, K. (2013). The emergence of lying in very young children. Developmental

psychology, 49(10), 1958.

Fu, G., Xu, F., Cameron, C. A., Heyman, G., & Lee, K. (2007). Cross-cultural differences in

children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies. Developmental

Psychology, 43(2), 278.

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Children Understanding of Morality

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