Question

# 1 In his book Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood (1945), Piaget recounts a story about one day when his then 3-year-old daughter was too ill to take her vitamins. Plaget explained to her that it was not necessary for her towiake them as her stomach was upset. His daughter burst into tears. Using Piaget's schema of moral development how did Piaget explain her behavior? [21 #2 Five-year old Max is in the second phase of the Preconventional Stage of moral development, according to the scheme developed by Kohlberg. Soon after he enters his new school for the first time he meets Freddie, a fellow new student. He tells Freddie his name and offers to play with him. Given what you know about Max's current way of thinking, what is the most likely explanation for his treating Freddie nicely? [2] # 3 In his early work on the moral judgment of the child Piaget identified a heteronomous phase that was followed by an autonomous phase. What do these terms refer to? # 4 What is the nature of the critique lodged by Gilligan against the work of Piaget and Kohlberg? [2] # 5 Many schools of psychology, from Freudian psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanistic psychology and social psychology, have noted that using punishment as a primary way of controlling behavior can have perverse and paradoxical effects. What are some of these and how might they be explained? [2]

Answer 1

1. Using Piaget’s Schema of moral development, the given situation can be understood in terms of heteronomous and autonomous understanding of moral development. Initially, the child understood the behavior of taking medicines in heteronomous phase of moral development which was unchangeable for her and as per her understanding, breaking the rules would lead to punishment. This was the reason of her burst out into tears. She thought that since she is unable to take her vitamins, she might be punished. On the other hand, the way Piaget negotiated that since her stomach is not well, it is not compulsory to take medicines, this will gradually lead to autonomous phase but since the child is not yet exposed to it, she thought it might lead to punishment.

2.According to Kohlberg, the second phase of pre-conventional stage is guided by reward orientation, in which the child follows the rules for own benefits.In the given situation Max meets Freddie and offers to play with him in his new school. This behavior must have been followed by certain rewards and self-interests.

For instance, the Max’s father might have told him that if he behaves well with his new class fellows, he will be rewarded when will return home.

3. Heteronomous: According to Piaget, this phase of moral development was a result of unilateral exertion of rules by adults. Here, the children develop an understanding of morality, which states that the rules are unchangeable and are regulated by punishment.

Autonomous: Piaget theorizes that this phase of moral development in a result of social interaction and interaction with peers, where the children develop an understanding that the moral rules and norms are constructed as a part of social interactions and are negotiable.

4.Gilligan’s critique against the work of Piaget and Kohlberg was based on gender differences. According to her, in the theories by Piaget and Kohlberg only masculinity was stressed. According to her, morality is viewed by boys generally in terms of broad principles like justice or fairness. Whereas, according to her the girls view morality in terms of responsibility, compassion and willingness to sacrifice. She suggests that this difference in perception of morality is based on differences in upbringing of boys and girls.

Later, she developed three stages of morality based on the view of morality by females.

(As HOMEWORKLIB's guidelines, only first 4 questions can be answered, since no preferences are mentioned.)