COGNITIVE AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Cognitive and Moral Development

Dewin Godinez

College of Southern Nevada

Cognitive Task
Record their responses

1. Fill two of the same see through containers with a colored

liquid
2. Ask Are they the same? (If child agrees, move on to next
step. If child does not agree, pour liquids until child agrees).
3. Pour liquid from one container into a third, different size/shape
container.
4. Ask How about now, do they both have the same amount of
liquid?
5. Do not correct child if child is incorrect. Whether correct or
incorrect, ask What about it makes you say so?
6. Pour contents of the different container back into the second
original container.
7. Ask again How about now, do they both have the same
amount of liquid?
8. Ask What about it makes you say so?

Repeat the above task with play dough or clay.

1. Show child 2 balls of clay.

2. Ask Are they the same? (If child agrees, move on to next
step. If child does not agree, make balls similar until child
agrees).
3. Make one ball into a different shape (i.e. snake).
4. Ask How about now, do they both have the same amount of
clay?
5. Ask What about it makes you say so?
6. Recreate new shape into original ball
7. Ask What about now? What about it makes you say so?

Moral question:

With the same two children separated, ask them a moral

question (i.e. If you were hungry, is it alright to steal food?
Record their response and ask why or why not?

The 5 Year old was satisfied that the containers were the same very
quickly, although as soon as I change the shape from a glass to a wider
container, I asked him if they still had the same amount of liquid
(juice). He responded with, That one has more juice (the glass shape
one), he then proceeded and said, The juice is almost to the top of
the cup, the other one is a little bit, and I wouldnt drink it of that.
After I returned the liquid to the original container he was amazed and
told me that they had the same amount again. With the clay test he
agreed that both of the balls of clay where the same, but after he saw
me squish one of them he said, Now I cant make a big snowman I
asked him why he couldnt and he told me that Now theres only one
big ball and so I asked him if they were the same and he said No,
that one has more (round shape), you can have that one right there
(squished clay). After that I rolled up the other one, he insisted that
they werent the same anymore because one was bigger still.

The 12 year old gave me a lot more trouble trying to set up the
equality of the liquid in the glasses, but after a couple of attempts he
was satisfied that they were equal . I switched the liquid to the wider
container and asked him and he simply said, They both have the
same amount, because you didnt drop any. After switching it back to
the original container he told me that they were the same as how they
started. The clay test was exactly the same although he did ask me if
he was correct with what he had said. Although if I was to perform this
experiment with someone other than my nephews they wouldnt have
asked me that reassurance, because I feel that both my nephews have
always used my help with homework and so they tend to be dependant
of my guidance.

For the moral questions I asked both of them two questions, the first
one was If you are hungry, is it alright to steal food? My 5 year old
nephew surprisingly said, No and when I asked him why, he told me
that Its their foodthats not nice. My 12 year old nephew told me
that No, its against the law and I dont think they care, you have to
pay. For the next question I asked them, if a lady is sick and she needs
medicine, but the hospital doesnt want to give her medicine, so her
husband goes and steals the medicine, should he go to jail? The 5 year
old said, No because he is being a hero. The 12 year old said, No,
but they will probably have to put them there, because stealing is
bad.

According to Piagets Theory of Moral Development the 5 year old has

Heteronomous Morality because, Rules are seen as seen as
inflexible and he clearly said that he wouldnt steal because he
knows its wrong although he did mention that the guy would be a hero
for giving medicine to his wife so he is starting to see things in a more
 Autonomous Morality since he feels that the intentions were good so
the rules dont apply. According to Kohlberg he would be in Stage 3
since he classifies people as good or bad, but still knows that there are
rules. The 12 year old has the ability to see things and agrees that
doing a good action should not be punished, but he clearly knows that
society has to have a set of rules and his actions would most likely be
punished. So the 12 year old falls into the stage 5 of moral reasoning
because his development does still not fully comprehend more ethical
principles. (Educational Psychology)
References

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational Psychology (10th ed., pp. 30-50). N.p.: Pearson.