Moral Development

When I was a child, I remember how the rules were unchangeable. They were laws passed down from our parents and could not be changed. My cousins and I were playing around in a room and one of them accidentally cursed. She was trying to say two different words, but it came out in a different word than she intended. We both looked at her in shock because she said something she was not supposed to. We knew that she broke a rule and she was going to get in trouble. In panic, she quickly told us it was an accident, but we did not listen. She said a bad word and even though it was an accident, she was going to get in trouble.

In the text, on page 317, there are two forms of justice that children believe in. They are heteronomous and autonomous morality. Between ages 4-7, children show heteronomous morality and believe that justice is unchangeable and out of control of the people. They also believe that justice is immanent, or that it will be carried out immediately. Between ages 7-10, they are in a transition between the two forms. Finally, ages 7 and up, they show autonomous morality and are aware that actions are judged by people, who also make laws. They are also aware that justice is not immanent, and not inevitable.