The Concept of Moral Development in Humans

The Concept of Moral Development in Humans 

A . Definition of Human Moral Development

Social development can almost be ensured also by moral development , because moral behavior is generally a fundamental element in social behavior . For example, an individual will only be able to adequately behave socially in certain social situations if he masters the thought of the norms of moral behavior required for that social situation. As a child when he is born it looks like he has no morals (imoral), but within him there is a moral potential that is ready to be developed. Therefore, through his experience of interacting with other people (parents, siblings and peers), children learnunderstand which behavior is good, which is permissible and which behavior is bad and which should not be done.

In describing moral development , psychoanalytic theory divides the structure of human personality into three, namely the id , ego , and superego . The id is a personality structure consisting of irrational or unconscious biological aspects. The ego is a personality structure consisting of psychological aspects, namely the sub-system of the ego which is rational and conscious, but has no morality. The superego is a personality structure consisting of social aspects that contain a system of values ​​and morals, which really takes into account the “right” and “wrong” of something.

According to Sigmund Freud’s classical psychoanalytic theory, everyone experiences Oedifus conflict. This conflict will result in the formation of a personality structure that Freud calls the Superego . When children overcome this Oedifus conflict, then moral development has begun. One of the reasons why children overcome Oedifus conflict is due to their feelings of worry about losing parental love and fear of being punished because of their unacceptable sexual desires towards parents of different sexes. To avoid anxiety, avoid punishment, and maintain parental love, children develop a superegoby identifying with same-sex parents through internalizing standards of right and wrong towards parents.

Therefore, as a source of internalizing human individuals in this superego structure, namely the ego-ideal or what is known as the conscience . Because this conscience will describe the inside or mental life of a person, the rules of society, laws, codes, ethics, and morals. And it is said by Freud, the development of the superego will typically be complete at about the age of 5 years. When this happens, the conscience will be formed. With the understanding that at the age of about 5 years, people can complete their moral development, but this still returns to the abilities of each individual.

Contrary to the previous explanation regarding the concept of moralssaid by desmita (2008) in his discussion of social learning theory which sees moral behavior as a response to stimulus. In this case, the processes of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation are used to explain the moral behavior of individual humans. For example, if children are rewarded for behavior that conforms to social rules and contracts, they will repeat that behavior. Conversely, if they are punished for immoral behavior, then that behavior will decrease or disappear.  

B. _    Issues of Morality in Schools and in Society

Dealing with moral issues is a very real part of life for individuals, groups and even whole societies. Quoted from the book Psychology Education; Window on Classroom by Paul Eggen & Kauchak that during World War II, for example, the United States was faced with the choice of dropping an atomic bomb or attacking Japan with millions of existing lives . And also, how did the US intervention in Vietnam lead toa moral dilemma for the United States that only recently has it begun to clearly assess its involvement there. The United States went to war with Iraq, ostensibly to liberate Kuwait, but in reality to protect Middle East oil flows. And the US Armedforces which has Actedas “peacekeeping forces” in other volatile areas of the world, such as Haiti and Bosnia. All of these conflicts force us to consider the question: Should the United States use its military to serve as the world’s “policeman”? At an individual level, what are the legal implications of requiring motorcycles to wear helmets and car occupants to wear seat belts? How far the government has to go in regulatingbehavioral issues to prevent injury or to save lives? At a cultural level, what should be taught in schools? Special interest groups, for example, have branded some classics of American cultural literature, such as Huckleberry Finn, as racist or gender biased. On the other hand, it has been called for the study of creationism as a parallel theory with evolution. Once again, where should we draw the common thread ? Communities and schools are created by people who experience struggles with moral issues.

Some of this culture’s classic literature focuses on ethical issues. For example, Jean Valjean, the main character in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable, on which the popular Broadway musical is based, is faced with the choice of eating his family’s food by becoming a thief or whether allowing him to go hungry . Ethical issues have also been commonly used in literature designed for young people. For example, Charlotte on Charlotte Web is faced with the dilemma of saving Wilbur , a pig that made him lose his own life. Yeller’s old master is faced with a moral problem when he loses his dog afterignore the potential health threat from rabies . Students generally study books such as The Yearling and A Tale of Two Cities not only because they like good literature but also because they introduce moral problems for which there are no clear answers.

In his best-selling book Closing The American Mind, Alan Bloom (1987) criticizes higher education in the United States for its lack of courage in addressing moral issues . For example, how to respond to related contemporary problemsdrug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and juvenile crime which cannot be separated from moral dilemma events. Or how should schools respond to this morality issue so that the impact of its spread does not escalate in the sense of allowing the spread of bad impacts to others as the emergence of various moral upheavals that occur in social life which appear as a loss of moral behavior which is inhuman in nature and includes in it as if putting aside the feeling of love for the natural conditions of human life in this world.

By looking at the emergence of events from various moral issues that occur, both at school and in society, a best-selling authorEducating for Character , namely Thomas Lickona as well as a developmental psychologist at the State University of New York as disclosed in his book on Character Matters , Lickona shows how the moral picture experienced by most of the younger generation today includes how Lickona’s offer in managing the moral environment in order to produce a positive environment fair, reasonable in the sense that it is free from moral issues that can lead to ethical slant, behavior or the treatment of an individual towards himself, others and also the environment. It is said that:

In previous generations, the family existed within the context of a wider society that supported the values ​​parents were trying to teach their children.
Soon after that. Today, fighting against the social environment, in a large part of the creation of media and market culture is a never ending battle. Journalist Amy Welborn comments on how the market is increasingly aiming to sexually arouse children. “You see on the girls’ clothing racks from the age of seven there is difficulty finding clothes that don’t reflect the naughty girl’s wardrobe . ”

This sexual harm of children is arguably the most insidious attack on their innocence and character, but media culture encapsulates their values ​​in other ways too. Many parents are depressed by how materialistic their children are, never being satisfied with what they have. More and more young people seek their self-esteem and identity with clothes or with branded vehicles and modernity.

I (Lickona) suggest as a guide specific things parents can do to try to manage their media environment to control TV programming, movies, music, video games, and the internet. As a rule of thumb: how do parents get their children to ask permission to watch any particular TV program, video games, items to be downloaded from the internet, etc. And it needs to be understood that the presence of media in children’s lives is not a human right but a form of privilege for children.

However, it is equally important to take an educational approach that seeks to explain our moral existence for something, rather than simply prohibiting it. If we just forbid our children to watch TV programs, movies, or CDs without making clear moral reasons why we do it, what arises is that we will only create hatred in our children, not the development of a conscience from internal control.

Taking an educational approach is illustrated by the mother of her 14-year-old daughter, Kylene, who keeps pestering her to be able to watch the comedy series.Friends ” which was popular at that time, by poking his hips while sleeping. Kyelen said all of his friends at school watched it, and he felt “really out of date” because he didn’t watch it. Her mother said “sorry” but she didn’t approve of the values ​​of the show.

Kylene would not stop. Finally his mother said, “Okay, let’s watch one episode together”. A few minutes into watching the series, the mother said, “Let me tell you why I have a problem with what that man just said to his girlfriend.” At the end of the show, Kylene said, “Okay, Mom, I get it” and that was the last of her whining about Friends . Moral standards have been delivered, with concrete.

Manage the moral environmenttoday also means requiring higher levels of oversight than in the past. A mother of 11 and 6 year old girls, not knowing which other parents she can trust, said: “My son’s friends come to our house almost every day. They feel safe here, but I don’t allow my daughter to go to other children’s homes, that might sound harsh. I don’t know what language will be spoken there, what will be shown on TV or VCD, whether there will be pornography on the coffee table, or who knows if he has a girlfriend there.

Says one mother to her 16-year-old daughter who is going to a party (which the host parents will be watching): “I will call to see if you are there. If you are not there, I will inform the police and report you as a missing child. The daughter said, “Mother would not do that.” Mother said, “I will do it”.

Parents who struggle to supervise their children can take heart from what research shows that parents who step in mean they set the rules and expectations; know the activities of friends and the behavior of their children; and monitor them according to their age level.

Therefore, as a form of Thomas Lickona’s argument in addressing the moral issues that occur, it is stated that there are many things that can be done to address the issue of morality as a form of prevention as well as to cure various problems of morality issues that occur in schools and in society, in outline as follows :

1. Wherever the educational process takes place, character development should be made a top priority, beginning with concern for character-disciplined behavior.
2. Involve parents in planning children’s character education programs
3.   Increase all positive communication flows between schools and homes about child development issues
4.  Use harmonious bonds to improve children’s behavior
5.  Name the virtues needed to be a good child
6. Teach the importance of good goals in life and issues of excellence and integrity and being fair
7.  Teach children to be responsible for their actions
8. Help children learn from mistakes and assist him in  making a behavior change plan that leads to self-improvement

C.      Description of Moral Development According to Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and Kohlberg’s Theory
Published by Piaget in his cognitive theory based on the results of his observational studies that basically moral development involves the same principles and processes as cognitive growth enshrined in his theory of intellectual development, for Piaget, moral development is described through the rules of the game . Therefore, the essence of morality is the tendency to accept and obey a system of rules. Based on his observations of the game rules used by children regarding morality , it can be divided into two stages, namely the heteronomous morality and autonomous morality stages (Seifer & Huffnung (1994) in Desmita (2008)).  

Heteronomous moralityor Morality of constraint is the stage of moral development that occurs in children aged approximately 6 to 9 years. In this stage of thinking, children respect the rules of a game as something sacred and unchangeable, because they come from the authority they respect. Children at this time believe in immanent justice , namely the concept that if a rule is violated, the law will be imposed immediately. They believe that offense is automatically associated with punishment and each offense will be punished according to the degree of wrong done by a child regardless of whether the mistake was intentional or coincidental.

Meanwhile, Autonomous morality ormorality of cooperation is the stage of moral development that occurs in children aged approximately 9 to 12 years. At this stage the child begins to realize that rules and punishments are human creations and in applying a punishment for an action must consider the intentions of the perpetrator and the consequences. For children in this stage, the rules are just a matter of convenience and a social contract that has been mutually agreed upon, so that they accept and recognize changes according to the agreement. In this stage, children also abandon one-sided respect for authority and develop respect for their peers. They seem stubborn to authority and obey the rules of their peer group or leader.

Almost in line with Piaget’s Theory,moral development as proposed in Kohlberg’s Theory is an extension, modification, and redefinition of Piaget’s Theory. This theory is based on an analysis of the results of interviews with boys aged 10 to 16 years who are faced with a moral dilemma, in which they must choose between obeying the rules or making ends meet in a way that goes against the rules.

Based on the consideration given to the dilemmatic case questions a person faces, Kohlberg classifies moral development into three levels ( levels ), which are further divided into six stages ( stages) .). Kohlberg agrees with Piaget who explains that moral attitudes are not the result of socialization or lessons learned from experience. However, the stages of moral development occur from the spontaneous activities of children. Children do develop through social interaction, but this interaction has a special style, in which personal factors, namely children’s activities, play a role.

Another important feature of Kohlberg’s developmental theory is its orientation to reveal morals that exist only in the mind and which will be distinguished from moral behavior in the sense of actual action. The higher the stage of a person’s moral development, the more stable and responsible his morality will be seen from his actions. 
TABLE
Levels and Stages of Moral Development According to Kohlber

1. _ Moral Development Through Interaction Between Others

According to research results on Kohlberg’s work shows that moral development can be enhanced through class discussions that can allow students to examine their own moral thinking and compare it with others ( Oser, 1986) . Interaction between peers is very effective because it encourages them to actively seek out and analyze the positions of different moral behaviors ( Kruger, 1992) . Based on a more complex presentation or way of thinking about moral dilemmas which can assist students in re-evaluating their own thinking and including comparing it with others . Then several guidelines  are formulated regarding the effective study of moral dilemmas as follows :
1. Focus on concrete moral conflicts and with different ways of responding to them   2.
Encourage students to consider other people’s perspectives
3. Ask students to make personal choicesin responding to dilemmas and trying to justify these choices
4. Analyze the differences in actions as a result of training by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each .

In addition, in the context of moral boundaries , this interpretation of Kohlberg’s work reminds us that much of what teachers do in schools is based on moral decisions . When teachers emphasize students’ sense of responsibility , and make rules that can prevent students fromactions that like to ridicule each other , emphasize industrial issues and advocate honesty , they actually teach about ethical issues . As the law applies to schools also promote these values . For example , public law , which requires students with no exceptions emphasizes that learning placed in a restricted environment is most unlikely, because this is based on ethical issues .

The argument that schools don’t have to teach morals is naive . Because values ​​will appear by themselves every time a teacher teaches one topic instead of another , while morals reflect individual values ​​according to their cultural group .

1. _ The Linkage between Social and Personal Development According to Erikson

In Erikson’s psychosocial theory , as an attempt to integrate personal and social development , it is based on the assumption that every person who develops himself is no other as a response to what has become his need . He further suggested that developments take place in stages , each marked by the existence of a psychosocial challenge , which he referred to ascrisis /emergency period .

According to Erikson , a positive resolution to the crisis period from the results of each stage tends to generate trust , a feeling of autonomy , a willingness to take the initiative , and so on , which lasts approximately from the period of the birth year to the elementary school age . This resolution continues to experience a period of crisismakes people leave   their fixed identities , such as the ability to achieve intimacy, the desire to produce , and finally a sense of integrity as the end of life approaches . As a teacher towards his students , he should maintain developmental challenges in the mind and structure of the classroom and in his interactions with his students to facilitate their growth in that space .

F . The Development of Morality, Social Responsibility, and Self-Control

Although Piaget was identified as a pioneer of cognitive development , in the course of his observation career he seriously studied the issue of moral development. He suggested that individuals progress as a result of external morality , in which rules are enforced by authority figures , as well as autonomous morality , in which they perceive morality as something which are rational in nature and have a positive relationshipreciprocity .

Lawrence Kohlberg in developing his theory of moral development , was actually influenced by Piaget’s work . Kohlberg presented that people who experience ambiguous moral dilemmas about problems that require moral decisions and based on their responses to these dilemmas , they will automatically develop a classification system for the moral decisions they face and then focus on the consequences that refer to themselves . At the ethical level that is conventional in nature , people’s moral reasoning focuses on consequences for others , while at the ethical level that takes place during post-conventional , this moral reasoning is based on Kohlberg’s principle which states that conventional reasoning requires concrete operational thinking while post-conventional reasoning requires formal operational thinking.

Teachers can promotemoral development in their class in various ways . When they define and implement their management system , they must emphasize responsibility to each individual and build functional awareness of the rules that have been designed to protect the rights of others . Students should be encouraged to think about topics such as honesty and respect for others in light of the consequences for others that support the basic principles of being respectful .it to other humans . And as teachers who interact with students , they must recognize that their influence can be used as a role model in encouraging the moral development of their students .

In conclusion, moral development is a dynamic process that shapes an individual’s understanding of right and wrong. Factors such as parental influence, social interactions, and cultural norms significantly impact this development. By promoting positive interactions, ethical decision-making, and personal growth, moral development contributes to the creation of a just and compassionate society