The adolescent activity has been a rising cause of concern and danger to America's well-being. In particular, moral advancement has been a core purpose in America across multiple aspects such as citizenship training, political involvement, character development, ethical clarity, service to society, and responsible citizenship in a democratic democracy. The moral personality is interdependent on America's prosperity, which is founded on political and socio-economic philosophy. For a better transition in America, the need to create socially upright women and men has heightened the atmosphere; thus, psychology experts must look further into morality's roots, using Lawrence Kohlberg's viewpoint as a compass. As a part of the chaos, there have been several controversies over moral creation values, resulting in a proliferation of issues vying for approval. Is it fair to blame parents for their children's actions, or is it something that happens naturally? However, Lawrence Kohlberg's work acts as a source of reference and debate with many raised arguments. The focus of this article is to formulate a more comprehensive and practical moral theoretical perspectives that explore the controversial discussions about whether adolescents' moral status is determined automatically or by parenting, as well as to explore what affects an adolescent's moral values based on the moral stage constellation within the parental effort.
Meaning of Immorality
Philosopher Laurence Kohlberg offers an excellent concept of morality that mainly depends on the cognitive development sense, following arguments made by ancient philosophers who attempted to discover a practical definition of morality (Shreena, 2014). The concept encompasses all aspects of life cycles, focusing on how individuals develop their values due to their general growth in the politico-emotional sense of knowledge throughout their lives. Kohlberg's approach to discovering conflict theories was unique in that the variables he chose were children. He made extensive use of children since the early stage is the most important in terms of morals.
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The concept of morality, according to Kohlberg, is formulated by three distinct levels of rational thought after compiling and evaluating all of the children's conclusions, which were founded on analytical deductive stories and questions. The first different period of moral development is the pre-conventional or pre-moral stage. The conventional set came next, followed by the post-convention step. Since the structure for classifying distinct phases is based on systematic consistency, any person can only progress through the stages described. In other words, the former moral logic is being replaced by a more evolved version of the present level. If the steps are narrowed down to bring a broad image of morality, the complete interpretation of morality's ideological definition cannot be intervened. Each of the three phases is further divided into two steps. In general, a comprehensive and well-formulated definition of the word morality is derived from a six-level collective comprehension.
Obedience versus punishment, the first sublevel of the pre-moral period, specifically deals with children and individuals of the younger generation. Social reinforcement is based on the physical effects of behavior, and the logic is focused on the biological impact of actions. As a consequence, children believe that rules are unchangeable and absolute. Following the directions, on the other hand, is a way to stay out of trouble. As a result, when a child's intrinsic integrity rises, he or she will no longer be abused by his or her guardians. Again, individualism versus an exchange, at this stage, children begin to realize that authorities do not have a common actual viewpoint of moral behavior, causing them to appreciate other people's diverse views on ethical standards. The primary rationale is based on the individual, societal norms regarding growing to a better person from one level to another at the conventional level.
In contrast, at the law-order level, primary justification is based on societal standards to which the individual belongs to grow to a better person from one level to another. There is a high focus on high conformity where an individual understands that decisions affect the relationship. The child becomes aware of the social norms in general, which, when violated, there are judgments, concerns, and laws to follow to maintain the law and escape. In the last post-conventional point, social contract, the child thinks at a higher level where the main concerns the curiosity to understand human rights and fairness. Again, the person knows that rules are often broken for mutual good to all. Finally, under the universal versus ethical theory, the man draws his moral principles to match life aspects.
In general, morality refers to the process by which children develop positive attitudes and behaviors toward other people in society, based on primary societal and cultural norms, guardian-imposed rules, and personal fixed values for the good of others.
Exhibition of moral behavior among infants, children, and adolescents
It has been debated whether psychologists can find morality in babies, children, and adolescents. Regardless of how reluctant someone might be to remark, the responses are required to be well-founded.
Infant exhibition of morality
Firstly, philosophers believe that babies have a moral meaning based on their behavior. Babies cannot do what adults can, but they can use the mind of vision or smelling perception, which involves imagination of things in front of them. For example, a baby might take seconds to look at a mean puppet. When the kid looks at a cute puppy, on the other hand, he will glare at it for a long time. In general, a baby's morality is shown by his capacity to mark entities as good or evil, or behavior as right or wrong, using mind vision and imagination. In addition to that, the rudimentary sense of justice that children have comes into play. Emotions, compassion, shame, and justified anger, symbolized by weeping, are represented. As a result, the philosophers propose that visualizing a baby in one's imagination is the basis of moral judgment.
Definition change as Infant grows.
As mentioned earlier, the baby's conduct of favorably responding to good entities, for example, begs the question of whether or not a child's good moral behavior, which tends to expect people to be disciplined, is irreversible (Leanne,
2013). According to Wynn and Stahl's conversation in the video, babies are physically programmed to hate others who do wrong. According to the bloom statement, maintaining a good moral sense depends on the individuals in the ecosystem. As a consequence, the definition of morality varies, which is why the child demands parental treatment.
Children exhibition in morality
The moral philosophy action of a child changes as he becomes older. The original philosophy of demonstrating fundamental justice action disappears, and he believes that equality is the norm that the child should adopt. For example, Stahl argues that the older children get to choose and that the tokens are given to him and their partner should be equal in value ("Born well? Babies help unlock the origins of morality", 2012). In this scenario, the infant assumes that positive reinforcement increases morality. When a child says the word "green," he or she might be given a gift. In an equally contrasting behavior, older children appear to show a positive morality only when reinforcement is provided. When support is withheld, the child develops poor moral behavior.
Adolescents' exhibition of morality
Adolescents do exhibit moral behavior, but moral judgments and acts are motivated mainly by subjective emotions. According to the philosophers, moral judgment is considered an essential part of an individual's cognitive processing (Singer, 1999). Perhaps more than the adult, the infant becomes more powerful. The child is more inclined to form alliances with his peers than with his parents. The correlation between teenage delinquency and peer group deviance shows a steady increase in compliance during the middle adolescent period. For example, in one of the videos, public dilemmas can emerge among peers who agree that a friend is more valuable than a job personally ("Encouraging Moral Development in Children," 2010). Peers are more likely to focus their attention on social interaction with their partners.
Morality in Babies as they grow
According to Wynn, infants are born with a sense of right and wrong (Bloom et al.,
2013). When they are born, the baby believes that they are the cause of all negative things in the world (Tucker & Smithsonian, 2013). Using Yale's baby lab as an example, it appears that the baby enters a new environment and wants parenting to begin. The baby's reaction to the lab experiment shows that the baby thinks hunger is false. The infant is the creature at the heart of the most profound metaphysical, moral, and theological controversies concerning human nature. They can't speak, compose, or expound about their philosophical philosophies in detail. They can't accomplish anything as adults do—the infant's cognition centers' mind at her earlier stage.
Infants are after everyone that smiles at them at the tender age of 5 months. They seem to realize the distinction between right and wrong by using visualization to train the mind's perception ( University of Otago; Babies may not have a 'moral compass, after all , 2012). Each baby spends a long time looking at things they enjoy, but just a short time looking at things they dislike. Daisy, for example, stares at the cruel puppet for 5 seconds before switching to the sweet 'puppet' for 33 seconds. According to Wynn, the findings of research after study are clear. If the infant develops to a certain degree, he begins to observe others around him. Babies tend to feel good about helping people around the environment and begin to hate and despise others who are antisocial to others. Again, the kid hits a point where he believes people who do bad should be punished. The kid in the stolen ball experiment seems to think the ball robber wants to be punished. Apart from that, the infant grows to a stage where they choose people who hurt those who are not like them.
Furthermore, a child exceeds the threshold age when moral fairness begins to fade, and much behavior becomes equal (Cook, 2013). The child comes to a level where he isn't as righteous as he once was. They appear to have a moral sense at times, and their actions appear to be quite impressive. Bloom claims that evolution would potentially lead the already aged toddler to be cautious of others to succeed. That becomes the parent's starting point for nurturing the child (Bloom, 2010). Again, the child grows to a point where he only does well when he receives reinforcement, and the excellent morale can quickly fade. The child is generous at nine months, and they purposefully give other children more of what they have. The presence of the parent has already educated and taught them. Through culture and education, their minds are screwed with virtues.
Finally, as the teenager reaches maturity, he or she learns cognitive legal reasoning. At this vital point, teenage moral decisions and behavior are influenced mainly by gut instincts, and they are more comfortable with their peers than with their parents.
Personal View
A child genetically possessed up morality to the point that a moral constellation could be set in place, depending on the ethical situations mentioned above. Again, a child is a fragile entity. If their family history does not influence them well, their morals will suffer. The family's exterior force becomes a vital framework for the socialization of morality. According to the personal viewpoint of moral thinking, it is one of the essential backgrounds for molding character, according to the personal viewpoint of moral thinking.
Role of a Parent and how he plays morality
According to the previously mentioned normative contexts in the article, the parent's critical task is to instruct the child to adapt and mature in a mannered manner from infancy to adulthood to integrate into society (Beth et al., 2000). To foster a child's morals, the parent instills morality in them by providing direction and instruction by disciplined enforced rules and boundaries (White & Matawie, 2004). Researchers such as Walker, Powers, and Taylor, and Speicher have illustrated the role of parental and family backgrounds in promoting the stage of moral decision development by examining processes such as parental warmth and affection, attitudes, interactions, conversation types, and disciplinary forms.
References
Beth, J., Eileen, & Nelson. (2000). Relationship between parents, peers, morality, and theft in an adolescent sample [Ebook] (p. 35). The High School Journal. Retrieved February 2000, from
Bloom, P. (2010). THE MORAL LIFE OF BABIES [Ebook] (p. 44). New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 9 May 2010, from.
Bloom, Wynn, P., & Karen, W. (2013). Are kids born knowing GOOD from EVIL? Research says yes - evolution has given us a sense of morality and justice from birth. The downside: We inherently distrust people who don't look like us [Ebook] (p. 28). New York Post Corporation. Retrieved 28 October 2013, from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1445947230?accountid=3588 .
Born good? Babies help unlock the origins of morality. (2012). Retrieved 19 November 2012, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvVFW85IcU
Cook, G. (2013). GarethCook | is a writer and editor-The Moral Life of Babies . Garethcook.net. Retrieved 22 March 2021, from https://garethcook.net/..
Encouraging Moral Development in Children. (2010). Retrieved 15 March 2010, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oBQ5FiKfHE
Leanne, I. (2013). Psychologist discusses morality of babies [Ebook]. Moncton, N.B.: Infomart, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1457749692?accountid=3588
NewsRx. (2012). University of Otago; Babies may not have a ' moral compass' after all [Ebook] (p. 7). Atlanta. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1034686738?accountid=3588
Shreena, D. (2014). Kohlberg moral development | Individuals and Society | MCAT | Khan Academy. Retrieved 25 February 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onkd8tChC2A
Singer, M. (1999). The Role of Concern for Others and Moral Intensity in Adolescents' Ethicality Judgments. The Journal Of Genetic Psychology , 160 (2), 155-166. doi: 10.1080/00221329909595389
Tucker, A., & Smithsonian. (2013). Studies; Morality; Babies; Research &development--R &D; Behavior; Cognition &reasoning [Ebook] (pp. 35-41,76-77). Washington: ProQuest Central. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1268827487?accountid=3588
White, F., & Matawie, K. (2004). Journal of Child and Family Studies-Parental Morality and Family Processes as Predictors of Adolescent Morality [Ebook] (pp. pp. 219-233). Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:JCFS.0000015709.81116.ce
