Moral Development in Middle Childhood

All 6 Terms & Definitions

Conventional Morality (Kohlberg)

Kohlberg's second level of moral development, characterised by the internalisation of social rules and the value placed on maintaining relationships and social order. Stage 3 (Interpersonal Concordance): right is what a good person does; morality is about being nice, conforming to expectations, and maintaining relationships. Stage 4 (Law and Order): right is fulfilling one's duty to society; laws must be obeyed except in extreme circumstances.

Autonomous Morality

Piaget's second moral stage, emerging in middle childhood through peer interaction. Characterised by: intention-based judgement (wrongness depends on intent, not outcome); understanding that rules are social constructions modifiable by mutual consent; and reciprocal rather than unilateral respect. Contrasted with heteronomous morality's authority-dependence and consequence-focus.

Moral Emotions

Self-conscious emotions that motivate moral behaviour: guilt (distress at having violated a moral standard, focused on the specific act), shame (distress focused on the global self as bad), pride (positive affect at meeting a moral standard), and indignation (anger at moral violations by others). Middle childhood sees increasing differentiation and reliability of these emotions. Guilt predicts reparative behaviour; shame predicts withdrawal and aggression.

Equity vs. Equality

Two distinct fairness principles. Equality: everyone receives the same regardless of contribution or need. Equity: distribution is proportional to contribution or merit. In early childhood, equality dominates. In middle childhood, equity principles emerge, particularly in achievement contexts — children award more to someone who worked harder. Need-based distribution (give more to those who have less) also develops, particularly in welfare contexts.

Moral Reasoning and Perspective-Taking

The ability to adopt another person's point of view — to understand what they see, know, feel, and want — is a cognitive prerequisite for many forms of moral reasoning. Robert Selman's levels of perspective-taking track the development from egocentric (0) through social-informational (1), self-reflective (2), mutual (3), and societal (4) levels, each unlocking new forms of moral reasoning.

Moral Disengagement

Albert Bandura's concept describing the cognitive mechanisms by which people disengage moral self-regulation to act against their own moral standards without guilt: moral justification, euphemistic labelling, displacement of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, victim dehumanisation, and advantageous comparison. Begins to be measurable in middle childhood and predicts aggressive and antisocial behaviour across development.