Differentiation process of the moral and conventional domains in children

Abstract

The present study investigates the development of morality in children within the structural-developmental approach. The structuralists maintained that the child's moral thinking develops through the differentiation of moral standards from the conventionally adhered rules which are imposed by the authority figures. In the present study, it is hypothesized that; a) children will be able to conceptualize morality and social convention as two distinct domains, when the extreme examples of these domains are at ~ssue at all ages, starting from 6-7 years, in the same way; b) 7 year old children will perceive transgressions of conventionally adhered rules of social order maintenance as part of the moral domain, while 12 year old children will conceptualize them as part of the conventional domain. The hypotheses were tested on 34 7 year old Elementary School Children anr 27 12 year old Secondary School children using face-to-face interview method. The results showed that children could differentiate morality from social convention jUdging by the obvious stimulus of the subsequent domains at all ages. Social order maintenance transgressians were observed to form a seperate category between morality and convention The small but meaningful change in the conceptualization of the social order maintenance transgressions toward the hypothesized direction and the significant change in the conceptualization of the conventional transgressions between the two age groups supported the hypotheses.