Week 6-MORAL CHARACTER AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT Flashcards
CHARACTER”
- derived from the Greek
kharakter “, a stamping tool used to make coins.
Later, the word came to imply a distinctive mark that differentiates one
thing from another.
- It came to refer to the collection of qualities that distinguish one individual from another.
- The concept of a moral virtue or the excellence of
character emphasizes not one’s mere uniqueness or individuality, but the combination of qualities that make an individual ethically good.
- moral character can be understood as an evaluation of one’s consistent moral characteristics or attributes.
- can imply a wide range of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as courage, fortitude, honesty, loyalty, and other good behaviors or habits
Character
He believed that “that excellence of character or good moral character is a state concerned with choice that is determined by reason.”
Aristotle
He asserts that the concept of moral character is associated with one’s sense of dignity or identity.
- This sense of identity can be specified by other values or characteristics such as :
a) individuality, b)autonomy, and c) meaning.
Fr. Dionisio Miranda 1998
-To be a moral person is to think morally and act accordingly
Myers 1995
are the feelings and values that shape or develop the moral standards of an individual
emotion
refers to the process of learning the moral code of one’s community and
making judgements about whether something is good or bad,right or wrong
knowledge
how one decides on the appropriate actions to take in controlling negative impulses, responding in accordance to rules and, requests, obeying parents and other authorities, or behaving in a caring, helpful manner, depending on the situation
action
Children develop moral behaviors through observation and imitation of other people’s behavior through the process of modeling.
Social learning theory
describes the ways in which children arrive at judgments about what is right or wrong(Newman & Newman, 2009)
Jean Piaget
Children follow strict rules and are completely obedient to authority figures.
For young children, rules are seen as fixed and unchangeable.
Heteronomous Morality
Children learn how to critically evaluate rules and apply them based on mutual respect and cooperation.
The focus of this theory is on how people acquire and organize knowledge such as moral codes.
However, building a moral code is difficult for children because of the inconsistencies in standards of right and wrong that they face in daily life.
Studies on moral development have emphasized that the only effective way people of any age can do what is good and avoid evil is through the development of conscience.
Autonomous Morality
views a child’s conscience as the superego (Rathus,2014). He suggests that the superego develops during the phallic stage, approximately between the ages of 3 to 6, as a result of conflict among the id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), and superego (moral principle).
Sigmund freud
conscience or moral judge of conduct.
superego
the process through which children internalize the values and moral standards of their parents.
parental identification