Social Class Differences in Conscience Development1

Piaget (16), using the clinical method, investigated the development of moral judgment in children. On the basis of these investigations, he concluded that there were two types of in the child. The first stage, referred to as of constraint, exists until the age of 7 or 8 years. During this period adults are viewed as omnipotent, and obedience is automatic without reasoning or judgment. Punishment is regarded as a necessary retribution of justice to restore the status quo and is given in proportion to the size of the misdeed, independent of motive. The more mature type of morality, which begins at about the age of Io, is the stage of morality of or reciprocity, highlighted by cooperation and mutual respect. Conscience has become more autonomous and the child evaluates intentions, rather than deeds alone. Punishment no longer needs to be fair and retributive. Piaget relates the emergence of this stage to the child's increased ability to differentiate between subject and object, to a more rational conception of authority, and thus to his liberation from the thought and will of others. An intermediary stage in which the child internalizes rules without evaluating them was noted by Piaget in the 8- to Io-year-old group.