Process theory of Moral Development

Abstract

Moral development is a cognition based mechanism, measured in the dimension of individuals’ positive behaviour change, and based on universal interpretation of right and wrong. It is widely believed that, to most social problems, improvement of moral judgment standards is the only answer. This concept, as a tool for shaping human behaviour and inducing good values among individuals, has been in practice among societies for thousands of years. Presently this idea has been institutionalised, and parents expect teachers to contribute to children’s moral development. Many intellectuals agree that moral development is a requirement to guide the society. However, despite moral development initiatives of many centuries, we cannot see a decline of peoples’ suffering due to immoral behaviour of people. Some reports state that maladaptive social behaviour such as aggression, bullying, and school violence, have increased in schools in recent years. Unfortunately, the world cannot find a universal formula to control or modify human behaviour; thus, the human suffering continues. During the 20th century, scholars looked into this matter from a psychological perspective and contributed to the understanding of moral development and its components. Many academics have searched reasons for deteriorating moral values and identified development strategies. However, no practicable solution is available to this problem. It seems the conceptual development of the discipline “moral development” has stagnated in comparison with other disciplines, and socially undesired behaviour has been amplified. For this reason, finding a universal mechanism for controlling or modifying human behaviour is a critical requirement. It is observed that the absence of a process theory of moral development retards the development of moral concept, which hinders the value of this concept as a guiding

tool of the society. My studies embracing many disciplines suggest that a collective approach incorporating a number of disciplines such as learning, psychology, and sociology, could yield a practicable process theory of moral development. This conceptual paper perhaps will fill this gap