Why do some children and adolescents act in moral and pro-social ways while others act in immoral and antisocial ways?

Answer: In early childhood, the children’s brains are still unable to identify a strong motivation to make those children decide how they have to act in their lives. Instead, the children will more rely on the practical example that they see daily from their parents, teachers, friends, or others (O'Donohue, Fisher, & Hayes, 2004). For this reason, it is obvious if some children would act in moral and pro-social ways, while others would act in immoral and anti-social ways. It would completely depend on which types of behavior represented in their daily lives. For example, a child who lives in a family that really gives respect to others definitely will present a different act with a child who lives in a family that does not give any respect to others. This is where it is quite important for both the parent and the teacher to present a good example with a purpose to give a strong motivation for the children to act in moral and pro-social ways.

Question 2: Does thinking of children, regarding the moral issues, change as they age?

Answer: Yes, it does. Morality defines as the capability for us to learn the difference between what is right and what is wrong, for then decide what we should do. One thing to be noted, morality does not form independently. Instead, it will form and gets modified along with our age. Most of children at the ages of 2-5 years will start to present morally-based believes and behavior. At this age, many children will start to know that there will consequences if they break the rules. Along with their age, children at the ages of 5-10 years will start to see the world from a heteronymous morality. This is when they would think that they have to follow the rules made by their parents and teachers. Along with their development, children will develop further abstract thinking. This is basically defined in the Stages of Moral Understanding theory by Lawrence Kohlberg (gracepointwellness.org).

Question 3: What steps need to be taken in order to help children develop caring and the helpful behaviors along with the reduction to the likelihood of their developing immoral or antisocial behaviors?

Answer: The steps that we can take to help the children in developing moral behaviors are such as:

·         The parents should present positive moral behaviors at home so that the children will able to learn daily. This will really helpful since children will follow the practical examples to motivate them to do the same thing.

·         The teachers should able to motivate their students in early childhood education to practice morally behaviors such as respect each other, and also involve the students in a practical learning such as outdoor observation on how tired to become a cleaning service. By doing this, the children in early childhood education will be motivated to act morally and reduce their developing immoral behaviors.

References of Why do some children and adolescents act in moral and pro-social ways while others act in immoral and antisocial ways?

gracepointwellness.org. (n.d.). Early Childhood Moral Development. Retrieved October 2019, from https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development

O'Donohue, W. T., Fisher, J. E., & Hayes, S. C. (2004). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Applying Empirically Supported Techniques in Your Practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Summary

One cannot be obvious about the mortality of a given action based on the reasoning. Piaget’s theory explains that children’s moral thinking (which are a product of social interactions) can better be changed from a stiff acceptance. The acceptance level for the change also gets changedfor varying age levels. Kohlberg’s theory talks about the sequence for developing children’s moral reasoning. Pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional are the three main levels for moral reasoning. There exist moral judgment, social-conventional judgments and personal judgmentsfor social judgment. Across the variety of cultures, children of the same age can better differentiate among the various social judgment domains. All the children are equally capable as there exist the developmental consistency in this regardfor prosocial behaviors. The children are perceived to have the ability for identifying other’s emotions as a part of repressing the sympathy/ empathy. The association with other children also helps the children to practice the ethical principles. Children with more physical and verbal violence tend to be more aggressive than the normal children.

Discussion

The way the children behave is manipulated by various parameters. The moral or the immoral behavior of the children can better be determined by the ways they think about the moral issues. Children’s intentions to make evaluations for the behavior tends to provide the basis for their moral or the immoral behavior. There exist the age-related discontinuous changes that are purely based on the varying sequence of the stages. The same sequential flow is followed for the children of the similar age.

             Children also have the realization for building up the relationship with others and taking care of other’s desires as well as the needs at a younger age. The more the age increases, the more internalized principles are followed. Children are restrained from the immoral behavior based on the moral standards they are provided to follow at every stage of life. Thus, children might feel ashamed of for any of their misbehavior.

The parental standards are more internalized based on their secure connections with their parents. This behavior becomes more disciplined when the parents use more reasoning rather than their parental control and the authorities. The temperament as well as the genetic inheritance also serve as the determinants for promoting the development of children behavior. There exist moral judgment, social-conventional judgments and personal judgmentsfor social judgment. Across the variety of cultures, children of the same age can better differentiate among the various social judgment domains. All the children are equally capable of prosocial behaviors as there exist the developmental consistency in this regard.

People provide training to their children as per the cultural differentiation regarding the moral, personal as well as the conventional domains for the functioningfor the varying cultures. With the increasing age, the prosocial behavior tends to increasebecause of the children’s abilities increase for providing the sympathy to others along with taking in to consideration other’s perspectives. The prosaically behavior works for as one of the most significant parameters for background the children.It is all about the positive association between the parent and child. Intervention programs are run in the schoolsfor the said purpose. Children’s degree and the extent for aggression is also determined based on the biological factors. It may include the children’s temperament and the neurological problems. Also, the environmental factors are of immense importance in this regard.