Stages and Levels of Moral Development: Analytical Essay

To what extent is our morality influenced by the literature we read?

Literature is generally any form of written word; it has been recognised in a variety of mediums portraying the flexibility of it. Charles Bukwoski stated that “Without Literature, life is hell”. This can be interpreted in many ways although it alludes to the many functions of literature and the rewarding aspects of it. The average human comes across literature daily, surely there are effects that literature has on us. There are outstanding debates on the effects of literature on moral development. This essay will explore the effects literature had on adults and children and the messages within them. I was interested in this topic as the average human reads 12 books a year and comes across other forms of literature especially in music which can consist of subliminal messages and affect us without us knowing.

Children’s literature is well known for teaching kids their morals. In ‘But what about Sharing?’ Lamme and Krogh state that “children advance in their reasoning and comprehend stories fully”[footnoteRef:1]. Books are formulated systemically and this tends to be the general trend, they often follow the stages of development. Kohlberg’s stages of development are used in their journal article. There are 2 levels. Level 1 is Pre-Conventional[footnoteRef:2] morality, this is generally 9 years. They do not have a personal code of morals. Instead of this they have their morals shaped by the standards of adults and sometimes peers. They realise that there are consequences when following and breaking the rules. Level 2 is Conventional morality[footnoteRef:3] and this is most adolescents and adults. They start to internalize the moral standards of their role models. The authority is not to be questioned and the reasoning is based on the norms of the group to which the person belongs to, this can vary throughout culture and class etc. Within these levels there are stages such as individualism and exchange. Children realise that there is not just one right view handed down by the authority and can distinguish between those views. Different individuals will always have different viewpoints and this is where they begin to learn to tolerate alternative perspectives. Although Kohlberg’s study was flawed, it is said to have a poor research design which could have affected the validity of the data. It is state that “the way in which Kohlberg carried out his research when constructing his theory may not have been the best way to test whether all children follow the same sequence of stage progression.”[footnoteRef:4] . His research was cross sectional which ultimately meant that he interviewed children and their ages varied, this was to see what level of development they were at. It is often argued that using a longitudinal study on the children would have been better. This is when a researcher studies the same children over a very long period. Although another researcher, Colby et al carried out a longitudinal study and supported Kohlberg’s conclusion. She tested 58 participants six times. These participants were all from from Kohlberg’s original study and she found that they all passed through the stages of moral development in the same uniform order. The longitudinal study lasted 27 years but it proved the criticisms on Kohlberg’s study to be wrong. Narvaez has stated that “children need to hear moral stories in order to develop moral literacy and moral character. “[footnoteRef:5].Similarly “Nash (1997) describes how texts contain the motivations and aspirations of moral heroes who face a variety of moral conflicts. By reading these texts, children learn traditional moral values and find heroes to emulate and aspire to be like.”[footnoteRef:6]. “William Honig (1987), states that great literature can create empathy and shared values, and is capable of demonstrating the nature of moral and immoral characters”[footnoteRef:7] which can be valuable to children as they grow up. “Lehr (1991) noted that children often extract themes that are different from those of adults. For example, she noted that the issue of safety was of high importance for many kindergarteners. In The Three Little Pigs, many kindergarteners cited the theme as not to trust strangers you don’t know. Lehr noted: “Although many of the children’s responses were not congruent with the adult choices, most of them were congruent with the text, which suggests once again that young children process meaning in literature from perspectives that differ from those of adults”[footnoteRef:8] This is significant as it implies that adults and children are also affected in very different ways and their responses will not be the same. [1: ‘But what about sharing?’ Children’s Literature and Moral Development Suzanne Lowell Krogh and Linda Leonard Lamme, Vol. 40, No. 4 (May 1985), page 48] [2: Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Others on Moral Development Copyright 2005, 2006 J. S. Fleming, PhD pages 7-8] [3: Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Others on Moral Development Copyright 2005, 2006 J. S. Fleming, PhD pages 7-8] [4: https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html] [5: Does Reading Moral Stories Build Character? Darcia Narvaez Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2002 page 156] [6: Does Reading Moral Stories Build Character? Darcia Narvaez Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2002 page 156] [7: Does Reading Moral Stories Build Character? Darcia Narvaez Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2002 page 156] [8: Does Reading Moral Stories Build Character? Darcia Narvaez Educational Psychology Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2002 page 164]

Although, Children’s literature does not always lead to positive moral development. Literature can also convey negative messages, in adult literature this may not be as horrifying but to plant subliminal messages in children’s literature should be strictly prohibited. Adult’s literature often addresses problems in contemporary society; they portray the elements in a negative manner as they want to show the subject in a pessimistic view to raise awareness. People are more likely to absorb messages when they are put across hyperbolically. Children are still learning and books and education can play into the child’s primary socialisation. Children are naturally optimistic compared to adults and teenagers being more veridical and realistic understanding that there are negative aspects of humanity. For example, The childrens book ‘T is for Terrible’ by Peter McCarthy. The message of the book is the story of a T-rex. The T-Rex is sad that he lacks friends as the other dinosaurs are afraid of him. He complains as the other creatures run away in terror. The T-Rex avoids taking responsibility for his actions, he says “[he wouldn’t hit you if you didn’t make [him] so angry”. It has been argued that this actually alludes to abuse as the abuser often tries to justify their actions and elicit sympathy. Similar to how the T-Rex tries to justify his actions and evoke sympathy in the other creatures.

Although the recurring positive in children’s story books can be criticised. “I decided I believe in telling children the truth, even when the truth is unpleasant. I believe that children have a right to know about their world. I believe they cannot learn to recognize and rise above evil if they are not taught it exists.”[footnoteRef:9] Children books can sugar coat things and prolong realisation in children, this has advantages and disadvantages. Prolonging realisation in children allows the children to view the world in an optimistic way for longer and preserve their innocence. This may be because the children themselves are not mature enough to hear the truth. Teaching children content they are not ready for can lead to them feeling overwhelmed and possibly leads to mental problems as they haven’t fully comprehended the subject. However by being straightforward with children we can prevent incidents. If we teach children about the negative aspects they will be more aware and cautious when growing up. There have been cases where children were being sexually abused but could not deal with this properly because they simply did not know they were being abused, they were never taught. Children are impressionable and naïve. They trust those that are close to them and if their guardian assaults them they won’t understand until they grow up or ever in the case that they forget. Howard states that “I think there is a larger purpose still for writing and publishing books like Gillyflower, despite the fact that ‘problem’ books for children seem to have fallen out of fashion. We adults like to remember childhood as happy, carefree time. We like to forget the real pain and helplessness of even happy children, the pain and helplessness we felt ourselves. To do this, we must deny the reality of the lives of many unhappy children”[footnoteRef:10] implying that adults purposefully do not expose certain content to children as they want their children to have a prolonged time of carelessness as they themselves have now grown up. Furthermore she states “I believe children need to know, just as adults need to know, the dark as well as the light side of life. It is knowledge that empowers. If we believe that the future belongs to children, then we must empower them to deal with it”[footnoteRef:11], implying that children should be exposed to harsher content as we have to strengthen them especially when they are the future. [9: Facing the dark side in Children’s books The Lion and the Unicorn, Volume 12, Number 1, June 1988, page 9 ] [10: Facing the dark side in Children’s books The Lion and the Unicorn, Volume 12, Number 1, June 1988, page 11] [11: Facing the dark side in Children’s books The Lion and the Unicorn, Volume 12, Number 1, June 1988, page 11]

In conclusion the literature we read has massive impacts on us and it is more than likely that we don’t even understand the effects that it has on us. Sometimes in children’s literature there can be messages that are dangerous to children as there may be unintentional hidden messages or subliminal messages. Literature can lead to positive and negative moral development in humans, characters can inspire us to show sides of ourselves that are positive or they can influence us in a negative way. The individual chooses how they want to be affected.