various viewpoints on life, become accessible. Not only thinking, but thinking
about thinking is possible. This is called metathought.It is what we are doing
in this section of the book.
Formal operational thought makes it possible to use both inductive and
deductive logic (discussed in chapter 9). The adult can reflect, analyze, and rethink
ideas and viewpoints. This kind of thought opens up avenues of mental flexibility
not available to children.
Piaget’s theory presents a blueprint for cognitive development that captures the
spectrum of thinking from its primitive beginning to its most sophisticated level.(a) Cognitive processes associated with the concrete operations stage deal well with what
can be seen or otherwise experienced, not with.(b) A child functioning at the concrete operations stage can understand arithmetic, but will
usually have a difficult time understanding.
(c) Associated with the formal operations stage, thinking about thinking is called
.(d) Formal operational thought makes it possible to use both and
logic.
Answers: (a) abstractions; (b) algebra; (c) metathought; (d) inductive; deductive.Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development: From a Power
Orientation to Living by Principles
Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist associated with Harvard Uni-
versity, has drawn from Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and applied it to
moral development. Moral developmentis the development of the individual’s
sense of right and wrong. A high level of moral development is built on a foun-
dation of cognitive development. But, of course, more is involved.
Prior to Kohlberg’s actual research with subjects, theories of moral develop-
ment were based largely on speculation. The philosophers Plato and Immanuel
Kant believed that the moral sense is inborn, that it is a given of the human mind.
On the other hand, the philosophers Aristotle and John Locke assumed that moral
development requires learning and experience. Kohlberg’s approach tends to
favor the learning hypothesis. Human beings acquire a moral sense by learning to
think clearly, by the example of role models, and by social reinforcement.(a) Moral development is the development of the individual’s sense of and
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