CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
Assignment 3 : Children’s Moral and Emotional Development
Humaira’ Binti Mohamad Nasriff (2019798)
Section 2
EDEP 1103
Instructor : Dr. Siti Rafiah Abd. Hamid
CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1
1. Is it true that children’s moral and emotional development are very much shaped or
influenced by their cognitive development? (10 marks)
All aspects of children development such as cognitive, physical, moral, emotional
development are actually interconnected and they influence each other (The Urban Child
Institute, n.d.). In other words, they are not separate, isolated skills. They work together ever
since infancy until adulthood to ensure the perfect human growth.
The definition of moral development is the ability and process to understand and determine
between what is right and what is wrong. In order to make the right decisions, a person will
need to think of the best one that suits their interests or concerns. As per mentioned above,
children’s moral development does not form independently on its own as it is influenced by
various factors (Oswalt, n.d.). One of the crucial factor is cognitive development.
Children’s ideas regarding rules, moral judgements and punishment are most probably to
change as they got older (Piaget, 1932). Children between 5 to 9 years old believe that they
are obliged to obey the rules made by authority figures such as their teachers and parents and
breaking them will result to punishment. The rules are considered permanent and
unchangeable no matter the circumstances. As children reach 10 years old and above, their
mental process undergoes a major reorganisation, like how a computer reboots its system.
They begin to realize that there is no absolute right or wrong and one’s morals depends on
their intentions instead of the consequences. They also understand that rules are created to
prevent commotion and can be changed accordingly. Thus, it may be concluded that as
people grow up, their morals develop as well until they are capable of coming up with
complex solutions to problems while simultaneously considering the rights of others.
In addition, Kohlberg (1969, 1975) conducted a research on children’s moral development
as an extension from Piaget’s work. He found out that moral development stages are
organized in the same developmental sequence as cognitive processes. Both of them are
interrelated and must go hand in hand. In order to completely develop one’s sense of
morality, all sorts of cognitive abilities such as information processing, reasoning and
problem solving must work together. Any person is not able to even make the simplest
decisions without the involvement of their cognitive processes. For example, when choosing
which university to enrol, you certainly do not pick thoughtlessly. You will take account of
many factors such as environment, fee, distance from home and others. Besides, the more
CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2
efficient a person’s cognitive processes happen, the more advanced their moral development
can be. Therefore, it is safe to say that
CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 2
someone highly-intelligent is extremely likely to possess high moral reasoning ability than
ordinary people in their age do.
On the other hand, emotional development is meant by the ability and process of
expressing, controlling, and understanding own emotions as well as others’. It can also be
described as a person’s way of reacting to certain situations or conditions whether positively
or negatively. Similar to moral development, emotional development is frequently and
closely associated with cognitive development.
Children can only acquire and understand certain emotions according to their level of
cognitive skills. As their abstract thinking and language skills improve, they become better at
recognising their own emotions and discussing about it with other people like their parents or
siblings (Oswalt, n.d.). They are able to identify their needs and how to obtain them
effectively. For example, a baby only cries when they’re hungry but a child will not cry and
ask his or her mother for food instead. This shows the difference between the early stages and
the progressive stages of a children’s emotional development. Hence, the reason children do
not experience complex and deep emotions such as guilt, jealousy, embarrassment is because
they haven’t developed the right cognitive skills or haven’t reached the appropriate age for
those skills yet.
Moreover, when children become older, they become more aware of their emotions either
good or bad and are able to choose which ones they want to express. To be specific, they will
hide their negative feelings and only show what is desirable or acceptable to the people
around them and vice versa towards certain people they dislike. In fact, the neural circuits
involved in emotion regulation are highly interactive with the ones involved in executive
functions; a set of cognitive processes to control behaviour (National Scientific Council on
the Developing Child 2004, 2). Rational thinking and judgement can encourage one’s
positive emotions but senseless decision-making can terribly disrupt one’s emotion
regulation. For this reason, it is proved that cognition possesses the ability to shape one’s
understanding and controlling of emotion.
CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3
2. Please state your opinion and discuss critically your views about this issue and provide
related examples. (5 marks)
I strongly believe that children’s moral and emotional development are highly influenced
by their cognitive development. This is because the brain is the most important organ in the
human body. It is where we think, feel different kinds of emotions, make decisions, control
our actions and do all the activities that make us a human. Brain development is a part of
cognitive development and it affects all areas of children growth. Therefore, cognitive
development is the key component in shaping children as a whole.
It is important for parents to foster their children well as soon as they are born because it
will act as a foundation for their success in the future. What they can do to improve children’s
moral and emotional development is by showing good example all the time. Children are
very imitative and impressionable of the people around them because this is how they learn
new things. So, parents should be mindful of their words and actions around children as good
example leads to good morals and vice versa.
Moreover, parents can teach their children to be independent by giving them opportunities
in decision-making. As a start, help them make simple decisions such as what to wear or eat.
Then, if they make the wrong decisions, do not be angry at them. Instead, explain to them
why it is wrong so that they can learn and avoid from choosing it again. This way, it will
result in better moral judgement and understanding when they are exposed to external factors
as they grow up.
Furthermore, it is significant for parents to establish a close relationship with their children.
Parents must become a child’s best friend in order to build trust and communicate effectively
with each other. Many children hide things from their parents as they have a huge gap in
between them. But this can be fixed by consistent communication and acknowledgement of
feelings. Afterwards, children will be more open to talk about their problems and rely on their
parents rather than outside people.
To sum up, a strong and well-developed moral and emotional foundation during one’s
childhood will strongly bring positive impacts to their life from attitude and behaviour, to
school performance and career later on.
CHILDREN’S MORAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 4
REFERENCES :
The Urban Child Institute. (n.d.). Social and Emotional Development. Retrieved December
04, 2020, from http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/resources/publications/good-start/
social-and-emotional-development
Oswalt, A. (n.d.). Early Childhood Moral Development. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/
article/12769-early-childhood-moral-development
Mcleod, S. (1970, January 01). Piaget's Theory of Moral Development. Retrieved December
04, 2020, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget-moral.html
Beißert, H., & Hasselhorn, M. (2016, November 30). Individual Differences in Moral
Development: Does Intelligence Really Affect Children's Moral Reasoning and Moral
Emotions? Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01961/full
Oswalt, A. (n.d.). Early Childhood Emotional and Social Development: Emotional
Expressiveness and Understanding. Retrieved December 04, 2020, from
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National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2004). Children’s Emotional
Development Is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains: Working Paper No. 2
[PDF]. Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-
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