Piaget observed children's activities through the observation experiment of "double story method" (followed by stories), talked with children with fabricated double stories and investigated children's moral development. He believes that the development of children's moral cognition has gone through a process from heteronomy to self-discipline, and puts forward the theory of moral cognition development (children's moral judgment). Heteronomy and self-discipline are two levels of children's moral judgment. Piaget believes that children's moral development before 10 is at the level of heteronomy, that is, the judgment of moral behavior is mainly based on the external standards set by others; /kloc-After the age of 0/0, children's moral development enters the level of self-discipline, that is, children's judgments on moral behavior mostly depend on their own internal standards.

Piaget divided children's moral development into four stages:

The first stage: egocentric stage (2-5 years old), also known as pre-moral stage.

The self-centered stage begins when children can accept external norms. In this period, children can't distinguish themselves from the external environment, but regard the external environment as an extension of themselves. These rules are not binding on him. Piaget believes that children are still "lawless" before the age of five, regardless of the relationship between people and me, but "self-centered" to consider problems. He often executes the rules according to his own imagination. The rules have no binding force on his behavior, no sense of obligation, and no real cooperation in the game.

The second stage: heteronomous morality stage (5, 6 to 8 years old), also known as the authority stage.

Children obey external rules, accept the norms specified by authority, regard the norms set by people as fixed, and judge right or wrong only according to the consequences of behavior, regardless of the motivation of behavior. Some people call this period moral realism or heteronomous morality.

The third stage: the reversible stage (9- 10 years old), also known as the independent moral stage.

Children in the reversible stage no longer regard the norms as immutable, but as an agreement between peers. Children generally form the idea that the rules can be changed if everyone agrees. Children begin to realize that they can develop a relationship of mutual respect and equality with others ("You ask me to abide by it, and you must abide by it"), and the rules are no longer unilaterally required by authoritative figures, but have the reversible characteristics of ensuring people's mutual action and mutual benefit. The appearance of reversible relationship between peers indicates that morality has entered the stage of self-discipline from heteronomy.

This period is also called self-discipline period, that is, autonomy period. Morality has developed to this period, and it is no longer unconditionally subject to authority. You can put yourself in other people's position, and your judgment is no longer absolute. Some people call this period moral relativism or cooperative morality.

The fourth stage: the justice stage (1 1 later, 12 years old), also known as the moral stage of justice.

The concept of justice in the stage of justice is born from reversible moral understanding. They began to tend to take justice and fairness as the criteria for judging right and wrong. Be able to judge events in a moral situation based on sympathy and concern according to the specific situation of others.

Piaget believes that all stages of moral development are not absolutely isolated, but continuous. The development of children's moral character is a continuum. This definition is only for the convenience of research, and does not indicate the interruption of the continuum of development.

When Piaget studied moral judgment, he asked the subjects moral questions by telling stories, and then asked the children questions. Use this difficult problem to determine whether children make moral judgments based on the result of damage to objects or on the protagonist's behavioral motives. Because Piaget tests children with paired stories every time, this method is called double story method.

The following is one of the double stories:

1. When a little boy named John was in his room, his family invited him to dinner and he went into the restaurant. But there is a chair behind the door, and there is a tray on the chair with 15 cups on it. John didn't know there were these things behind the door. He pushed the door in and the door knocked down the tray. As a result, 15 cups were smashed.

2. A little boy named Henry. One day, his mother went out and he wanted to take some jam out of the cupboard. He climbed into the chair and reached for it. Because the jam is too high, his arm can't reach it. When he wanted jam, he knocked over a cup and it fell and broke.

Piaget asked two questions for each double story:

1. Do the two children feel the same guilt?

2. Which of the two children is worse? Why?