6 Relationship between Moral Competence and Adolescent Developme

6. Relationship between Moral Competence and Adolescent Developmental OutcomesSince the development of moral competence is an important aspect of the psychological development, it is natural that it is positively associated with the other aspects of psychological development such as cognitive development, social development, and emotion development. According to the cognitive developmental seriously approach to morality, cognitive judgment is a component of moral action. In addition, affective and cognitive aspects of moral development are parallel and interrelated. ��They represent different perspectives and contexts in defining structural changes�� [34, page 349]. The relation between the moral judgment stages and cognitive development stages is also clearly stated in Kohlberg’s theory.

Kohlberg [35] claims that there is an inner logical order in the sequence of his six stages. That is, ��a higher moral stage entails a lower moral stage, at least partly, because it involves a higher logical structure entailing a lower logical structure�� [35, page 186]. Kohlberg also argued that the development of moral judgment is dependent on the development of perspective taking [35]. Empathy is another aspect of moral development. Hoffman’s [36] development theory postulates four hypothetical levels of empathic response based on the cognitive development of a sense of the other by the child. According to Hoffman [37], empathy is defined as ��the involuntary, at times forceful, experiencing of another person’s emotional state�� [37, page 126].

Based on Maslow’s [19] Hierarchy of Basic Needs, Ma [8] constructed a set of moral orientations indices (e.g., an orientation to love and to be loved by others, an orientation to perform altruistic acts towards others, an orientation to act according to social laws and norms, and an orientation to self-actualize one’s potential). He also constructed a set of moral stage indices based on Ma’s [15, 16] Chinese theory of moral development. In his empirical study, Ma [8] found that the moral orientation and moral judgment of prosocial adolescents is higher than that of delinquent adolescents. In other words, the development of moral orientation and moral judgment predicts the social behavior pattern of adolescents. 7. Practical Way to Promote Moral Competence in AdolescentsThe best and the most practical ways to promote moral competence in adolescents are not to construct a teaching package focusing solely Dacomitinib on moral competence. Instead, a comprehensive and all-round positive youth development program is a better choice.

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