Cognitive and moral development in research In the wide field of developmental psychology at infancy and adolescence, there is one specific topic called 'cognitive development'. Many psychologists did and still do research in this topic. One of the most famous developmental psychologists is Jean Piaget with his 'theory of cognitive development'. Jean Piaget's almost 100-year-old ideas are still contemporary and present in recent psychological research. Piaget's theory consists of four phases with different focuses and lengths. The first of the four phases is called the ‚sensorimotor stage'. This stage lasts from birth to the acquisition of language which is, according to Piaget, at the age of two years. At this time, infants experience the world for the first time with physical actions like seeing and hearing. The second phase by Jean Piaget is the 'preoperational stage'. It occurs between the ages of four and seven years. Special for this stage is that children can now think in images and symbols. Further appearances at this stage are egocentrism (children can not distinguish between their own perspective and those of others) and animism (children believe that inanimate objects have lifelike attributes). The third of the four phases is called the 'concrete operational stage'. It occurs between the ages of seven and eleven years and is characterized by the use of logic. Children pass through different processes and first indications for intelligence turn out. The fourth and final phase by Jean Piaget is the 'formal operational stage' which starts around the age of eleven years. At this time children develop the ability to think more abstractly and also more specifically. From this classification in four phases arises the question of how it is possible to study the cognitive skills of an infant who is not yet able to speak. Also those children who have already developed the ability to speak will not be capable to evaluate their cognitive skills from an objective point of view. Therefore psychologists were searching for methods to either support the theory of Jean Piaget or to refute his assumptions. What psychologists have today, is a wide range of exercises for testing the cognitive skills of an infant. The results of these exercises support Piaget's classification and specification of the four phases. For example, psychologists found that children already at the age of five months are able to understand simple mathematical exercises. In one exercise babies were confronted with a situation in which a rabbit was shown. Then a board was positioned in front of the rabbit. The babies could only see the board, not the rabbit. After that another rabbit disappeared behind the board. When the board was removed by the psychologists, only one rabbit was shown to the babies. The babies recognized that something was wrong because they reacted varied from when the correct result with two rabbits was presented to them later. The theory of Jean Piaget was not only verified by other psychologists but also extended by another famous psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. He extended Piaget's theory with his own 'theory of moral development'. This theory consists of six stages which can be grouped in three levels. The first level is called 'Pre-Conventional' and consists of the stages 'Obedience and punishment orientation' and 'Self-interest orientation'. Both of them are about low moral behaviour; individuals in this stages are more concentrated on their own interests and do not care much about the needs of others. 'Conventional' is the title of the second level and it is structured in the stages 'Interpersonal accord and conformity' and 'Authority and social-order maintaining orientation'. These stages are more about following the rules and accommodating to a society, not from a personal motivation but more from a collective motivation. The third and final level is called 'Post-Conventional' and consists of the stages 'Social contract orientation' and ‚Universal ethical principles'. Individuals in these stages are acting in a highly moral way. Especially the sixth stage is only reached by a rare number of people. At this point the question arises of how it is possible to classify people in these six stages. One method to find out which stage of moral reasoning an individual uses, is interviewing the individual. In those interviews the instructor tells a dilemma story to the tested person. The person has to explain how he or she would behave if he or she was in such a situation. The dilemma story which is most often used is the 'Heinz dilemma'. In this story a man, Heinz, needs a special drug for his wife who is suffering cancer. Heinz does not have enough money for this drug and also those people who are willing to help him do not have enough money for the special drug. He tries to speak with the man who sells the drug, but also without success. Afterwards Heinz is so desperate that he decides to break into the house of the druggist and steal the drug for his wife. Now the tested persons are asked whether they think that Heinz acted correctly or whether they think Heinz should not have stolen the drug, even if he was really desperate and in sorrow about his wife. In this judgement of the Heinz dilemma it does not depend on how the person finally decides but more on how he or she justifies his or her decision. This method needs sensitivity in interpretation, but it is the best way to get a representative result. Today, we have an exhaustive knowledge about human cognitive and moral development, based on the theories of Piaget and Kohlberg. Their concepts are still current which has been shown by the research of contemporary psychologists. In academic studies of psychology and pedagogy 'the theory of cognitive development' and 'the theory of moral development' belong to the theoretical foundations. References: - Piaget, Jean (1928). The Child's Conception of the World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. - Kohlberg, Lawrence (1976). Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research and Social Issues. NY: Rinehart and Winston.