1 00:00:01,710 --> 00:00:09,029 As we have seen, moral rules are made by your conscience, but moral conscience changes with 2 00:00:09,029 --> 00:00:16,609 age. Think about a baby, a newborn baby. Does a newborn baby have moral conscience? 3 00:00:17,390 --> 00:00:24,070 Can the baby tell the difference between what is right and wrong? Of course not. Moral conscience 4 00:00:24,070 --> 00:00:33,270 appears when we are growing, and it changes with time. So very small kids have difficulties 5 00:00:33,270 --> 00:00:40,570 to tell the difference between what is correct and incorrect, while adolescents can perfectly 6 00:00:40,570 --> 00:00:47,329 well determine what is correct and incorrect in each situation. So we could talk about the 7 00:00:47,329 --> 00:00:53,909 development of moral conscience throughout time with age. This is something that has been 8 00:00:53,909 --> 00:01:01,890 thoroughly studied by psychologists. For example, the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. He thought 9 00:01:01,890 --> 00:01:09,909 that moral conscience evolves and changes in three different stages. The first stage 10 00:01:09,909 --> 00:01:20,150 is before the age of five. And in this stage, the kids, the children, follow fixed orders. 11 00:01:20,930 --> 00:01:28,129 Those orders that are made generally by your parents, that they consider rigid and that cannot 12 00:01:28,129 --> 00:01:36,590 be changed by any reason. So think about someone who is below five. If their parents tell this kid 13 00:01:36,590 --> 00:01:45,209 that, for example, it is incorrect to push other people, he will never push other people because 14 00:01:45,209 --> 00:01:53,510 he thinks their rule is strict and rigid and cannot be changed by any reason. Now, between 5 15 00:01:53,510 --> 00:02:00,849 and 10, when the kid is between 5 and 10 years old, there is an important change in the evolution of 16 00:02:00,849 --> 00:02:07,530 moral conscience, because children become aware that rules are not something rigid and fixed. 17 00:02:08,210 --> 00:02:16,669 They can be changed if we find an agreement with other people to change the rules. That is why in 18 00:02:16,669 --> 00:02:22,969 this age it is so important that the children play. Playing is a way to create rules and to 19 00:02:22,969 --> 00:02:29,909 change them, finding an agreement with other people. So if I invent with my friends a new game 20 00:02:29,909 --> 00:02:37,550 in which we can push each other, we make a new rule that says that in this game, yes, 21 00:02:37,650 --> 00:02:45,449 we can push each other because we agreed upon doing it. That is why Piaget called this stage 22 00:02:45,449 --> 00:02:51,990 the conventional stage. Convention is the same as agreement. This is the moment when children 23 00:02:51,990 --> 00:02:58,550 discover that rules are something that we make if we reach an agreement with each other. 24 00:02:58,550 --> 00:03:06,669 and when children grow when they are over 10 there is a new step because they discover that 25 00:03:06,669 --> 00:03:11,530 there is something more important than the agreement which is the respect of general 26 00:03:11,530 --> 00:03:18,949 principles such as for example human dignity or the respect of other people imagine the same 27 00:03:18,949 --> 00:03:24,490 example we are considering pushing people is it right or wrong well if you think that the basic 28 00:03:24,490 --> 00:03:31,650 principle of your rules is the respect of other people. Pushing others is not very nice and you 29 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:39,770 will not do it. Imagine someone runs the risk of falling somewhere because there is a danger. 30 00:03:40,189 --> 00:03:46,310 Maybe you can push this person to help them avoid the danger. In this case, you're breaking the 31 00:03:46,310 --> 00:03:51,750 general rule of not pushing people because you're doing it for a good purpose. Because the important 32 00:03:51,750 --> 00:04:00,990 thing here is not following the rule, but respecting the person. There is another very 33 00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:08,990 important psychologist, an American psychologist called Lawrence Kohlberg, who followed the steps 34 00:04:08,990 --> 00:04:16,990 of Piaget and also created a theory about the development of moral conscience. Kohlberg's 35 00:04:16,990 --> 00:04:23,970 theory is more complicated, but he also thought that a key moment in the development of moral 36 00:04:23,970 --> 00:04:30,350 conscience is when children become aware of the rules as an agreement, as a convention. 37 00:04:31,029 --> 00:04:36,709 That is why Colbert talked about three levels. The first level, for very small children, 38 00:04:36,709 --> 00:04:43,029 is called pre-conventional level. They haven't discovered yet the importance of making rules 39 00:04:43,029 --> 00:04:49,269 by agreement. The second level is called the conventional level because they have discovered 40 00:04:49,269 --> 00:04:57,269 that rules can be made differently if we find an agreement to do so. And the third level is the 41 00:04:57,269 --> 00:05:02,149 post-conventional level. We are beyond the agreement because we have discovered there is 42 00:05:02,149 --> 00:05:07,970 something more important than the agreement which are the general abstract principles such as 43 00:05:07,970 --> 00:05:14,470 respecting people's dignity. Now, the difference between Kohlberg and Piaget is that Kohlberg 44 00:05:14,470 --> 00:05:24,089 introduced six steps in these levels. So each level is divided in two steps. In Kohlberg's 45 00:05:24,089 --> 00:05:30,829 theory, the pre-conventional level is divided in two steps. The first one consists in avoiding 46 00:05:30,829 --> 00:05:37,889 punishment. So very small kids try to avoid the punishment that comes when you break the rules. 47 00:05:37,970 --> 00:05:41,250 and that's why they follow them in such a rigid and strict way. 48 00:05:41,769 --> 00:05:48,029 But in the second stage, they follow rules to get a reward, which is something different. 49 00:05:48,029 --> 00:05:53,670 They want, for example, to be praised by their parents when they comply with the norms. 50 00:05:54,569 --> 00:05:59,189 In the conventional levels, there are also two steps. 51 00:05:59,850 --> 00:06:06,509 Step three consists in creating rules in order to be accepted by the group. 52 00:06:06,509 --> 00:06:19,350 When you are in a group of friends, in a group of peers, you might be interested in being part of the group, being accepted, and then you accept the rules of the group because you want to be part of it. 53 00:06:20,069 --> 00:06:32,970 Now, there is a more developed step, which is step four, and in step four, it's not only the intention of being accepted, but it is also the intention to obey the rules that we have made by agreement. 54 00:06:32,970 --> 00:06:43,550 the third level the post-conventional level also has two steps step five appears when children act 55 00:06:43,550 --> 00:06:50,970 trying to find a common goal so there is a purpose that we share and that's what impulses us to make 56 00:06:50,970 --> 00:06:58,750 the rules finally step six according to Colbert happens when people realize there are universal 57 00:06:58,750 --> 00:07:06,790 principles, such as the respect of human dignity, that must be the basis of all our goals.