Erikson's Lifespan Development Theory divides an individual's social development into eight stages of how and what we should develop when. At each stage, we develop a slightly different basis on environmental factors. The absence of friends and peers will have a greater impact on people from childhood to early adolescence than on people in middle age. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay These environmental impacts can affect the way we develop our moral judgment and our perception of life in general. I will review several articles on moral judgment and standards of judgment that have analyzed people having different impacts on their social-emotional development and the effect of these differences on judgment. Many environmental differences can impact a person's development, such as socioeconomic status, religion, and cultural differences. Unfortunately, negative environmental impacts are most relevant to the topic of this article. Abuse can happen to anyone at any age, but what are the long-term effects of abuse on a developing child? In a study by Smetana in 1999, he compared non-abused children to abused children based on their judgments regarding transgressions. A total of 55 children, whether abused or not, were interviewed about hypothetical events involving transgressions against other children, described as provoked or unprovoked. The abused children were recruited from a center for low-income abused children who were referred to this center by the Department of Social Services. The 36 abused children were divided into two groups based on the form of abuse. These groups were determined based on specific coding that separated abused children from neglected children to create subtypes of abuse that could potentially yield different results. The results of this study are interesting, all children were in agreement when it came to making moral judgments about provoked and unprovoked actions. All children understand that all transgressions are wrong and deserve punishment. However, when it came to emotional responses, for example, non-abused children reported a higher level of sadness towards unprovoked attack transgressors and neglected children reported a higher level of fear towards an unfair and unprovoked distribution of resources. These results confirm Smetana’s words “moral judgments”. develop from children's experiences of the instinctive effect of actions on others, such as harm, injury or perceived violation of their rights (Smetana 1999). “The question of morality, when it comes to punishment, is very prevalent. Many studies are carried out on children from different backgrounds, socio-economic statuses or types of abuse to determine what can influence moral judgment in cases of transgressions, but can't this change? A scenario; A young girl growing up in a normal middle-class suburban home marries the boy next door who ends up beating her. As a child, her judgment on a transgression of the same nature might have been different from her judgment now that she is the victim. Kolhberg's theory of moral development (1979) states that "moral reasoning evolves over time in predictable stages from the simple to the complex stage and thatthese are more adaptive than single steps. "In total, it describes 6 stages, divided into three groups, the preconventional stage in which most of the moral development of children but also of most criminal offenders is located, then the conventional stage where most of the judgment resides moral of society among adolescents and adults and finally, the post-conventional stage at which individuals such as Mother Theresa and Ghandi use moral reasoning. In a study by Buttell, Carney and Miller, this theory was. used to explore the level of morality.The reasoning used by battered women when making the decision whether or not to return home to their abusive partner It is common to think that battered women who return home are "morally." immature”, but is this a misconception or can we really regress in their level of moral reasoning A sample of 58 women checking into a domestic violence shelter was tested. using the Defining Issues Test (DIT) to assess their moral reasoning. The test consisted of multiple choice questions which then gave the researchers an average P score (P = Main Morality) ranging from 0 to 95. The results showed that the average P score for the given sample of battered women was 32 1. The average score for students and adults is a P score of 40, indicating that women who experience domestic violence are, in fact, reasoning at an average moral level and are not morally immature. Further assessment also revealed that, when it comes to their own situation and the question of leaving their intimate abuser, these women use moral reasoning at a post-conventional level. That being said, women who experience domestic violence use a higher form of moral judgment when making their decision because their thought process views their own self-interest as being subject to protecting the well-being of others, primarily their children. . The decision not to leave to protect your children from the abuser is a common decision, but is that all you can really do? As a parent, it is your duty to protect your child and ensure their well-being at all costs. Thus, a mother prey to abuse from the father of her child makes the decision to stay so that he does not turn his aggression and violence towards the child. In doing so, she protects her children from physical harm, but what is often overlooked are the impacts of witnessing violence against a loved one on their psychological development. Acting with a high moral standard by sacrificing one's own well-being to save someone else is honorable, but in the case of domestic violence, as explained above, I do not believe self-sacrifice is the solution to protect your child. In a study led by Victoria Thornton, the effects of witnessing domestic violence on a child's mental health were assessed through drawings and games. Many previous studies have concluded that children living in homes where domestic violence has occurred have a negative effect on their functioning. However, these results were obtained through questionnaires completed by mothers and not children, assuming that mothers were in tune with how the child felt about the situation. Thornton found this not ideal and chose to interview 8 children from five different families, each matched with their mother but interviewing themselves. This sample was recruited from a center working with survivors of domestic violence and all mothers had reported being separated from their abuser for at least six months. The children.