Weldon T. Johnson

Bio: Weldon T. Johnson is an academic researcher. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 12 citations.

The moral development of the child: an integrated model.

Abstract: Previous theories of moral development such as those by Piaget and Kohlberg usually focused on the cognitive or rational aspect, and seldom included the affective aspect in their construction. The characteristics of the stages of moral development in the present paper are elaborated with special reference to psychological needs, altruism and human relationships, and justice reasoning. The three stages are: (1) Physical Survival, Selfishness, and Obedience, (2) Love Needs, Reciprocal Altruism, and Instrumental Purpose; and (3) Belongingness Needs, Primary Group Altruism, and Mutual Interpersonal Expectations. At Stage 1, a deep and profound attachment to parents, empathy toward the significant others, and obedience to authorities all contribute to the physical survival of a person at this stage. People at Stage 2 are self-protective, dominant, exploitative, and opportunistic. The need to love and to be loved is gratified on the basis of reciprocal altruism. People at Stage 3 have a strong desire to gratify their belongingness needs to a primary group. They are willing to sacrifice for the benefits of the group at great cost. While the psychological needs and altruism are related to the affective aspect of moral development, the justice reasoning is related to the cognitive aspect. The proposed theoretical model attempts to integrate the affective and cognitive aspects of moral development, and prototypic responses to questions related to hypothetical moral dilemmas are presented to substantiate the proposed stage structures. It is hypothesized that the sequence of these three stages is invariant of person and culture.

Design of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong.

Abstract: The design of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong is outlined. Based on adolescent developmental issues observed in Hong Kong and the conceptual framework on positive youth development, a 2-tier program was designed. For the Tier 1 Program, it is a universal positive youth development program for students in Secondary 1 to Secondary 3 with the curricula developed by a research team comprising scholars from different disciplines (e.g., social work, psychology, and education). For the Tier 2 Program, it is a selective program targeting adolescents with greater psychosocial needs, developed by school social workers providing school social work service in the schools. With particular reference to the Tier 1 program, several principles are maintained in the design of the program. These include comprehensive coverage of positive youth development constructs, theoretical and empirical grounding of the program, holistic emphasis, focus on both adolescent development assets and problems, developmentally appropriate content, culturally relevant content, multi-year intervention, provision of proper and adequate training to the workers, and use of effective teaching methods in the delivery of the program.

Who Would You Most Like to Like? Adolescents' ideals at the beginning and the end of the century

Abstract: Childrens' and adolescents' ideals were the subject of a number of developmental studies published between 1898 and 1918 in several Western countries. The article reports the results from two recent Norwegian samples, one of about 2500 16-17 year olds (10th graders) in western Norway, and the other on about 200 13-14 year olds (7th graders) in northern Norway. In both studies, participants were asked: 'Who would you most like to be like?' The results are compared to a similar Norwegian study performed in 1914, and show the following trends: (i) more boys mention public figures, and more girls personal acquaintances, as they did in 1914, especially in the older age group; (ii) the public figures mentioned are almost exclusively sports stars, movie stars and pop artists, in contrast to the historical heroes and writers of the early studies; (iii) 15-25% of respondents in both samples claimed they would most like to be themselves, an answer almost unknown in 1914. They were also asked which human qualities t...

Ontogenetic development: two fundamental patterns

Abstract: This article deals with certain fundamental patterns in ontogenetic development, particularly as they relate to transpersonal psychology, cartographies of consciousness, and developmental hierarchies. The, issues themselves, however, are rather abstruse, and take as their genesis certain recalcitrant problems in orthodox developmental psychology. Since I do not wish the initial abstruseness of the issues to hide their relevance, I would like to begin with a rather didactic introduction, using a few analogies to convey the overall drift of the subsequent and more precise discussion.

Juvenile Delinquency and Moral Development

Abstract: This article compares moral development of delinquent and nondelinquent adolescents. The subjects, 249 males and females ranging in age from 13 to 17, were administered a morality test for children including the following measures: resistance to temptation, moral stage, feelings after offense, judgment about the severity of punishment, and confession. In most measures of moral development, nondelinquents performed better than delinquents. With few exceptions, females were found to score higher than males on the various moral measures. The findings are discussed in terms of Hoffman's (1977) conceptualization regarding the influence of various disciplining techniques on moral development.