ABSTRACT
The morality of the child develops out of his respect for adult authority, both as teacher and model. The child’s moral judgments are initially based on a literal acceptance of that authority as absolute. As the psychologist Jean Piaget says, “At a given moment the child thinks that lies are bad in themselves and that, even if they are not punished, one ought not to lie”. Psychotherapists are generally able to maintain an empathic interest in patients whose behavior might prompt others, and might otherwise prompt them, to call for shame. This is not because therapists have a loftier outlook or a warmer heart than others, but because they have a special purpose and a special interest in understanding. Even so, that interest has its limits. New therapists are taught to avoid extra-therapeutic relationships of significance, romantic relationships, business relationships, etc., with their patients because those relationships may compete with the therapeutic interest in empathic understanding.
