Download Kohlberg`s Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
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Follows Piaget’s cognitive developmental
theory
As you progress through the cognitive stages,
you progress through moral stages as well.
Kohlberg gave 10-13 year-old boys a series of
moral dilemmas (e.g., Heinz scenario) and
asked them what they thought and why.
He didn’t care about the decision the boys
made—only the reasoning behind it.
Progression of morality
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Starts as completely external to the self;
you’re good because others (parents,
teachers, God, etc) tell you to be.
The higher your moral level, the more
internalized it becomes.
At the highest level, morality is completely
internalized—you’re “good” because you have
your own internal code of ethics to uphold.
Three general levels of
morality
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Level 1: Preconventional morality
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Level 2: Conventional morality
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Substage 1
Substage 2
Substage 3
Substage 4
Level 3: Post-conventional morality
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Substage 5
Substage 6
Preconventional morality
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Found in children and some adults
Morality is completely externalized
First stage: The goodness or badness of an
act depends on its consequences (how much
trouble will you get into?)
Second stage: called “Naïve hedonism:” you
conform to rules in order to gain rewards of
satisfy personal objectives (e.g., some
politicians)
Conventional morality
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Where most adults
Morality is somewhat internalized, but it’s still
externalized as well.
Stage 3: “good boy or good girl” orientation—
most women found here—Moral behavior is
that which pleases or helps others. Person
wants to be thought of as “good.”
Stage 4: most men are here—what’s moral
equals what is legal. Must conform to rules of
legitimate authority; laws transcend social
interest.
Post-conventional morality
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Very rare; only 10% of adults are found here
Morality is completely internalized
Stage 5: What is moral is not necessarily
equal to what is legal. Laws can be unjust, in
which case the moral thing to do is break the
law. Person is bound only by internal moral
code.
Stage 6: so abstract and “transcendental”
that it’s been dropped from the theory
because no one was at stage 6.
Sequence of progression
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Before age 9, most children are at level 1,
preconventional morality.
Stage 4 doesn’t appear at all among 10-yearolds.
Stage 4 is found in 62% of 36-year-olds.
Stage 5 doesn’t appear until at least age 2022 but never characterizes more than 10% of
the population.
Once you reach one stage, you supposedly
never regress to an earlier stage.
Criticisms of his theory
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Women don’t like it because it appears that
they reason at a lower moral level than most
men do.
A person’s moral reasoning may not reflect
his moral actions (e.g., terrorism)
There are cultural differences in moralitly that
aren’t reflected in the theory
Conservatives appear to reason at level 2,
whereas liberals are overrepresented at level
5.