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Kohlberg : Theory Of Moral Development

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Lawrence Kohlberg: Theory of Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg was a well known psychologist best known for his thorough research into the development and better understanding of the processes needed to grow into a well developed human being. Kohlberg grew up in New York City on October 25, 1927. Growing up in such a diverse area is what struck his interest in the development of all beings. In only one short year he received his bachelors degree and then went on to devote his career to study the understanding of development for the youth. Kohlberg 's stages of moral development were very much influenced by his peer Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget also had a similar belief of a stage-based theory of development. While Piaget only had two …show more content…

The final level or Kohlberg 's development theory is Post-Conventional Morality. During stage five a human should understand social contract. A person at this stage is most looking for the good in the world. During this time, he or she will do what is best for society. During the very last stage of development, stage six, a fully developed person is focused on ethics and overall human principles. Kohlberg believed that an individuals could only progress one at a time. Although he believed that most moral development occurred social interaction, he did not agree with skipping stages. According to Kohlberg, the stages wee set in place and could not be skipped. In order for Kohlberg to determine which stage a person was in, he would test them with a set of moral dilemmas. Based off of their responses, he would then be able to fit them into a stage. Although Lawrence Kohlberg did a large amount of case studies, many found his findings weak due to certain aspects. For example, most of the samples he gathered were extremely bias. A large majority of his samples were of men and excluding women. Also, a number of his dilemmas given were extremely non realistic. These exaggerated, hypothetical situations make it hard for a true, real life response. Another reason why his theory was questions was because of his use of cross-sectional research. Kohlberg interviewed children of different ages to see what level of moral development they were at.

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