Kohlberg 's Theory Of Moral Development

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.

The author mentions that he doesn’t like how Kohlberg focuses too much on “why”. The author says that Kohlberg is narrow to focus on motivation rather the action itself. Another issue is how flexible or rigid each stage are presented. In the text a question is raised stating that can a person in stage 5 have a stage 1 morning. Basically the criticism here is that Kohlberg does not clarify weather his rules are bendable or not. The Author goes to on another criticism where he asks if justice is the most important ethical principle. He states that the sample size for someone to reach stage 6 is very small so why is justice the most important factor? Finally, his last criticism is how gender plays a different role in moral development. In Kohlberg’s research, most of which were young boys, he found the moral difference in young males. According the author Gilligan thought that Kohlberg’s research

Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist, identified six developmental stages of human moral reasoning. The first stage that he recognized was the Punishment-Obedience Orientation, where the person’s concern is for avoiding punishment through obedience. The second stage was the Instrumental Relativist Orientation, where the person’s concern is to work in their self interest, and better their position. The third stage of moral development was the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation, where the person’s concern lies with their reputation. Next was the Law And Order Orientation, where the person was less concerned with their own immediate well being to the maintenance of a larger society. The fifth stage was the Social Contract

Kohlberg’s theory is related to how people develop a sense of what is right and wrong. It was influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, on moral reasoning. He classifies the stages into three levels each containing two sublevels. The first level is called the preconventional level of moral development. Children in this level experience the world in the terms of pain or pleasure. Something considered right in this stage would be what feels good to the child. The next level would be the conventional level. This occurs in the teen years where children start to think of right or wrong in terms of what pleases their parents or follows cultural norms. Children at this stage are also learning to assess intention when determining if a situation is right or wrong. “For example, they understand that stealing food to feed one’s hungry children is not the same as stealing an iPod to sell for pocket change.” (Macionis, Pg. 90) The final stage is the postconventional level. People being to consider abstract ethical principle and not just society’s norms.

As stages in psychological development have been defined by Freud, stages in moral development have been outlined by early educators Jean Piaget and Kohlberg, who put forth differing views on the moral development of children. Piaget theorized that children process morals in stages, first one then the next, with a transition in between. The first stage (from ages 4 to about 7) is referred to as “heteronymous morality”, where children think of rules as constants, that is to say, rules are part of the world’s makeup with no input or possibility of change by people. As children progress from seven to ten years of age, they move from one stage to the next, maintaining some of the traits of the

Lawrence Kohlberg, a professor at Harvard, creates a theory of human moral development. Since his theory was an expansion of Jean Piaget moral development of children, he elucidates of his theory to have series of stages. Each stage were categorized into three levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. During each level there are 2 stages which are consequent for moral development because they are action that manifest on who we are.

The second level of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral development is the Conventional Level. The Conventional level consists of stages 3 and 4. Stage 3 is based on interpersonal expectations. Those who are at this stage try to be a “good” boy or a “good” girl and live up to others’--such as close friends and family’s-- expectations. Stage 4 is based on Law-and-Order. They are not only focused on what their family and friends say; they are now focused on society. These stages are usually reached by early teens. They don’t blindly follow rules;

Kohlberg’s second level from his theory is conventional moral reasoning. This is primarily people following social norms and customs (Kohlberg’s Theory). The laws and rule are sustained simply because they are laws and rules that must be followed (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”). The second level is generally found in society hence the name of this level being “conventional”. Stages three and four are included in the conventional level. Stage three focuses heavily on peer approval (Lawrence Kohlberg). Individuals are merely trying to please others so they will follow rules or do what others want them to do in order to gain their approval (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”). Many will follow

To begin with the level one preconventional stage that Scout was in the begin of the book is usually associated with children, while they are being taught that bad actions have consequences. The people that present this type of level conduct according to socially acceptable standards, because they have been set by someone of a higher authority (Robert N. Barger,.) Between the beginning of the book and the middle of the book she went through a series of different events like the trial of Tom Robinson that directly impacted her dad Atticus which as a fact was his lawyer defending the case. This situation had a huge impact on Scout because not everyone in that town thought the same way Atticus did; in defending human rights. When a person is in this level the moral values that they have at that moment of their life is more of the discipline action. They have been taught that bad behavior will not be rewarded. In addition Scout knew that fighting would lead to Attius being really upset with her, and she

The moral implications of the scene are great, as this execution style killing in broad daylight was not expected from a man who had just finished a speech about “honesty, integrity, and hard work”. According to Kohlberg, however, this seemingly immoral act falls in line with Frank’s position on the stages of moral development. Kohlberg’s theory dictates six stages of moral development belonging to 3 broader stages, Pre Conventional, Conventional, and Post Conventional. The Pre Conventional is commonly found in children, and is composed of individuals who base their morality on outside threats, such as schoolchildren obeying teachers under threat of punishment. This includes 2 stages, individuals who only see the consequences of their moral actions as well as those who view morality as what is best for them. Next, the conventional stage is where most adolescents and adults remain for their whole lives. It includes two sub stages, morality determined by conforming to social consensus and morality determined by realizing the importance obedience plays in maintaining social order. Finally, the post conventional stage is one that most people do not progress to. It contains stages based on differing moral opinions based on contractual orientation, as well as morality based on abstract, categorical

Kohlberg’s stages of moral development were based on a moral philosopher by the name of Lawrence Kohlberg. His main interest was to observe children during growth to develop and conclude which stages they best fit into. After observing both adults and children, he concluded that, “Human beings progress consecutively from one stage to the next in an invariant sequence” (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development”). All of the 6 stages he created, represent the morality in which a child or adult can be at; he created an age zone for each stage. There are a total of 6 stages but each main concept consists of 3 levels. Level 1 is the preconventional stage. This stage focuses on punishment/obedience and how the person decides to act due to the

Kohlberg (1963, 1981, 1984; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) expanded Piaget’s work, developing a most influential cognitive developmental theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed the progression through the invariant, universal sequence of three moral levels each composed of two distinct stages. According to Kohlberg, no stage can be skipped, neither will there be a regression to an earlier stage.

Goldman Sachs should have been punished for its behavior in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Goldman ended up settling with the federal government for $110 Billion, which I do not believe was sufficient based on the magnitude of problems created. This amount should have been much larger, and at minimum they should have forfeited the $14 Billion paid to them by AIG. (Inside Job, 2011) In addition, AIG should have had the right to sue Goldman Sachs for fraud. It was in the public’s best interest to keep Goldman up and running, however additional penalties could have been put on a repayment schedule to keep them solvent. Instead, you had Goldman giving out large bonuses.

The theory of moral development, advanced by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg is one of the most well-known persuasive theories in the field of cognitive science and stems from the work of Jean Piaget, which hypothesizes on the direct correlation that exists between moral and cognitive development. Kohlberg speaks of the appearance and understanding of what is right and wrong from childhood to adulthood and explains by this transition through the identification of various levels of morality known as pre-conventional, conventional and post conventional. People will make decisions based on the understanding of the possible outcome and through reasoning of morals. (Target Concept)