Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development Essay

Kohlberg piggybacked off the groundwork laid by Piaget, with his concepts on cognitive development in adolescents. Kohlberg postulated that a newly formed moral stance will guide new behaviors if these actions lead to strife, therefore another stage of morality will be adopted (Bergman, 2002). His stages of moral development followed this pattern: At the preconventional level the child has awareness on what behavior is acceptable or not, and can conform to these standards out of a necessity to avoid punishment; At the conventional level the person understands what the norms of society are and no longer complies with them out of a sense of fear of reprisal,

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

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;

My life closely mimics how Kohlberg described in his theory of moral development. From the first stage of his theory of moral development, I recall following orders to the letter. The punishment and threat thereof were terrifying. Detention, suspension, expulsion were strong deterrents. Raised by very strict parents, I listened and obeyed every command. School was the priority, and getting good grades was the most important thing to them. Therefore, it was the most important thing to me. But as I grew, I began to see conflict in what my parents saw was right and what the teachers said was right. This lead me to stage two of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development that different people will have different opinions on what is right. I had to

The first stage, preconventional, is for those with ideas that are egocentric and disregard others. When people act incordinance with social norms or federal laws, they are in the conventional stage of moral development. The postconventional stage is the social disobedient stage. People in the postconventional stage frequently ruin their appearance and at times risk their lives. This last stage of moral development alters social norms, remodels laws and saves lives.

However, there is a level 2 which is now conventional moral reasoning which is more for adults with the laws. This level has stages 3 and 4 which are interpersonal expectations which means to follow the rules or do what other people what so that they can get their approval (Kohlberg Theory of Moral Development). Stage 4 is law and order which means to follow the laws instead of what one rele believes because following the laws is important. Also it’s basically someone trying to be a good citizen that follows the law and doesn’t break it because the are scared of what can happen. For example, if someone is driving in a road that is empty and there is a stop sign a person in this stage would stop even though nobody is around they know that would be breaking the law and in their mind they can’t do that. Of course many adults aren’t in this stage because some laws are just too strict but there are many in between which is they follow most rules or laws but break other ones. The people in this stage do this because they

This is when company rules, policies, and societal rules formed a considerable amount of my moral and ethical behavior. By being visible at such a young age to the adult world and adult responsibilities gave me a broader range of exposure to conventional moral reasoning and shaped many of the decision I had to make during this time. I learned the importance of respecting others, the conformity of behaviors that is expected by others, and I began to understand the principles of justice as an ethical concern. Kendra Cherry, Psychology Expert, describes Level 2 – Stage 3 & 4 (Conventional Morality) of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development as being, “Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships”

Pre-conditional morality describes children ages 4 to 10 at this level children have not developed intellectually to enable them to set standards of ethics, so they act on obedience and punishment. They act on what is outside of them- they follow rules so as not to be punished or rewarded in the interest of self. The second level is conventional morality (or morality of conventional role conformity), at this level children have taken in an incorporated the criterion of authority- they concern their moral development as being good-good relationship with others (maintaining the social order), this level is normally not reached until age 10 and may not ever be reached. Level 3 is post-conventional morality (morality of autonomous moral principles)

The second level is Conventional reasoning where a person adopts their standards from others suchs a family, or the government. Stage three of Kohlberg’s morals people seek approval from others and want to maintain good relations. A scenario when this will occur might be when a teenager joins the football team in high school because his dad is a huge football fan, even though the boy may not like that sport. The teenger is seeking aproval of his dad and is conforming to his interests. People in stage four tend to stick to laws to find peace, order, and to work efficiently. For example a person in a community may believe that justice is important to keeping everyone safe and

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 Moral Stages help to explain how people act the way that they act. Level 1 is Preconventional/Premoral. This is where “the child is responsive to rules and evaluative labels, but views them in terms of pleasant or unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms of the physical power of those who impose the rules.” Level two is conventional/role conformity where there is good boy/good girl orientation and authority and social order are determined. Level three is post conventional/self-accepted moral principles where norms of right and wrong are defined in terms of laws or institutionalized rules. Then there is where the morality of individual principles of conscience where if one acts against social rules they feel self-condemnation and guilt. These principles help to not only see how people are acting at the time but they also help to show how over time that may be the phone call or afterwards how a person will

Level II: Conventional morality (or morality of conventional role formality): People have internalized the standards of authority figures. They are concerned about being “good,” pleasing others, and maintaining the social order. This level is typically reached after age 10; many people never move beyond it, even in adulthood.

Once a sense of autonomy has been developed, the next stage in the psychosocial theory is initiative versus guilt. This stage is from about age three to age six and

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

In this stage the child not only gets his/her moral basis from the adults or the older guardians but in this stage they learn that there is not only one point of view and each individual has his or her own point of views