Moral Development In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Theory of Moral Development is a subject that derived from Jean Piaget's theory of moral reasoning and this theory was developed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. This theory made us conscious that morality starts from the early childhood years and can possibly be affected by several factors such as society, but there are people in opposition to this theory. Kohlberg developed six stages of moral development and it is divided into three levels of development. The three levels of moral development are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. As stated in Kohlberg's theory, “moral development proceeds in a linear process; it also proceeds steadily from one stage to the next in the order of moral development” (“Kohlberg's slide presentation”). Kohlberg uncovered four stages after Jean Piaget's because he had only discovered two. The stages that Kohlberg discovered after Jean flourish into adolescence and adulthood. He suggested that some people reach the postconventional level. (Oswalt).

The second level of moral development is Conventional which focuses on following the laws and rules. This level of reasoning is mainly made up of adolescents and adults. This level is also made up of two stages named Interpersonal Expectations and Law-and-Order. The first stage focuses on wanting to live up to the expectations of someone important. This means individuals in this stage make certain decisions to follow rules to win someone important's approval. This stage is also focused on keeping the relationship between others and the individual on a positive note and to not try to harm the relationship.

Lawrence Kohlberg believe that most Americans were at stage 3 and stage 4 of his moral developement model. I agree with Kohlberg's take on stage 3 but I totally disagree with his take on stage 4. In my opinion, most Americans are at stage 1 and stage 3. In todays day and age people are more concerned with how others preceive them and people want to be socially accepted by others. In addition to people wanting social acceptance from others, they do things morally to avoid the backlash of negative consequences from authority or being punished by authorities.

Kohlberg wanted to know how our moral reasoning changes as we get older, and he wanted to know how people decide the difference between right and wrong. To get the answer to his questions he read a story containing a moral dilemma to boys of different age groups. The story consisted of a man that could not afford to pay for a drug that his wife needed to treat her cancer, so he decides to break into the pharmacy to steal the drug. Kohlberg then asked the group of boys to decide whether they think the man was right or wrong, however we was no interested in if they thought the man was right or wrong, he wanted to know their thought process to deciding whether the man was right or wrong. Children in the pre conventional stage of development (youngest

The Kohlberg’s theory is a three level theory relating to moral reasoning and how it develops. In these three levels of moral reasoning there is six sub-stages make his theory more reasonable. The first stage of this theory is Preconventional Moral Reasoning. This first stage is when a child accepts and believes the rules of an authority figure such as parents and teachers. According to Kohlberg children under 10 years of age follow this Preconventional Moral Reasoning. The second stage of Kohlberg’s theory is the Conventional Moral Reasoning. This stage evolves throughout the thought of fitting in with society. It’s basically being a good citizen by following rules and laws. The final stage of Moral development according to Kohlberg, is

Building upon Piaget's moral development model, which suggests that children around the ages of 10 or 11 transition from a rule-based morality to one that is more relativistic, Kohlberg concluded in his 1958 doctoral dissertation that there were at least five stages of moral development (Crain, 1985). According to Kohlberg, the maturation from one stage to the next was not controlled by genetics, cultural norms, or socialization per se, but driven by activities that challenged personal moral assumptions. Therefore transitioning from one stage to the next, according Kohlberg, did not occur at specific ages, yet were invariant in sequence.

Lawrence Kohlberg (who was Director of Harvard 's Center of Moral Development), was a child development expert of his time, and considered himself a philosopher of morality. His work on stages of moral development proved indispensable (though not without its critiques), and continues to serve as a fundamental study on our motivation and reasoning, in relation to ethics and morality. Kohlberg 's studies are an adaption of earlier principles from a theory conceived by a Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher (Jean Piaget). There are three main stages of moral developmental as described by Kohlberg, which I will discuss, and also critiques on Kohlberg 's work, which include the lack of evidence as it pertains to gender-related differences in moral development and moral reasoning styles. To begin the dissection of Kohlberg 's studies, one must begin with defining and understanding Kohlberg 's stages. They are classified as pre-convention, conventional, and post-conventional.

The development of morals and the sense to know what is acceptable and unacceptable, vary among children as shown in this assessment of Kohlberg’s Six Stages of Moral Reasoning. In this experiment, three male children of different ages were told a story about Heinz and his ailing wife who needed a life saving medicine that they couldn’t afford. Out of desperation, Heinz decided to steal the medication. The young participants were then asked whether Heinz’s behavior (stealing) was right or wrong and whether people should follow the law at all times. As expected, the children had contrasting responses depending on the stage they were in.

The subsequent level in the theory of moral development is conventional morality. The stages included in this level: interpersonal and authority. Children that are typically in stage four are pre-teens that are starting to understand morality with a better comprehension of what it actually means. Children want the approval of others, so they can have the desire of being a generous person. Preteens react this way in the sense of getting something vigorous out of it, in this case being an exceptional person. An example of this stage is: “a child gives away her lunch to a street peasant because she thinks doing so means being nice” (Sincero). The following stage –authority, law, and order– involves respecting the law and following the obligations of a duty. Nevertheless, members of a community tend to maintain in this stage

Kohlberg stayed focused on moral development and followed his three stage categories: Pre-Conventional, Conventional, and Post-Conventional. According to McDevitt and Ormrod (2007), the Preconvention stage consists of anyone before the age nine or seen in preschool children, most elementary school students, some junior high school students, and a few high school students. During the Preconventional stage, children focus on only self-interest and obey rules to avoid punishment or gain a reward. In the Conventional stage it contains the adolescence age and morality begins to kick in. They care for others and realize the concept of rules and laws. The last stage in Kohlberg’s’ theory, Post conventional which means the child begins to understand the effects of their actions from ethical principles. Kohlberg believed that people progress in their moral reasoning through the series of stages and that a person could not skip stages or move back and forth between stages. Kohlberg believed a person must complete one stage completely before moving onto the next and all lessons and morals learned previously would help the person in each future stage.

“Kohlberg 's theory of moral development outlines a series of six developmental stages that children go through as they develop morality” (Kohlberg 's Theory of Moral Development, 2016). Kohlberg used Piaget’s work to create his own theory of how children develop morals. “Kohlberg extended Piaget 's theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan” (Kohlberg 's Theory of Moral Development, 2016). Kohlberg took Piaget’s two stage theory and expanded it into six stages with three levels. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (n.d.) begins with level one, the preconventional stage. Most accomplish this stage during life. This level has two stages; the punishment and obedience stage and instrumental exchange stage. Stage one is “avoidance of physical punishment and

Kohlberg's 1976 expansion of Piaget's cognitive development theory can be used to explain criminal behaviour though an evaluation of a person's moral reasoning into one of three levels, each with two stages. It explains a moral link with criminality by some people not gaining their own moral code but acting in an acceptable way so as not to suffer negative consequences. This is described as not reaching the stage of `conventional morality' and remaining at the stage of  `pre-conventional morality'.  This shows reason for the importance placed on morals in the article.

There are multiple domains to describe children's’ development and growth, including; physical, social, moral, neurological, emotional and cognitive. The level of autonomy and motivation displayed by a student is largely dependent on their developmental stage (Lyons, Ford & Slee, 2014). For example, children of the same age may demonstrate a range of moral reasoning abilities. Therefore, it is my belief that young students require differing levels of guidance to differentiate between right and wrong. This is supported by Kohlberg, who states that some children do not understand social conventions or moral rules (O’Donnell et al, 2016, p 158).

Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development stems from the original theory by Jean Piaget, however; he developed the theory further throughout

Lawrence Kohlberg was a theorist and a scholar of child growth. He focused on the ethical development of kids and how they mature the wisdom of right, justice, and wrong. Kohlberg noted that teenagers underwent certain phases during moral growth. Through his observations, he developed a theory that human beings develop from one phase to another through an invariant pattern, not missing any stage. His conclusions have been proven by critical cultural studies conducted throughout the world. These phases were at levels known as pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional morality.