The Moral Development Stages And How It Affects Our Morality

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

If this stage is successful the child have the virtue of purpose. The fourth stage is industry vs. inferiority which happens in elementary school from the age 6 until puberty. During this stage, the child’s teacher and peers become the source of self-esteem. Children in this stage feel like they need to fit in and gain approval of those around them. They feel confident and gain a sense of pride when they are praised for their accomplishments. If this stage is successful they will gain the virtue of competence. If they feel they can’t do what is asked of them, are rejected by their peers, or their parents/teachers treat them insensitively, they will learn inferiority. Stage five is ego-identity vs. role-confusions which occurs during adolescence. Teenagers being to wonder who they are. This leads to them going through phases and rebelling to search for where they fit in and belong. They explore themselves, others, and roles. If they are unable to establish who they are, they’ll experience role-confusion and suffer an identity crisis. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity, but failure means they feel they have no place in society. Stage six is intimacy vs. isolation, this

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;

Moral development is when the child will learn the difference between right and wrong. Piaget came up with three theories of moral development: id, ego and superego. Lawrence Kohlberg expanded Piaget?s theories and came up with six stages of moral development. A four year old child is known to be very active and energetic. They love to talk, enjoy silly humor, love learning new information about their world, and enjoy finding solutions to problems in imaginative ways (Miller, 1999).

Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his theory of moral development developed in 1958. His theory was dependent on the thinking of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and American philosopher John Dewey. It consists of three levels of moral reasoning: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. These levels are based on the degree to which an individual accommodates to the conventional standards of society. Each level aquires two stages that serve as different standards of sophistication in moral reasoning. Overall, Kohlberg affirms that moral development is a process of maturing that emerges from thinking about about moral issues (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”).

The Emergence of Rationality Life is like a ladder with many rungs: in order to ascend and reach the top, each step must be taken. While individuals master different levels of cognition at various stages, the sequence of the milestones follows a continuous pattern. Unfortunately, the achievement of morality remains undeveloped in some, leaving the person in a crippled state of implementing proper judgment in appropriate situations. Thus, it is valuable for one to conduct in-depth research to grasp the egocentricity so prevalent in youths and to comprehend the stages of emerging morality which will eventually compensate for their immature and irrational actions that are in the control of emotions.

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

This stage last from ages 2-3 years old. This stage corresponds to Freud 's anal stage. Initiative vs. Guilt is the stage where a developing child must be active in their environment. The ages of this stage are 3-5 years old. The child needs to have a sense of purpose. Industry vs. Inferiority is the stage where a child develops competence. The ages for this stage are 6-11 years old. These are the school years of a child 's life. Ego Identity Vs. Role Confusion is the stage where a child is in their adolescent years. The ages of this stage are 12-18 years old. The teenager is going through puberty and is noticing members of the opposite sex. Intimacy Vs. Isolation is the stage where the person is trying to find a mate for themselves. The ages for this stage are 18-24 years old. They want love. Generativity Vs. Stagnation is the stage where the now adult is working and they want to be a mentor for other children. the ages in this stage are 25-64 years old. The last stage of Erickson 's theory is Ego Integrity Vs. Despair. In this last stage a person needs to become comfortable with the life that they are living and have lived. The ages of this last stage are from 65-death.

The complexity of this area and the concepts involved necessitates a rather expansive look at the perspectives on Moral Development in order to develop contextual

As reported by Myers, he believed that indivuduals personality was profoundly influenced by experiences with people around the environment.(Myers, 2007) and as such he created an Eight Psychosocial stage theory. The first stage starts with Trust vs. Mistrust, taking place from birth to 18 months, where if needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust. Next is the Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, starting from 2 to 3 years, in which toddlers learn to exercise and do things for themselves, or they doubt about ther abilities. The third stage is Initiative vs, Guilt. It lasts from 3 to 5 years during which Preschooler learn to initiate tasks and carry on plans, or feel guilty about their independence. The next stage is Industry vs. Inferiority, ranging from 6 years to puberty, where children learn th pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or may feel

When we are young our morality is shaped as we learn from our family and the environment. “Psychologists say a child must develop a sense of values by the age of seven to become an adult with a conscience” (Rosenstand 4). Children experience a plethora of information and subsequently build their personalities based on what they learn from growing up in their given culture. We are a product of our environment in the sense that we

Morals are a person’s belief system of what is fundamentally right and wrong. This system is shaped and molded throughout life, and is constantly evolving and fluctuating. Many factors influence one’s morals. Different events in life, different environments, and the people which surround individuals. Two of the most influence groups of people which influence people’s morals are family and friends. One would think family has the greatest impact on morals. Family, more specifically parents or guardians, lay the base work of morality. Family ascribe onto their children the basis of a moral code. But it is friends which have the greatest impact on a person’s believe system and moral principles. This is because people are born into their families, meaning people cannot help what principles are assigned to them (Friedman 196). Friends are voluntary and chosen, meaning friends have a greater impact on moral growth compared to family or other close relationships. Friendship, in a way, is essential and critical for moral growth.

Children develop their ability to think and act morally through several stages. If they fail to reach the conventional stage, in which adolescents realize that their parents and society have rules that should be followed because they are morally right to follow, they might well engage in harmful behavior. Whereas boys tend to use formal rules to decide what is right or wrong, girls tend to take personal relationships into account.

Moral development is a concept as well as process regulated by socially defined general standards of right and wrong demeanor. Morality is a composed of three interconnected psychological components: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. A pioneer in the study of moral reasoning, Kohlberg used an open-ended tactic to elicit responses from children about the means to handle dilemmas. He studied how morality on such topics develops as children age (Berk, 2017). I questioned whether the impact of higher education, like college, could be related to Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.