The Theory Of Moral Development

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.

Moral Development is defined as “changes in thoughts, feelings and behaviors regarding standards of right and wrong” (Santrock, 2010). Moral development

Lawrence Kohlberg, the author of three stages, was an American psychologist who is well known for his theory on the stages of moral development. According to Kohlberg, there are three levels of moral development:Preconventional (moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments), Conventional (laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules), and Postconventional (reasoning is based on personal moral standards)” (powerpoint).

Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist and educator known for his theory of moral development. He was a professor at Harvard University before he was a developmental psychologist. He later moved into the field of moral education. Jean Piaget (Swiss psychologist), John Dewey (American philosopher), and James Mark Baldwin (American philosopher and psychologist) all influenced Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, though Piaget 's work heavily influenced Kohlberg’s. Kohlberg ran tests to prove his theory.He tested 72 boys from middle and lower class families who were either 10, 13 or 16. Later in his research, he tested both boys and girls from different states and countries other than Chicago. Kohlberg found

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”).

Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development has served as basis of the investigation of many issues related to morality. Building on Piaget’s belief that the moral judgment of children derived from their cognitive development, Kohlberg attend to identify cognitive stages that underline the development of moral thinking.

Social Development is learning how to effectively relate to one another and how to contribute to society in a positive way. Erik Erikson believed that social development occurs in identifiable stages. Erikson said that each stage was marked by a crisis or conflict that was related to a specific developmental task. These stages are infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, elementary school, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Trust or mistrust is developed during the first year of life, based on if a child’s needs are being met. During the second stage, the crisis is autonomy vs shame and doubt. If a toddler can control their actions and act independently, a sense of autonomy is formed. If or when they fail at this they will experience shame and doubt. In the preschool stage, initiative and guilt are the crisis. If a preschooler receives what they want while acting responsibly, they develop a sense of initiative. If they do not have a sense of guilt, they become undisciplined.

Meads three stages are more relatable to children. His first infers that children are going

Typically little children tend to behave this way but some adults use this type of moral thinking in their daily lives. Using this type of behavior is usually due to situations where the situation may be wrong but the action was provoked by the person 's definition of fair or the right thing to do no matter what. The question that may be asked while thinking in this manner may be, “What must I do to avoid pain, gain pleasure?”(“Kohlberg 's Stages of Moral Development”). In this stage, making a decision that leads to a positive outcome clearly shows increase in the hierarchy of moral development that can be seen in level 3!

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.

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is one the most widely accepted, his four stages of development are age based.

The second level of moral development is the conventional moral reasoning; “Beginning in middle school, up to middle age – most people end up here” (“Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.”). At this level,

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)