Advanced Educational Psychology

KOHLBERGS THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Moral Development:
Moral development involves thoughts, feelings or behaviors regarding standards of right and
wrong.
Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from
infancy through adulthood. In the field of moral development, morality is defined as
principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, others'
welfare, and rights.

Kohlbergs Moral Development Theory:

Lawrence

Kohlberg

(October

25,

1927-

January

19,

1987)

was

an

American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development. He served
as a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago and at the Graduate
School of Education at Harvard University. Even though it was considered unusual in his era,
he decided to study the topic of moral judgment, extending Jean Piaget's account of children's
moral development from twenty-five years earlier. In fact, it took Kohlberg five years before
he was able to publish an article based on his views. Kohlberg's work reflected and extended
not only Piaget's findings but also the theories of philosophers George Herbert
Mead and James Mark Baldwin. At the same time he was creating a new field within
psychology: "moral development". Kohlberg was found to be the 30th most eminent
psychologist of the 20th century.
Kohlberg has refined and extended Piagets theory of moral development by asking 10, 13,
and 16 years old boys to resolve a series of moral dilemmas. Each dilemma challenged the
respondent by requiring him to choose between;
Obeying a rule, law or authority figure
Taking some action that conflicts with these rules and commands while serving a
human need.
Kohlberg originally described moral development as existing in three levels consisting of two
stages each. These levels represent the perspectives people take as they wrestle with moral
dilemmas or problems. The levels and stages of moral development are determined by the
reasons a person gives for making the decisions.
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The following story is the best known of Kohlbergs moral dilemmas;
In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that
doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had
recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make but the druggist was charging $2,000 or
10 times the cost of the drug, for a small dose. Heinz, the sick womans husband, borrowed
all the money he could, about $1,000 or half of what he needed. He told the druggist that his
wife was dying and asked him to sell the drug cheaper or to let him pay later. The druggist
replied No, I discovered the drug and I am going to make money from it. Heinz then
became desperate and broke into the store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have
done that?
The basic themes and defining characteristics of Kohlbergs three moral levels and six stages
are following;

Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality/Ethics:

The pre-conventional level is an egocentric orientation focusing on moral consequences for
the self. Because of their egocentrism, young children reason at this level. Rules are truly
external to the self rather than internalized. The child conforms to rules imposed by authority
figures to avoid punishment or obtain personal rewards. Morality is self serving: what is right
what one can get away with or what is personally satisfying.
Level 1 consists of two stages; Punishment-obedience and market exchange. Some reason
indicates that 15% to 20% of US teenage population still reason at this level. (Turiel, 1973)

Stage 1: Punishment-obedience:
In the punishment-obedience stage, people make moral decisions based on their chances of
getting caught and being punished. They determine right or wrong by the consequences of an
action. The goodness or badness of an act depends on its consequences. The child will obey
authorities to avoid punishment, but may not consider an act wrong if it will not be detected
and punished. For example, if a child was caught and punished, the act was morally wrong; if
not, the act was right. People who do not take an unguarded purse because they fear getting
caught are operating at this stage. The same principle applies in a classroom.

Advanced Educational Psychology

The following two responses reflect a punishment and obedience orientation to the Heinz
dilemma:
Protheft: it is not really bad to take the drug; he did ask to pay for it first. He would not do
any other damage or take anything else and the drug he had take is only worth $200 not
$2,000.
Antitheft: Heinz does not have permission to take the drug. He cannot just go and break
through a window. He would be a bad criminal doing all the damage and stealing anything so
expensive would be a big crime.

Stage 2: Market exchange/Native hedonism:

A person at the second stage conforms to rules in order to gain rewards or satisfy personal
objectives. There is some concern for the perspective of others but other-oriented behaviors
are ultimately motivated by the hope of benefiting in return.
Students reasoning at stage 2 begin to include others in their moral decision making, but they
continue to focus on the consequences of an action for themselves. In the market exchange
stage, people feel that an act is morally justified if it results in an act of reciprocity on
someone elses part. Position such as An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and Do not
bite the hand that feeds you reflect morality at this stage, and you do something for me and
I will do something for you is a key characteristic. A native hedonism is used to judge the
rightness or wrongness of an action.
Two samples of this hedonistic, self serving morality are following;
Protheft: Heinz is not really doing any harm to the druggist and he can always pay him back.
If he does not want to lose his wife, he should take the drug.
Antitheft: the druggist is not wrong; he just wants to make a profit like everybody else.
Thats what you are in business for to make money.

Level 2: Conventional morality/Ethics:

The individual now strives to obey rules and social norms in order to win others approval or
to maintain social order. Social praise and the avoidance of blame have now replaced tangible
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Advanced Educational Psychology

rewards and punishment as motivators of ethical conduct. The perspective of other people are
clearly recognized and given careful consideration.
As egocentrism declines and development progresses, students become better able to see the
world from others points of view. Moral reasoning no longer depends on the consequences
for the individual but instead becomes linked to the perspectives of and concerns for others.
Values such as loyalty, others approval, family expectations, obeying the law and social order
become prominent. Stage 3 and 4 reflect this orientation and a few older elementary school
students, some middle school and junior high students and many high school students exhibit
conventional morality. Much of the adult population reasons at this level.

Stage 3: Interpersonal harmony/ Good boy or Good girl orientation:

Moral behavior is that which pleases, helps or is approved of by others. Actions are evaluated
on the basis of the actors intent. He means well is a common expression of moral approval
at this stage.
Individual reasoning at stage 3 do not manipulate people to reach their goals, as they might at
stage 2. Rather, in the interpersonal harmony stage, people make decisions based on
conventions, loyalty and living up to the expectations of others. In stage 3, sometimes called
the nice girl/good boy stage, a person is oriented towards maintaining the affection and
approval of friends and relatives by being a good person. For example;
Protheft: Stealing is bad but Heinz is only doing something that is natural for a good
husband to do. You cannot blame him for doing something out of love for his wife. Youd
blame him if he did not save her.
Antitheft: If Heinzs wife dies, he cannot be blamed. You cannot say he is heartless for
failing to commit a crime. The druggist is the selfish and heartless one. Heinz tried to do
everything he really could.

Stage 4: Law and order/ Social order or maintaining morality:

Advanced Educational Psychology

In the law and order stage, the people follow laws and rules for their own sake. They do not
make moral decisions to please particular people, as in stage 3, they believe that laws and
rules exist to guide behavior and that they should be followed uniformly. The following
responses, laws ultimately transcend special interests:
Protheft: The druggist is leading the wrong kind of life if he just lets somebody die; so its
Heinzs duty to save his wife but Heinz just cannot go around breaking laws, he must pay the
druggist back and take his punishment for stealing.
Antitheft: Its natural for Heinz to want to save his wife but its still always wrong to steal.
You have to follow the rules regardless of your feelings or the special circumstances.

Level 3: Post conventional Ethics/ Principled morality:

A person reasoning at level 3 has transcended both the individual and societal levels and
makes moral decisions based on principles. People operating at this level, also called
principled morality. Only a small portion of the population attains this level and most do not
reach it until their middle to late 20s.
Some of the great figures in history have sacrificed their lives in the name of principle. Sir
Thomas More, who knew that he was in effect ending his own life by refusing to
acknowledge King Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England, nevertheless stood on a
principle. Mohandas K. Gandhi chose jail rather than to adhere to Englands laws as he
applied the principle of nonviolent noncooperation, his work as well ultimately led to his
death.

Stage 5: Social Contract:

In the social contract stage, people make moral decisions based on socially agreed-upon
rules. A person reasoning at stage 5 believes that a society of rational people needs such rules
in order to function. The laws are not accepted blindly or for their own sake; rather, laws are
based on the principle of utility or the greatest good for the greatest number, and are
followed because people believe in principles such as liberty and dignity of the individual.
There is distinction between what is legal and what is moral begin to appear in following
stage 5 responses to Heinzs dilemma;

Advanced Educational Psychology

Protheft: Before you say stealing is morally wrong, you have got to consider this whole
situation. Of course, the laws are quite clear about breaking into a store and Heinz would
know that there were no legal grounds for his actions. Yet it would be reasonable for anybody
in that kind of situation to steal the drug.
Antitheft: I can see the good that would come from illegally taking the drug. But the ends
do not justify the means. The law represents a consensus of how people have agreed to live
together and Heinz has an obligation to respect these agreements. You cannot say Heinz
would be completely wrong to steal the drug but even these circumstances do not make it
right.

Stage 6: Universal principle:

At the Universal principle stage, the individuals moral reasoning is based on abstract and
general principles that are independent of societys law and rules. People at this stage define
rightness in terms of internalized universal standards that go beyond concrete laws. Here are
two stage 6 responses to the Heinz dilemma;
Protheft: When one must choose between disobeying a law and saving a human life, the
higher principle of preserving life makes it morally right to steal the drug.
Antitheft: With many cases of cancer and the scarcity of the drug, there may not be enough
to go around to everybody who needs it. The correct course of action can only be the one that
is right by all people concerned. Heinz ought to act not on emotion or the law but according
to what he thinks an ideally just person would do in this case.
Stage 6 is Kohlbergs vision of ideal moral reasoning but because it is so very rare and
virtually no one functions consistently at this level, Kohlberg came to view it as a
hypothetical construct- that is, the stage to which people would progress were they to develop
beyond stage 5. In fact, the later versions of Kohlbergs manual for scoring moral judgments
no longer attempt to measure stage 6 reasoning.

Summary:
At stage 1 child think of what is right as that which authority says is right. Doing the right
thing is obeying authority and avoiding punishment. At stage 2, children are no longer so
impressed by any single authority; they see that there are different sides to any issue. Since
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Advanced Educational Psychology

everything is relative, one is free to pursue one's own interests, although it is often useful to
make deals and exchange favors with others.
At stages 3 and 4, young people think as members of the conventional society with its values,
norms, and expectations. At stage 3, they emphasize being a good person, which basically
means having helpful motives toward people close to one At stage 4, the concern shifts
toward obeying laws to maintain society as a whole.
At stages 5 and 6 people are less concerned with maintaining society for it own sake, and
more concerned with the principles and values that make for a good society. At stage 5 they
emphasize basic rights and the democratic processes that give everyone a say, and at stage 6
they define the principles by which agreement will be most just.

Advanced Educational Psychology

References:
1. Paul Eggen. (2004). Educational psychology windows on classroom. 6 th edition.
Pearson education. New Jersey.
2. David R.Shaffer. (2000). Social and personality Development. 4th Edition.
Wordsworth Thomson Learning. United States of America.
3. W.C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall. pp. 118-136. Retrieved
from: http://faculty.plts.edu/gpence/html/kohlberg.htm.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg.