1. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

2. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg was a cognitive psychologist who applied developmental psychology specifically to moral development. He identified three primary stages of moral development and two sub stages within each. The three primary stages are:
Pre-conventional moral thinking
Conventional moral thinking
Post-conventional moral thinking

3. Background
The theory concerns itself with the reasons behind an action, and not the action itself
Six people can do the same thing , but each of them may do it for different reasons
People are attracted to higher stages
Encountering moral dilemmas allows for growth

4. Stages of Moral Reasoning
LEVEL 1 (Pre-Conventional) – FOCUS ON THE SELF
Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience
Stage 2: Personal Usefulness
LEVEL 2 (Conventional) – FOCUS ON OTHERS
Stage 3: Conforming to the Will of the Group
Stage 4: Authority and Social Order (Law and Order)
LEVEL 3 (Post-Conventional) – FOCUS ON PRINCIPLES
Stage 5: Social Contract and Human Rights
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles (Personal Conscience)

5. Level 1: Pre-Conventional Level – Focus on the Self

6. Stage 1 – Punishment and Obedience
This stage generally occurs from the ages of 2-6
At this stage, children see rules as fixed and absolute
Physical consequences determine the goodness or badness of an act.
Avoidance of punishment is the key motivation
The person submits to power and authority to avoid punishment

7. Example
You do your chores because you do not want to get grounded.

8. Stage 2 – Personal Usefulness
This stage generally occurs from the ages of 7-11
What is right is that which satisfies one’s own needs and occasionally the needs of others.
Human relations and fairness are interpreted in a physical and pragmatic way – what is useful to me?
“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” is the basic mentality and motivation.

9. Example
Volunteering at a retirement home for community service hours

10. Level 2: Conventional Level – Focus on the Group

11. Stage 3 – Conforming to the Will of the Group
This stage generally occurs from the ages of 11-25
Good behaviour is that which pleases or helps others and gets approval from them
One conforms to standard ideas of appropriate behaviour
One earns acceptance by being ‘nice’
People in this stage have a great desire to belong to a group even if it means compromising their own individual belief system

12. Example
You allow your friend to cheat off your test because you want him/her to appreciate you and give you compliments for doing so.

13. Stage 4 – Law and Order
This stage generally begins around age 15 until 25
One sees obedience to rules for their own sake as a necessary to maintain order
Right behaviour consists of doing one’s duty and respecting authority
Flaws in the system are due to failure of the individuals to obey the system

14. Example
You decide not to J-walk because it is against the law.

15. Level 3: Post-Conventional Level – Focus on Principles

16. Stage 5 – Social Contract and Human Rights
This stage can be reached around ages 21-25
The right action is described in terms of general values that have been agreed upon by the whole society
Laws are justified because they maintain social order
One may work within the system if they desire to change the law for the betterment of society
Right action is seen as a matter of respecting the democratically accepted values of society
Largely based on the principles of ethical relativism

17. Example
Because women were resorting to back-alley abortions you decide to encourage the government to legalize abortion. You work with existing social structures to improve a situation.

18. Stage 6 – Personal Conscience
This stage generally begins around age 15 until 25
Right is a decision of personal conscience in agreement with abstract ethical principles that apply to all persons everywhere.
Decisions are based upon universal principles of justice, the reciprocity and equality of human rights, and respect for the dignity of human beings as individual persons
Choices are grounded in genuine moral interest in the well-being of others, regardless of who or where they are.
Largely based on the principles of ethical absolutism

19. Example
Because you believe the principle that all human life should be respected equally regardless of the circumstance you try to change the existing social structures (cultural, media, religious) that make pregnant woman believe that their only real alternative is abortion. In this case you will most likely be working against existing social institutions.

20. The Reality These are natural steps
There is no stage-skipping, but sometimes we slip back when we are stressed
Someone can be at different levels in various aspects of life
One can reason one way and act another way
Some individuals become stuck in one stage – not everyone reaches mature morality
15-20% of American adults continue to think at the pre-conventional level – ½% reach Stage 6

21. Biases
Men base moral judgement on principles of impartial justice, fairness, and equity
Women base moral judgement on principles of caring, nurturing and responsibility
Women experience intimacy, care and concern at an earlier age than men

22. Kohlberg’s Dilemma Example
A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the 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 ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have broken into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

23. Pre-Conventional Examples
STAGE DESCRIPTION
Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft
Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft
Punishment and Obedience
He should steal the drug, because he offered to pay for it and because it is only worth $200, not the $2000 the druggist was charging
He should steal it because if he let’s his wife die, he would fall into a depressive state
-He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he might get caught and sent to jail
-his law-breaking would cause him to feel guilty
Personal Usefulness
It is alright to steal the drug, because his wife needs it to live and he needs her companionship
He should steal the drug, because his wife needs it and he isn’t doing any harm to the druggist because he can pay him back later
He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he might get caught and his wife would probably die before he gets out of jail – it wouldn’t do much good
He shouldn’t steal, because the druggist was not doing a bad thing by wanting to make a profit

24. Pre-Conventional Examples
STAGE DESCRIPTION
Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft
Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft
Conforming to the Will of the Group
He should steal the drug, because society expects a loving husband to help his wife regardless of the consequences
He should steal the drug, because if he didn’t his family would think he was an uncaring human
He shouldn’t steal the drug, because he will bring dishonour on his family and they will be ashamed of him
He shouldn’t steal the drug, because no one would blame him for doing all he could legally (The druggist would be the heartless one)
Law and Order
He should steal the drug, because if he did nothing, he would be responsible for his wife’s death. He should take it with the idea of paying the druggist back
He should steal the drug, because if people like the druggist are allowed to get away with being greedy and selfish, society would eventually break down
He should not steal the drug, because if people are allowed to take the law into their own hands, regardless of how they justify it, social order would break down
He shouldn’t steal the drug, because it’s still always wrong to steal

25. Post-Conventional Examples
STAGE DESCRIPTION
Examples of Moral Reasoning Favouring Heinz’s Theft
Examples of Moral Reasoning Opposing Heinz’s Theft
Social Contract and Human Rights
The theft is justified, because the law is not set up to deal with the circumstances in which obeying it would cost a human life.
It is not reasonable to say that stealing is wrong, because the law should not allow the druggist to deny someone access to a life saving treatment
You can’t really blame him for stealing the drug, but even such extreme circumstances do not justify a person taking the law into their own hands
He shouldn’t steal the drug, because eventually he would pay the price of loss of self-respect for disregarding the rules of society
Universal Ethical Principles
He must steal the drug, because when a choice must be made between disobeying a law and saving a life, one must act in accordance with the higher principle of preserving and respecting life
He is justified in stealing the drug, because if he had failed in this action to save his wife, he would not have lived up to his own standards of conscience
Heinz must consider the other principle who need the drug just as much as his wife. By stealing the drug he would be acting in accordance with his own particular feelings with utter disregard for the value of all the lives involved
He should not steal the drug, because though he would probably not be blamed by others, he would have to deal with his own self-condemnation, because he did not live up to his own conscience and standards of honesty.