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MODULE 8 Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

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--- Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
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“Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards
that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.”

Lawrence Kohlberg

Lawrence Kohlberg was such an interesting, if not intriguing

person. He was born wealthy, but chose to be sailor and began to be interested in moral reasoning. He
helped smuggle Jews through a British blockade in Palestine during World War II. Kohlberg is known for
his theory of moral development which was influenced by Piaget and Dewey’s theories. He believed
that people progressed in their ability to reason morally through six stages, with three levels largely by
social interaction.
Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral
development. He served as a professor in Psychology Department at the University of Chicago and at a
graduate school 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 25 years earlier. In fact, it took Kohlberg 5 years before he was able to publish an article based on
his views. Kohlberg’s work 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 with
psychology “moral development”.
CHALLENGE
In this module, challenge yourself to:

 explain the stages of moral

development.
 analyze a person’s level of moral
reasoning based on the responses to moral dilemmas.
 cite how the theory of moral development can be applied to your work as
teacher later on.

INTRODUCTION
Individuals, when confronted
by situations where they need to
make moral decisions, exercise
their own ability to use moral
reasoning. Lawrence Kohlberg
was interested in studying the
development of moral reasoning.
He based his theory on the
findings of Piaget in studying
cognitive development. Our ability to choose right from wrong is tied with our
ability to understand and reason logical.
ACTIVITY

Read the moral dilemma

below.

Ryan, 17, has been saving up money to buy a ticket for this concert of rock
band. His parents have discouraged him from going as the concert will surely be
with a rowdy crowd. The band is notorious for having out-of-control audience
who somehow manages to get drunk and stoned during the concert. Ryan agreed
not to watch anymore. But a day before the concert, Nic, 15-year-old brother of
Ryan, saw a corner of what appeared to be a concert ticket showing in the pocket
of Ryan’s bag. Nic also found an extra shirt and 2 sticks of marijuana. So, he
figured Ryan will go to the concert after all. That night, Ryan told his parents that
he was spending tomorrow night at a classmate’s house for a school requirement.
Then later that evening he told Nic of his plan to go to the concert. Nic didn’t say
anything but he found it difficult to sleep that night, thinking whether to tell their
parents or not.
1. If you were Nic, what would you do?
* I think, I do tell my parents of what my brother's wants to do, I will
to my parents because, it is for my brother to be safe and also for
me to not lie, because having a lie to our parents was not good.

2. Why would you choose to do that? What were the things you
considered in deciding what to do?
* I choose to do that because that is the good thing to do.
The thing that i consider in deciding what to do is my values, good
values rather, deciding is hard but you have to choose the right
decision.

ANALYSIS

Examine the answers you gave. Compare it with the

responses provided below. In which of these responses
is your answer most similar?

Stage 1 – “Yes, I will tell our parents. Because if they found out later that I knew,
for sure they will get mad and most likely punish it.”
“No, I will not tell because Ryan will make my life difficult and
also punish me for telling.”

Stage 2 – “Yes, I will tell my parents because they reward me for it. I will subtly
ask for that new I Pod that I’m wishing to have.”

“No, I will not tell. Ryan will surely grant me a lot o favors for not telling.
He’ll not also squeal on me.”

Stage 3 – “Yes, I will tell. So, my parents will think I am such an honest boy.”
“No, I will nor tell. Ryan will think of me as a really coo brother.”

Stage 4 - “Yes, I will tell because we should follow the rules that our parents say.”

“No, because it’s been our rule to keep each other’s secrets.:

Stage 5 - “Yes, I will because he might be hurt or get in trouble and his welfare is
top most priority.

“No, because he is big enough to question our parents’ decision not to

let him go.”

Stage 6 - “Yes, I will tell because lying is always wrong and I want to be, true to
to what I believe in.”

“No, because I believe brothers watch out for each other . If he trusted
me with this. I should stay true to him and not say anything.”

In what level of moral development did your response to the dilemma fall?
Reflect about what this indicates about your moral reasoning in this moral
dilemma.
*My answer or my response to the question that is similar to the stage, are
stage 5 and stage 6. This indicates a post conventional morality, because
it is about thinking for what good to other people, or to the person around
you. This what I response to moral dilemma, because I think of what is
good for my brother.

As you continue to read this Module, you will get to know more about the
different levels or moral reasoning espoused by Kohlberg.

ABSTRACTION/ GENERALIZATION
Lawrence Kohlberg adopted and built on Piaget’s work, and set the
groundwork for the present debate within psychology on moral development.
Like Piaget, he believed that children form ways of thinking through their
experiences which include understanding of moral concepts such as justice,
rights, equality and human welfare. Kohlberg followed the development of moral
judgment and extended the ages covered by Piaget, and found out that the
process of attaining moral maturity took longer and occurred slower than Piaget
had thought.

If Piaget designed specific tasks (Piagetian task) to learn about the cognitive
development of children, Kohlberg utilized moral dilemmas (Kohlberg dilemmas)
He presented these dilemmas to the individuals in his research and asked for their
responses. He did not aim to judge whether the responses were right or wrong.
He was interested in analyzing the moral reasoning behind the responses.

From his researches, Kohlberg identified six (6) stages of moral reasoning
grouped into three (3) major levels. Each level represents a significant change in
the social-moral reasoning or perspective of the person.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

According to Kohlberg moral development occurs in six stages

Level Stage Description

Preconventional Level Punishment/Obedience. One is
Moral reasoning is based on the 1 Motivated by fear of punishment.
consequence/result of the act, He will act in order to avoid
not on the whether the act itself punishment.
Is good or bad.
Mutual Benefit. One is motivated
2 to act by the benefit that one may
obtain later. You scratch my back.
I’ll scratch yours.

Conventional
Social Approval. One is motivated
by what others expect in behavior
3 —good boy, good girl. The person
acts because he/she values hoe
he/she will appear to others.
He/she gives importance on what
people will think or say.
Post – Conventional
Law and Order. One is motivated
Moral reasoning is based on en- 4 to act in order to uphold law and
During or consistent principles. It order. The person will follow the
is not just recognizing the law, but law because it is the law.
the principles behind the law.

Social Contract. Laws that are

5 wrong can be changed. One will
act based on social justice and the
common good.

Universal Principles. This is

associated with the development
of one’s conscience. Having a set
6 of standards that drives one to
possess moral responsibility to
make societal changes regardless
of consequences to oneself.
Examples of persons are Mother
Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr.
APPLICATION
1. Identify the stage of moral development shown in the following:

__________ 1. Joy allows her classmates to copy her homework so that

they will think she is kind and will like her to be their friend.

__________ 2. Ricky does everything to get passing grades because his

Mom will take his play station away if he gets bad grades.

__________ 3. A civic action protests the use of pills for family planning,
saying that although the government allows this, it is
actually murder because the pills are abortifacient (causes
abortion).

__________ 4. Jinky lets Hanna copy during their math test because Hanna
agreed to let her copy during their sibika test.

__________ 5. Karen decides to return the wallet she found in the canteen
so that people will praise her honesty and think she’s a nice
girl.

__________ 6. John decides to return the wallet he found in the canteen

Because he believes it’s the right thing to do.

__________ 7. Lyka wears her ID inside the campus because she likes to
follow the school rules and regulations.

__________ 8. A jeepney driver looks if there’s a policeman around before

he makes a u-turn in a no u-turn spot.

__________ 9. Liza volunteers to tutor children at-risk, children in her

community for free so they will learn to love school and
stay
in school.

__________10. Little Riel behaves so well to get a star stamp, from her
teacher.

SYNAPSE STRENTHENERS

1. Read the Moral Dilemma Discussion guide found in

(Http://tigger.uic.edu/-Inucci/MoralEd/practices/practice3lindtext.ht
ml). Try out these guidelines with a moral dilemma.

2. Research on the views of Eliot Turiel (Domain Theory and Carol

Gilligan. (Moral Reasoning and Gender}. Relate them with
Kohlberg’s Theory.
RESEARCH CONNECTION

Read a research that is related to Kohlberg’s theory. Use the matrix below.

Problem Research Methodology

Findings Conclusions

Source:
REFLECTION

5-Minute Non-Stop Writing begins….. NOW:

From this module of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. I Learned ….

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