Kohlberg's Six Stages of Moral Development

This page outlines Kohlberg's six stages of moral development, which are divided into three main levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. Each level contains two stages, representing increasingly complex forms of moral reasoning.

The pre-conventional level includes:

1. Orientation towards punishment (right and wrong are defined by what is punished)
2. Orientation towards self-interest (right is what suits one's own needs)

The conventional level comprises: 3. Good-boy-good-girl orientation (right is what pleases others) 4. Orientation towards authority (right is following rules)

The post-conventional level consists of: 5. Social contract orientation (right is what society agrees upon) 6. Orientation toward conscience and ethical principles (right is following ethical principles dependent on circumstances)

Vocabulary: Preconventional morality refers to the earliest stages of moral development, where decisions are based on external consequences rather than internalized principles.

Vocabulary: Conventional morality is characterized by conformity to social norms and the expectations of others.

Vocabulary: Postconventional morality represents the highest level of moral reasoning, where individuals develop their own ethical principles based on universal values.

Kohlberg determined the stage of moral development for each participant based on their responses to the moral dilemmas. He found that individuals could be classified into one or more stages, with some showing characteristics of multiple stages simultaneously.

Highlight: The study revealed that 50% of participants fit primarily into one stage of moral development, while others exhibited traits from multiple stages.

This classification system provides a framework for understanding how individuals progress in their moral reasoning abilities and how they approach ethical decision-making at different stages of life.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development: A Longitudinal Study

This page introduces Kohlberg's groundbreaking study on moral development, which aimed to investigate how moral reasoning evolves throughout adolescence and early adulthood, and whether this development differs across cultures. The research was designed as a longitudinal study, following 75 American boys from ages 10-16 to 22-28 over several years.

Definition: A longitudinal study is a research method that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time.

The study's procedure involved individual interviews conducted every three years. Participants were presented with a series of moral dilemmas, many of which were philosophical in nature and derived from medieval ethics literature. After ensuring the participants understood each dilemma, they were asked what the character in the scenario should do.

Example: A classic moral dilemma used in Kohlberg's study is the "Heinz Dilemma," where a man must decide whether to steal a drug he cannot afford to save his dying wife.

Highlight: Kohlberg's approach differed from previous psychologists like Piaget, who believed that moral reasoning fully developed through childhood. Kohlberg proposed that moral development continues into early adulthood.

This research method allowed Kohlberg to observe changes in moral reasoning over time and across different age groups, providing insights into the stages of moral development and how they manifest in real-life decision-making processes.