Jessika Satterfield

Emily Gates
EDUC 252
Kristi Jones
February 9th, 2016
Lawrence Kohlberg

In many theorist we see their motivation behind their personal life, in Lawrence Kohlberg
we can easily see how his early life experiences have come together as motivation in his theory.
It was October 1927 in Bronxville, New York, where Lawrence Kohlberg was born to Albert and
Charlotte Kohlberg, and his three older siblings. Though his mother protestant, his father was
jewish and raised their children with a jewish background, this is one motivation of Kohlbergs
theory with justice. After eleven years of marriage, Albert and Charlotte divorced, consequently
causing lawrence and his other siblings to undergo terms of custody, rotating between their
mother and father. Around the 1940s Lawrence attended Phillips Academy in Andover
Massachusetts, graduated in 1945, and became a U.S. merchant marine from which he found
himself working on a ship hired by a special military group. Within this group he was to help
smuggle Jewish refugees into Palestine past the british, but unfortunately their ship was taken
captive and the members were imprisoned at a British internment camp. (Good Therapy, 2015)
In 1948, Kohlberg escaped with fellow prisoners and returned to the United States, ready to
enroll in school and continues his education at the University of Chicago. With impressive test
scores he was able to obtain his bachelor's degree in one year and continued learning and
theorizing his ideas of moral development allowing him to graduate with a Ph.D. in 1958, and
continuing from 1959 to 1968 working as an assistant professor to various colleges. Coming to

1968 Kohlberg was the Professor of Education and Social Psychology at Harvard University,
until 1987 when he was claimed to have walked into the boston harbor, ending his life. Though
his end was tragic because of his courageous hard work and understanding through his own
experiences Lawrence Kohlberg gave us an amazing incite into moral development within an
individual and how we can teach these ideals to our children. (Doorey, 2014)
Lawrence Kohlbergs theory of moral development consists of six stages and three levels.
The first level, preconventional, is made up of stage one, punishment-obedience driven, and
stage two, personal reward oriented. Stage one is mostly based around younger children. For this
stage, a person obeys the rules or laws to avoid being punished. (Wilson, 2004)
At stage two, one needs to determine what is right and wrong himself. At this level
judgement is based solely on a person's own needs. The second level is conventional and it
consists of stages three and four which are Good Boy/ Nice Girl and maintaining the social
order. Stage three is based of other peoples opinion and trying to make them happy (Kohlbergs
Ideas of Moral Reasoning, n.d.). Stage four is saying that no matter what you did, the laws are
absolute and should be enforced every time. The expectations of society and society's laws are
taken into account in a decision about a moral dilemma. The final level of Kohlbergs ideas of
moral reasoning is postconventional. Stages five and six are in this level. Stage five is social
contract and individual rights. Good is determined by socially agreed upon standard of individual
rights. Stage six is universal ethical principles. What is right is determined by each
circumstance and individual. (Clark, 2013)
Some of the flaws or critiques in Kohlbergs theory are that it emphasizes justice and may
not adequately address the arguments of those who value other moral aspects. Also Carol
Gilligan claims that Kohlberg only had male subjects and that it is overly androcentric, meaning

that it did not adequately describe the concern of women. Kohlberg claims that women tend to
get stuck at level 3, focusing on details of how to maintain relationships and promote the welfare
of family and friends. Men are likely to move on to the abstract principles, and thus have less
concern with the particulars of who is involved (Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development,
n.d.).
We want to teach children about the rights and wrongs, to have manners, to play nicely,
listen patiently and the list goes on but moral development is much more than this. When we
teach moral development to children we are teaching them to care for others, this means learning
to understand how others think and feel, how to stand up for one another, and how to take care
of each other. It may seem like a big task teaching children to become morally right human
beings, but it is a lot easier than it looks. We can teach children morals by teaching them rules,
allowing them to set up their own in a classroom and have them learn the important need and use
for rules, this teaches kids about justice and fairness and thinking about what is best for the
group. When a situation arises in the classroom you can use this situation to discuss moral issues
where the children can learn to think how others may feel in these situations and how we can
find solutions, or using role-playing and skits to create scenarios to engage the children in
thinking differently. Another common idea is the use of plants and pets in the classroom to help
the children develop empathy and an understanding of how to care for another living thing,
having the children engage and interact with these things can help the children connect and gain
real-life experience in learn morals. With these actions along with different readings and
activities you can help your children learn about morals and understand the responsibility they
have to their peers, their community, and their world.

References
Clark, J. M. (2013, August 16). How to Apply Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development in
Early Childhood. Retrieved from Livestrong.com:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/1006869-apply-kohlbergs-theory-moral-developmentearly-childhood/
Doorey, M. (2014, March 11). Lawrence Kohlberg- American Psychologist . Retrieved
from Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Lawrence-Kohlberg

Good Therapy. (2015, July 6). Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987). Retrieved from
goodtherapy.org: http://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/lawrencekohlberg.html
KOHLBERG'S IDEAS OF MORAL REASONING. (n.d.). Retrieved from Web.cortland:
http://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/KOHL/kidmoral.HTML
KOHLBERG'S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pegasus:
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ncoverst/Kohlberg%27s%20Stages%20of%20Moral
%20Development.htm
Wilson, R. A. (2004). The Professional Resource for Teachers and Parents. Retrieved from
Early Childhood News:
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=565