Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development

Parts of this article are adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1In 2010 a young man was driving drunk on a Chinese university campus. His car hit two students, one of 2whom died. When the police came to arrest the driver, he e claimed, !"ou can sue me if you dare. #y 1father is $$$$$.% &He named a prominent local official as his father'. 2(his young man)s defiant words *uickly went viral on Chinese social media. +veryone agrees that what 3he did and what he said were wrong. ,ut why was it wrong- .ur moral sense tells us that something is 4right or wrong. ,ut first we need to answer the prior *uestion/ why is something considered right or 5wrong- (his is the more difficult *uestion. 6While people may disagree about whether a particular action is right or wrong, everybody 7reasons morally. Everyone has a moral sense that some things are really right and some things 10are really wrong. Even people who deny that a universal morality exists dont behave that way. 11They expect others to respect them or treat them fairly. People who think that stealing from 12others is okay, dont want to be stolen from !o even those who say that morality is only a 11human creation have a moral sense that some things are really wrong. 12(he field of psychology that studies morality can 0e called !moral reasoning% or !moral development%. 13#oral reasoning is the study of how humans answer the !what% and !why% *uestions of morality. #oral 14development is the study of how moral reasoning changes as a person matures from childhood to 15adulthood. The moral reasoning of children is simpler and that of adults is more complex. 16"hildren are less able to deal with complex moral #uestions than adults. 17$ne of the first scientists to study moral reasoning was the !wiss psychologist %ean Piaget 20&'()*+')(,-. .is research was done by observing the behavior of little children. .e is most 21famous for his theories about cognitive development/ how logical thinking skills develop in 22young children. Piaget found that the ability to reason morally depended on the development of 21cognitive abilities. 0s children develop logical skills like e#uality and reciprocity, they can then 22understand moral concepts like fairness and 1ustice. 23Piaget concluded that moral development begins as heteronomous &directed by forces external 24to the child-, but as the child matures it develops into autonomous &self+directed- ideas and 25principles. 2n other words, a young childs ideas of right and wrong are copied from others such 26as parents or peers. 3ut as a child matures into adulthood he or she internali4es moral 27concepts such as fairness, honesty and respect. These internal principles become part of the 10young adults character and shape his or her moral behavior. 11Piagets theories of moral development had a profound influence on an 0merican psychologist 12named 5awrence 6ohlberg &')78+')(8-. 6ohlberg believed that someones level of moral 11reasoning is important in understanding what they think it means to be moral at different ages. 126ohlberg assumed that morality is principally concerned with 1ustice, and his research showed 13that as people mature they develop more ade#uate ways of thinking about what 1ustice means. 140ccording to 6ohlberg, as people mature and as they encounter morally complex situations they 15pass through three successive levels of moral reasoning. The lowest level of development, the 16moral reasoning of small children, is based on the prospect of reward and punishment + in other 17words, to a young child good behavior is whatever gets rewarded9 bad behavior is whatever 20gets punished. To be moral is to behave so as to avoid punishment. This first level is called

21pre+conventional &:conventional; means having the moral beliefs of the society in which you 22live-. <oung children have not developed the cognitive skills necessary to understand a 21conventional morality. They only view morality based on how it effects them personally. 220t the second level an older child or youth perceives an absolute right and wrong which is 23expressed in social norms or laws. Therefore this second level is called :conventional.; =oral 24behavior consists of living up to group expectations. 0 moral person follows the rules. 0 moral 25person does not bring shame on their family or group through disobedience. 26The third and highest level of moral reasoning is based on developing abstract principles of right 27and wrong. This is called :post+conventional; because it is based on the existence of moral 30principles by which societys laws can be 1udged. 0 post+conventional thinker recogni4es that 31laws are imperfect but necessary. 5aws can be improved by making them better express moral 32principles. >or example, societies can become more 1ust by adopting laws that are based on 31the moral principle of 1ustice. 5aws that do not respect the rights of all people are un1ust and 32not+moral. 0t his third level of moral reasoning, a person is thought to be moral if his or her 33standards of right or wrong e#ually respect the rights of all?even if they do not further the 34persons own interests. 6ohlbergs research showed that few people ever achieve the highest 35level of moral development. 360ccording to 6ohlbergs theory, moral development is a process of maturing. Thus a little child 37may say something is wrong because he will get punished if he does it. 0 teen+ager or young 40adult may say that something is wrong if it breaks the law. 0n elder who has attained the 41highest level of moral reasoning may say that something is wrong if it does not respect the 42rights of all people. 416ohlberg further divided moral development into six stages of moral reasoning from young child 42to elder adult. The following table describes these six stages.
5evel one/ @eward and punishment 5evel two/ social norms 5evel three/ moral principles !tage '/ morality A avoiding punishment !tage 7/ morality A fairness, mutual benefit !tage B/ morality A reputation/ being a good boy or a bad boy &or girl!tage C/ law and order, obedience to the laws !tage D/ social contracts respecting human rights !tage */ universal principles of 1ustice

438or his research, 9ohl0erg used stories called moral dilemmas in which the main character in the story 44must make a difficult moral choice. (hese stories create a conflict 0etween two values such as honesty, 45loyalty, or saving a life. 9ohl0erg would ask the research participant to respond to the story 0y saying 46what he thought the main character ought to do. 47(he most famous of these dilemmas is called the Hein: dilemma, a story a0out a man whose wife is dying 50of a rare 0ut deadly disease. ; new medicine can cure the disease 0ut Hein: cannot afford its high cost. 51(he druggist refused to accept a smaller payment. <o Hein: chose to steal the drug to save his wife)s life. 528rom a theoretical point of view, it is not important what the participant thinks that Hein: should do. 519ohl0erg=s theory holds that the significant thing is how the person >ustifies what they would do as moral. 52,elow are some e amples of responses at each of the si stages/

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<tage one &avoiding punishment'/ Hein: should not steal the medicine 0ecause he would conse*uently 0e put in prison, which would mean he is a 0ad person. .r/ Hein: should steal the medicine the druggist wanted too much for it. He was not stealing anything else. <tage two &fairness'/ Hein: should steal the medicine 0ecause the druggist is not 0eing fair to his wife. .r/ Hein: should not steal the medicine 0ecause it is unfair to the druggist to take the thing he made. <tage three &reputation'/ Hein: should steal the medicine 0ecause he wants to 0e a good hus0and and care for his wife. He first tried to do everything he could without 0reaking the law, you cannot 0lame him. .r/ Hein: should not steal the drug 0ecause stealing is 0ad and he is not a criminal. <tage four &law-and-order'/ Hein: should not steal the medicine 0ecause the law prohi0its stealing, making it illegal. <ociety will not function if people choose to ignore the laws. .r/ Hein: should steal the drug for his wife 0ut also take the punishment for the crime as well as paying the druggist what he is owed. In this way he shows his respect for the law. <tage five &human rights'/ Hein: should steal the medicine 0ecause everyone has a right to life, regardless of the law. .r/ Hein: should not steal the medicine 0ecause the druggist has a right to profit from his medicine. <tage si &universal ethics'/ Hein: should steal the medicine, 0ecause saving a human life is a more fundamental value than the property rights of another person. .r/ Hein: should not steal the medicine, 0ecause others may need the medicine >ust as 0adly, and their lives are e*ually significant.

749ohl0erg would present a moral dilemma to a research participant and then listen to the reasons he used 75to >ustify his choice. 8or each su0>ect, 9ohl0erg sought to identify the level of moral reasoning he used. 769ohl0erg)s theory of moral development is not an attempt to make a list of which 0ehaviors are right or 77which are wrong, rather it is an attempt to understand how moral reasoning develops as humans mature. 100However, he assumed that those who reach higher levels of moral reasoning will demonstrate this through 101lives in which 0ehavior is more responsi0le, consistent and predicta0le. 102Having read 9ohl0erg)s theory, think 0ack to the story at the 0eginning of this essay. How would you 101evaluate the moral reasoning of the young man who defended himself as the child of an important 102official-

COMPREHEN !ON "#E $!ON '. The harder #uestion about morality is 0. Which behaviors are right or wrongE 3. Why is a behavior considered to be right or wrongE ". .ow should morality be taught to the next generationE 7. The article asserts that all people have a moral sense because 0. everyone agrees on what is right or wrong 3. everyone obeys moral rules such as :stealing is wrong; ". even a person who denies the existence of moral absolutes, doesnt want to be treated unfairly. B. The field of psychology that studies how moral thinking changes as a person matures is called 0. moral development 3. moral philosophy ". moral reasoning C. %ean Piagets observation of young children led him to conclude that moral reasoning re#uires 0. prior development of cognitive skills 3. obedience to moral rules ". understanding abstract moral ideas D. %ean Piaget found that the moral reasoning of young children is 0. autonomous 3. based on internal principles of right and wrong ". copied from others such as parents or peers *. 5awrence 6ohlbergs theory of moral development asked research participants to respond to moral dilemmas. The main purpose of this was to identify 0. What they considered to be right or wrong 3. how they 1ustified a behavior as right or wrong ". whether their personal actions agreed with their ideas of right or wrong 8. :"onventional; morality means 0, the moral standards of the person 3. the moral standards of the society ". the moral principles that underlie social laws (. 0ccording to 6ohlbergs levels of moral reasoning, young children believe that a wrong behavior is 0. what they get punished for 3. what society says is wrong ". a behavior that violates the principle of 1ustice ). 2n the .ein4 dilemma, a person with post+conventional moral reasoning might defend stealing the drug because 0. the druggist should not make a large profit from his business 3. everyone will think .ein4 is a bad husband if he doesnt protect his wife ". the wifes right to life is more important than the druggists property rights ',. While 6ohlbergs theory did not attempt to measure moral behavior, he believed that those with higher levels of moral reasoning are more likely to live responsible and consistent lives. 0. true 3. >alse