Your level of moral reasoning may impact how you assess certain situations. If society deems something as abhorrent, and you grew up in this society, your morality is likely shaped around what they deem is right or wrong, and you, too, shall view the act as abhorrent.
- We will start by looking at Kohlberg's stages of moral development overview.
- Then, we will delve into Kohlberg's stages of moral development theory.
- During this, we will provide Kohlberg's stages of moral development examples.
- Moving on, we will look at a table summarising Kohlberg's stages of moral development ages and explanations.
- Finally, we will discuss the issues with Kohlberg's stages of moral development study.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Overview
Piaget provided a set of stages a child goes through during cognitive development. Kohlberg expanded on that, suggesting moral reasoning also progresses in stages. Kohlberg's stages apply from childhood until adulthood.
Kohlberg suggested that there are three levels of moral development. Each level has two of its own 'stages' within it, which expand on the areas of moral understanding the person is going through or has reached. So, we can say that Kohlberg has six stages of moral development overall.
Fig. 1. Kohlberg identified three levels of moral development.
These levels are:
- Preconventional Reasoning
- Conventional Reasoning
- Postconventional Reasoning
The best way to remember this is by looking at the prefixes. Pre means before, and post means after, so conventional is; first, conventional is second, and post-conventional is last.
As we mentioned above, each level has stages within it.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Theory: The Study Behind It
Kohlberg developed this idea from his study (based on Piaget's initial theories), using a sample of 75 American boys between 10 and 16. He also collected data from boys from Britain, Mexico, Turkey, Canada and Taiwan.
Something worth noting here is that the age of criminal responsibility in England is 10. If at the age of 10, we expect children to know the difference between right and wrong, enough so to be punished by the law based on this, then our understanding of moral development must be sound.
It was a cross-cultural, longitudinal study, occurring over 12 years (they were interviewed every three years up until they were 22 and 28), where the boys were given ten moral dilemmas in the form of stories.
These dilemmas varied and were used to engage the boys in philosophical debates, asking them to think about their morals and how they would approach the situation.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development: Examples
A famous example of one of the stories is the Heinz dilemma.
In the Heinz dilemma, Heinz needs money to help pay for the treatment of his dying wife. She was recently diagnosed with a disease and had a month to live, and a special drug had been developed that could help treat her. Without it, she will die.
The pharmacy told them it would cost a lot of money and wasn't willing to reduce it, and no bank was willing to provide a loan. Friends and family members could only chip in a small amount, and it became clear that Heinz could not get the money for the treatment drug. Heinz then decided to break into the pharmacy and steal the drug.
Kohlberg would then ask the boys in an interview if Heinz was right or wrong in stealing the drug (so the data is qualitative), framing the question differently. He asked if Heinz was justified in his decision or if Heinz should be punished for it.
Alternatively, should the pharmacist be punished for willingly letting a woman die and refusing to give medication that could save her life?
The answers were more than just a 'yes' or 'no'. Kohlberg was interested in the moral reasoning behind their decisions.
From this, Kohlberg developed his stages of moral development.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development: The 3 Levels and 6 Stages
Kohlberg's stages roughly correspond with certain ages. The ages aren't the most important information, though. Pay attention to the type of reasoning present in each stage.
Level 1: Preconventional Morality
Usually, children aged 4 to 10 revolve around this level, and moral reasoning is based on the following two stages:
Phase 1; Punishment and obedience orientation: an act is wrong because the person who did it was punished. To avoid punishment is the goal here.
Phase 2; Self-interest: an act that gets the best outcome for you is the right choice. If you do it, you may be rewarded.
Level 2: Conventional Morality
At this level, moral reasoning is based on the next two stages:
Stage 3; Good boy/girl orientation: An act that causes others to think positively of you is the right choice. You may receive praise for doing it and will be known as someone who is nice/good.
Stage 4; Authority orientation: An act is right or wrong according to the rules or the law.
For example, stealing something from a store is always wrong because it goes against the rules or law; this is based on more than just the fear of punishment. It's because it's against the law that you don't do it, regardless of punishment.
Level 3: Postconventional Morality
At this level, moral reasoning is based on the final two stages:
Stage 5; Social contract orientation: An act is right because it creates the greatest amount of good for most people. Laws are still important, but ethical values become factors in moral dilemmas, and laws can and should be changed if necessary.
Stage 6; Conscience and ethical principle orientation: An act is now governed by abstract, universal concepts and justice, equality, and human life are the most important things. Judgements are made on an individual basis, and laws should be more of a guideline that can be subverted when necessary.
If we were to apply the sixth stage, 'conscience and ethical principle orientation,' to Heinz's dilemma, would it be the correct choice for Heinz to steal the medication for his wife? Is it morally justified? Interestingly, his study found that children of different cultures all pass through the same stages; however, they do so at different rates.
- Taiwanese boys who were aged around 10 to 13 gave stage 2 responses.
- In American boys, those aged 16 had rarely progressed to stage 6. Also, they had not reached stage 3 at age 13.
- 16-year-old American boys gave more stage 5-oriented thinking than Mexico and Taiwan.
- Middle-class children went through the stages more quickly and were more advanced in moral reasoning than working-class children.
- There were no differences in the moral development of children of different religious backgrounds, such as Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, or atheists.
People go through the stages of moral development in a fixed order. The order of the stages is universal for all cultures. Middle-class children progress through the stages faster compared to working-class children. The stages are not affected by religious beliefs.
Not many people reach stages five and six in this model and most land somewhere in the conventional reasoning stage.
Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Ages
| Level | Stage | Stage Meaning |
| 1 - Preconventional (ages 4 - 10) | 1. Punishment and obedience orientation | An act is wrong because the person who did it was punished. To avoid punishment is the goal here. |
| 2. Self-interest | An act that gets the best outcome for you is the right choice. If you do it, you may be rewarded. |
| 2 - Conventional (older children, adolescents, some adults) | 3. Good boy/girl orientation | A right choice is an act that causes others to think positively of you. You may receive praise for doing it and be known as someone who is nice/good. |
| 4. Authority orientation - | An act is right because you've been told to do it by the rules or the law. For example, stealing something from a store. This is based on more than just the fear of punishment; it's because it's against the law that you don't do it, regardless of punishment. |
| 3- Postconventional (few adults, rarely children) | 5. Social contract orientation | An act is right because it creates the greatest amount of good for most people. Laws are still important, but ethical values become factors in moral dilemmas, and laws can and should be changed if necessary. |
| 6. Conscience and ethical principle orientation | Abstract, universal concepts and justice now govern an act; equality and human life are the most important things. Judgements are made on an individual basis, and laws should be more of a guideline that can be subverted when necessary. |
Issues with Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Study
As with all studies, we need to assess their reliability and validity. One major issue with Kohlberg's study is that it was gender-biased. It was performed on boys, and thus the results cannot be generalised to girls, significantly reducing the applicability and generalisability of the results! Thus, it also has issues with being androcentric.
However, when this theory is applied to criminals, it supports the idea that criminals have not gone through all the required stages of moral development, suggesting a cause behind their delinquent behaviours.
Kennedy and Grubin (1992) found that convicted sex offenders tended to blame the victim for the assault and did not have much remorse for their actions.
The model also has issues with ecological validity in that these hypothetical scenarios are just that - hypothetical. How the boys would actually respond when facing real-life scenarios could differ. It brings into question self-reflection, and social desirability bias is a real concern here. The boys may have answered in a way that makes them appear more morally correct to the researcher.
Kohlberg's (1968) Stages of moral development - Key takeaways
- Kohlberg suggested there are three levels of moral development: pre-conventional reasoning, conventional reasoning, and post-conventional reasoning
- Kohlberg performed a cross-cultural, longitudinal study on a group of boys over 12 years who were given ten moral dilemmas in the form of stories.
- They were interviewed and asked questions about what they would do or how they would feel about different scenarios.
- He found from the study people go through the stages of moral development one by one in a fixed order and that the order of the stages is universal for all cultures.
- Most people do not reach the fifth and sixth stages of post-conventional reasoning.
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