Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Moral Development
Moral Development
The
American
psychologist
Lawrence
Kohlberg, for example, has concluded on the
basis of over twenty years of research that there
is a sequence of six identifiable stages in the
development of a persons ability to deal with
moral issues.
Kohlberg
LEVELONE:PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL
At the first two stages, the child is able to
respond to rules and social expectations and
can apply the labels good, bad, right,
and wrong. These rules however, are seen as
something externally imposed on the self.
Right
LEVEL TWO:
CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
Maintaining the expectations of ones own family,
peer group, or nation is seen as valuable in its own
right, regardless of the consequences. The person
does not merely conform to expectations but
exhibits loyalty to the group and its norms.
The
Stage
LEVEL
THREE: POSTCONVENTIONAL,
AUTONOMOUS, OR PRINCIPLED LEVEL
At these stages the person no longer simply accepts
the values and forms of the groups to which he or
she belongs. Instead the person now tries to see
situations from appoint of view that impartially
takes everyones interests into account.
Kohlbergs