Topic 3: Stages of Moral Development

Nominal Duration: 45 mins.

Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to:
1. identify and explain briefly each stage of moral development; and
2. evaluate Kohlberg’s theory based on the critiques against his theory.

Introduction

Experience tells us that learning what is appropriate or inappropriate, good or

bad and right or wrong takes a progressive start from early childhood to adulthood. The
importance of parents and institutions of learning and socializing are formative of moral
development. Moral development refers to the process whereby an individual form a
progressive sense of what is right and wrong, proper and improper. Human moral sense
is commonly seen to involve a movement from simple and finite definitions of right and
wrong to more complex ways of distinguishing right from wrong (Dorough, 2011).

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg admired Piaget’s approach to studying children’s

conceptions of morality but he went beyond those and proposed his own elaborate
theory.

Level Stage Social Orientation

Principled Conscience: Individual
Abstract notions of 6 principles of conscience. Takes
Post- justice; Rights of account of likely views of everyone
Conventional others can override affected by a moral decision.
obedience to rules
Social Contract: Difference between
or laws.
5 moral and legal right. Recognition that
rules should sometimes be broken.
Views of others Law and Order: Obedience to
matter; Avoidance 4 authority. Importance of “doing of
Conventional of blame; seeking one’s duty”.
approval
Good Boy/Good Girl: Good intentions.
3 Behaving in ways that conform to
“good behavior”.
Right and Wrong is Individualism, Instrumentalism and
Pre- determined by 2 Exchange: Rewards. The right way to
 Conventional reward or behave is the way that is rewarded.
punishment
Obedience and Punishment:
1 Whatever leads to punishment is
wrong.

The first level of moral thinking is that generally found at the elementary school
level. In the first stage of this level, people behave according to socially acceptable
norms because they are told to do so by some authority figure (e.g., parent or teacher).
This obedience is compelled by the threat or application of punishment. The second
stage of this level is characterized by a view that right behavior means acting in one's
own best interests.

The second level of moral thinking is that generally found in society, hence the
name "conventional." The first stage of this level (stage 3) is characterized by an
attitude which seeks to do what will gain the approval of others. The second stage is
one oriented to abiding by the law and responding to the obligations of duty.

The third level of moral thinking is one that Kohlberg felt is not reached by the
majority of adults. Its first stage (stage 5) is an understanding of social mutuality and a
genuine interest in the welfare of others. The last stage (stage 6) is based on respect for
universal principle and the demands of individual conscience. While Kohlberg always
believed in the existence of Stage 6 and had some nominees for it, he could never get
enough subjects to define it, much less observe their longitudinal movement to it.

Kohlberg believed that individuals could only progress through these stages one
stage at a time. That is, they could not "jump" stages. They could not, for example,
move from an orientation of selfishness to the law and order stage without passing
through the good boy/girl stage. They could only come to a comprehension of a moral
rationale one stage above their own. Thus, according to Kohlberg, it was important to
present them with moral dilemmas for discussion which would help them to see the
reasonableness of a "higher stage" morality and encourage their development in that
direction. The last comment refers to Kohlberg's moral discussion approach. He saw
this as one of the ways in which moral development can be promoted through formal
education. Note that Kohlberg believed, as did Piaget, that most moral development
occurs through social interaction. The discussion approach is based on the insight that
individuals develop as a result of cognitive conflicts at their current stage.

Critiques of Kohlberg’s Theory

There were a good number of psychologists who somehow did not agree with
Kohlberg's model and their arguments are valid. Vitz (1994) pointed out that this model
became popular for many years especially in education. In spite of that, the model
suffers from a remarkable number of grave weaknesses, many of which constitute
grounds for rejecting it. Despite Kohlberg's rebuttal of his critics, the system has not
recovered from the multiplicity and gravity of the critiques and at present there is no
convincing reason to accept Kohlberg's system. The weaknesses in his model have
become increasingly clear and, in spite of salvage attempts, it appears to be receding
as a focus of research and theoretical interest. To summarize those critiques, they are
the following:

1. The critique of a ‘completely good self’

2. The feminist critique
3. The moral relativity critique
4. The ‘no moral responsibility’ critique
5. The critique of Kohlberg’s atheism
6. The empathy and emotion critique: the rejection of Stage 1
7. The empirical critique: the inability to find various stages
8. Over-dependency on language: Critique of all stages
9. The methodological critique of the Kohlberg scale
10. Structure vs. content: the empirical critique
11. Structure vs. content: the theoretical critique
12. The ideological critique
13. The sexual morality critique
14. The narrative critique
15. The virtues critique
16. Recent philosophical critiques

Teacher’s Notes:

Always remember that Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development is divided into

three levels sub-divided into six stages equally divided with two stages within each
level.
The three levels are Pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional levels whilst
the first stage is the obedience-punishment orientation stage and the second is the
pleasure orientation stage both under the pre-conventional level. The 2 stages under
the conventional level is the third and fourth stage which are the good boy and good girl
orientation stage and the law and order orientation stage respectively. Lastly the fifth
and the sixth stage which are both under the post-conventional level are as follows: The
social contract orientation stage and the conscience orientation stage.
The following are simplified explanations of each stage.
 Stage 1: Obedience-punishment orientation stage: You do what is right because
you are afraid of punishment. The aim of this stage is to avoid pain and
punishment. E.g. you behave in class during elementary grade because if you
don’t the teacher will give you punishment (send you out or spank you)
 Stage 2: Pleasure orientation stage: You do what is right because there is
something in return for you. The aim of this stage is to increase pleasure. E.g.
you want to go to the store because anything in excess of the money given to
you will be yours.
 Stage 3: Good boy/good girl orientation stage: You do what is right because you
want others see you as a good person. E.g. you share your extra baon to your
 friends because you want them to accept you and see you as someone who is
good.
 Stage 4: Law and order orientation stage: You do what is right because this is
what the law requires you to do. E.g. you do not steal because you do not want
to break the law.
 Stage 5: Social Contract orientation stage: You do what is right because you
know that this is the right thing to do and this is what you want others do too. E.g.
you do not sing on the videoke until pass the curfew hours (10:00 pm) because
others want to rest expecting that they will also do this when they have occasions
at home too. We usually do this actions for the good of everybody or the good of
majority.
 Stage 6: Conscience Orientation stage: You do what is right and what is good
because this what your conscience dictates you. E.g. you respect your parents
because you know that disrespecting them will cause them pain and uneaseness
for you too.

Case:

Estong is a consistent dean’s lister for the past four years in college and is an academic
scholar. He reached this point in his life because in order to augment his scholarship to
pay for the bills, he works at night in a fastfood chain. He has to do this because life is
not easy for his father is just a tricycle driver and his mother is a plain housewife who
occasionally accepts laundry from the neighborhood. But the joint income of his mom
and dad is barely enough to sustain their daily needs and the schooling of his five other
siblings who also pays back the sacrifices of their parents with their medals and
certificates of achievements (they are all academic achievers).
For the next school year, he will be graduating soon and he will finally be able to
help his parents with the expenses. However, before the start of the school year, an
unfortunate event happened because his father, Manong Domeng, had a heart attack
and needed to be rushed to hospital which led their family to a huge amount of loan and
a loss of a bread winner. His mother mang Erlinda, who literally no longer knows what
to do cannot decide whether or not to tell her eldest son (Estong) that he will be needing
to stop for a while for she really cannot support all his five siblings alone.
However, since he is intelligent enough to understand the situation, Estong did
not wait for his mother to do so and decided for himself that he will not be enrolling this
semester to help his family and will just continue to work at the fastfood chain for the
good of everybody.

Case Digest:

Who: (Mention only one person who has the dilemma) Estong
Where: (Place of occurrence) At home
When: (Date mentioned or implied) before the start of the semester
What: (Mention the dilemma) To enroll or to continue to work
How: (Mention the decision. How it is solved?): To continue to work
Why: Value: (Mention the value behind the decision) Love for his family
 Stage of moral development: (Mention what stage is seen in the decision)
Social Contract Stage Orientation

This is what your paper should look like:

Who: Estong
Where: At home
When: Before the start of the semester
What: To enroll or to continue to work
How: To continue to work
Why: Value: Love for his family
Stage of moral development: Social Contract Stage Orientation

Assessment Task (Case Analysis):

Digest the following cases in a whole sheet of yellow paper. Take a picture of
your answers and send it to the person in-charge until midnight of November 30,
2020

1. Amelia is presently enrolled in BLITZ international school. This privilege is due to

the hard work of her mom and dad who are both abroad since she was 3 years
old. Now she, is graduating in senior high school on April 3, 2020. For the so
many years that her parents have been away, is her great financial stability and a
very wealthy lifestyle. However, today, her birthday, like the other many days and
nights, she finds herself crying alone in her room due to her parent’s absence in
almost all her milestones in life i.e. graduation, birthdays, convocation programs,
etc. because she only lives with her nanny (she is the only child). Her mom and
dad are worried that she might end up like other children of OFW’s who become
rebellious and misguided due to the absence of their parents especially today
that she is now 18 exactly 2 months before graduation. Luckily, Amelia is
matured enough to decide whether or not to become a good daughter. Actually,
she is always showing excellence and her parents have not heard anything both
in school and in the neighborhood that disappoints them because they always
give anything she asks whether it is a need or just a want. This year, she is
working very hard because they promised her that if she will become the class
valedictorian, they will go home for her graduation and will treat her with an all-
expense paid trip to Paris.

Who: Amelia
Where: At home
When: February 3, 2020
What: To be a good daughter or to be rebellious
How: To continue showing excellence and having good image in her neighborhood
Why: Value: Love for her parents
Stage of moral development: Individualism, Instrumentalism and Exchange
Orientation Stage
2. Gloria is running on her way to the school gate to catch up with her 7:00 class.
This happened because she woke up late this morning, needed to rush an
assignment for her first period and is stacked in heavy traffic while the jeepney is
entering the city proper. Indeed, today is her lucky day. The jeepney stop is on
the other side of the road which requires her to cross the busy highway in order
to approach the gate. In another unlucky turn of events, the jeepney driver quite
forgotten that she is on board and just remembered to stop for about a 100 yards
away from the pedestrian lane along Chino Roses Street. As the jeepney
stopped, she paid her fare and immediately took off the public transport vehicle.
If she will be going back to cross the pedestrian lane, she will be surely late for
her 7:00 class. However, since she knows that this is what the law requires her to
do and it will be on her favor if just in case something will happen to her while
crossing the pedestrian lane and it is very dangerous to cross the busy highway
especially on a Monday like this at this very rush hour, she immediately made the
smart and cautious move, run back towards the pedestrian lane, crossed it, run
towards the school gate and made it in front of the classroom door at roughly
7:02. Fortunately, her teacher is still at the corridor when she arrived.

Who:
Where:
When:
What:
How:
Why: Value:
Stage of moral development:

3. Andoy is a tricycle driver with route going to the market and around the poblacion
area. One Sunday morning, an old man, probably in his 60’s stopped his tricycle
to take a ride going to his doctor’s clinic which is about a couple of blocks away
roughly a little less than a kilometer. But obviously, this old man needs to ride a
tricycle because he can barely walk straight and is already using a cane for
support; a fact that Andoy noticed the moment he saw the condition of the old
man. Since he is certain that the man needs help, he stepped down his
motorcycle and assisted the man to board the tricycle’s sidecar. However,
instead of being grateful, the old man smacked his cane in his side while saying
“Huwag mo akong tulungan, kaya ko ito, hindi pa ako inutil.” Still shocked with
what happened, Andoy immediately went back to the driver’s seat and went on to
business as usual. After he was able to bring the old man to the clinic, he headed
back to the terminal with a new story to tell to his co-drivers. But before he can
even say a word, his companion in the terminal notified him that a wallet is on the
 passenger’s seat and as they inspected the content, he was sure that it belongs
to the “matandang masungit” because his senior citizen’s ID is in there together
with a ten thousand pesos intactly folded together in the side pocket. After
hearing the story, his co-drivers told him that he no longer needs to return the
wallet because anyway, the old man deserves karma because of his bad attitude.
But because he has been taught well by his parents, he is a person of honesty
and he knows what is supposed to be done, later that afternoon before he went
home, he dropped by the house where he picked up the old man and certainly,
he is seated on the gate with his face frowning in frustration which obviously
shows that something terrible happened that day. But before Andoy can even
say a word, as soon as the old man saw his face and his tricycle parked in front
of the gate, he stood up and greeted Andoy with the words; “Bakit ngayon ka
lang bumalik, siguro may plano kang nakawin ang laman nito ano. Teka nga’t
mabilang at baka nakulangan.” He is saying these while intensely counting his
money from his wallet and when he is done, he said; “Mabuti naman pala at may
mga katulad mo pang may natitira pang kakaramput na konsensya dito sa
Maynila” and the old man turned his back and in a few seconds, he is gone.
Andoy did not say a word and just smiled while on his way back to his tricycle,
still in awe with what happened but he is pretty sure that he can sleep well
tonight.

Who:
Where:
When:
What:
How:
Why: Value:
Stage of moral development:

Learning Resources
Kohlberg, L. (2005). 7. Piaget, Kohlberg, Gilligan, and Others on Moral
Development.http://www.rudygarns.com/class/neuroethics/lib/exe/fetch.php/a/fl
eming.2006.piaget_kohlberg_gilligan_and_others_on_moral_development.pdf
Kohlberg, Lawrence. (1981). Essays on moral development. San Francisco, CA:
Harper & Row.
McLeod, S. A. (2015). Piaget's theory of moral development. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget-moral.html
Patanella D. (2011) Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development. In: Goldstein S.,
Naglieri J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development.
Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2167
Rachel, James and Stuart Rachels. (2018). Elements of moral philosophy, 9th
ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Vitz, P. C. (1994). Critiques of Kohlberg's model of moral development: a
summary. Revista española de pedagogía, 5-35.
https://revistadepedagogia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1-Critiques-of-
Kohlberg%C2%B4s-Model-of-Moral-Development.pdf