LAWRENCE KOHLBERG: MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY
- Born: oct 25, 1927 NY USA
- Professor in psych department at
university of Chicago and at the graduate
school of education at Harvard university
- Served in US merchant marine
- Theory of moral development theory
Morality – set of standards that enable people to
live cooperatively in groups
Moral behavior – way a person perceives those
requirements and respond to them
Moral development – pattern of change in moral
behavior with age
Moral reasoning – aspect of cognitive
development that has to do with the way an
individual reasons about moral decisions
MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY
- Involves learning what ought to be and
what not to be done
- The term moral – relating to right and
wrong
- Assessed moral reasoning by posing
hypothetical moral dilemmas and
examining the reasoning behind people’s
answers
- Proposed tree distinct levels of moral
reasoning preconventional, conventional,
and postconventional
- Each level is based on the degree to which
a person conforms to conventional
standards of society
- Each level has two stages that represent
different degrees of sophistication in
moral reasoning
Preconventional moral reasoning
- Moral reasoning is based on external
rewards and punishment
- Children under 10 years old
Conventional moral reasoning
- Laws and rules are upheld simple because
they are laws and rules
- Most adults
AILEEN MAY ANG
- Primary concern: to fit in and play the role
of a good citizen
- People have a strong desire to follow the
rules and laws
Postconventional moral reasoning
- Based on personal moral standards
- Characterized by references to universal
ethical principles that represent
protecting the rights of all people
- Most adults do not reach this level
- Nightingale
- For the benefit welfare of other people
- unselfishness
Step 1: Punishment and obedience
- Focus on direct consequences
- Negative actions will result in
punishments
- A child does right because a parent tells
him/her and to avoid punishment
Step 2: mutual benefit
- Getting what one wants often requires
giving something up in return
- “right” is a fair exchange
- Morals guided by what is “fair”
Stage 3: law and order
- An attempt to live up to the expectations
of important others
- Follow rules or do what other would want
so that you’ll win their approval
- Negative actions will harm those
relationships
Stage 4: law and order
- Right behavior is obeying the law and
following the rules
- Follow rules and authority figure as well
as parents in an effort to keep the
“system” working
Stage 5: legal principles
- Standard of behavior is based on adhering
to laws that protect
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Stage 6: universal moral principles
- Person expects other humans and
believes that relationships are based on
mutual trust
- Must protect the basic rights of all people
by upholding the legal principles of
fairness, equality, justice and democracy
- Follows internalized standards of conduct

Feedback (criticism)
- Male-oriented because of his original
research is conducted entirely with male
children
- Females do not score well on Kohlberg’s
scale because being more concerned with
relationship than males are, they make
moral decisions based on individual

Moral dilemma
- Situations in which the decision-maker
must consider two or more moral values
or duties but can only honor one of them;
thus, the individual will violate at least
one important moral concern, regardless
of the decision
- Situation where:
o You are presented two or more
actions, all of which you have the
ability to perform
o There are moral reasons for you to
choose each of the actions
o You cannot perform all of the
actions and have to choose which
action, or actions when there are 3
or more choices to perform