MORAL CHARACTER

Objectives:
1. Explain the process of developing moral conviction
2. Recall defining moments in the moral formation
3. Identify and articulate each stage of moral development

“Moral character can be conceptualized as an individual’s disposition to think, feel, and behave in an
ethical versus unethical manner, or as the subset of individual differences relevant to morality.” - Funder and
Fast’s (2010, p. 669)

STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT by Lawrence Kohlberg (1971)

I. Pre-conventional Level
At this level, the child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right or wrong, but he
interprets the labels in terms of either the physical or hedonistic consequences of action (punishment, reward,
exchange of favors) or the physical power of those who enunciate the rules and labels. The level is divided into
the following three stages:

Stage 0: Egocentric judgement.

 The child makes judgements of good on the basis of what he likes and wants or what helps him,
and bad on the basis of what he does not like or what hurts him.
 No concept of rules or of obligations to obey.

Stage 1: The punishment and obedience orientation.

 Physical consequences of action
 Avoidance of punishment

Stage 2: The instrumental relativist orientation.

 What is in for me?
 Satisfies one's own needs and occasionally the needs of others.
 Elements of fairness, reciprocity, and equal sharing are present
 Reciprocity is a matter of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch your", not loyalty, gratitude, or
justice.

II. Conventional Level

At this level, the individual perceives the maintenance of the expectations of his family, group, or
nation as valuable in its own right, regardless of immediate and obvious consequences. The attitude is not only
one of conformity to personal expectations and social order, but of loyalty to it, of actively maintaining,
supporting, and justifying the order and identifying with the persons or group involved in it. The level consists
of the following two stages:

Stage 3: The interpersonal concordance or "good boy-nice girl" orientation.

 Social Norm
 Good behavior is what pleases or helps others and is approved by them.
 Behavior is frequently judged by intention.

Stage 4: The "law and order" orientation.

 The individual is oriented toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order.
 Showing respect for authority, and maintaining the given social order for its own sake.
 III. Post-Conventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level.
The individual makes a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and
application apart from the authority of the groups of persons holding them and apart from the individual's
own identification with the group. The level has the two following stages:

Stage 5: The social-contract legalistic orientation (generally with utilitarian overtones).

 Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been
critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.
 Awareness of the relativism of personal values and opinions and a corresponding emphasis upon
procedural rules for reaching consensus.
 Right action is a matter of personal values and opinions.
 "legal point of view", but with an additional emphasis upon the possibility of changing the law in
terms of rational considerations of social utility
 Outside the legal realm, free agreement, and contract, is the binding element of obligation.

Stage 6: The universal ethical-principle orientation.

 Principled conscience
 Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles that
appeal to logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency.
 Principles are abstract and ethical (the Golden Rule, the categorical imperative); they are not
concrete moral rules.
 Example, we would not vote for a law that aids some people but hurts others.

Acivity:
1. Film viewing, a short clip “Heinz Dilemma” which correspond to the discussion.

2. Demonstrate the Stages of Moral Development based on the given scenarios:

a. The class will be divided into three groups.
b. Each group will represent the three levels of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Character.
Group 1 (Pre-Conventional Level: Stages 1 and2)
Group 2 (Conventional Level: Stages 3 and 4)
Group 3 (Post-Conventional Level: Stages 5 and 6)
c. Instructor will provide scenarios. (optional)

1st Scenario: You are a doctor at a top hospital. You have six gravely ill patients, five of whom are in urgent
need of organ transplants. You can't help them, though, because there are no available organs that can
be used to save their lives. The sixth patient, however, will die without a particular medicine. If s/he dies,
you will be able to save the other five patients by using the organs of patient 6, who is an organ donor.

2nd Scenario: Your family is vacationing alone on a private stretch of beach with no lifeguard. Your
daughter and your niece, both 7, are best friends and eager to get into the water. You caution them to
wait until the water calms some, but they defy you and sneak in anyway. You soon hear screams of
distress and find them both caught in a strong current. You are the only swimmer strong enough to save
them, but you can only save one at a time. Your niece is a very poor swimmer and likely won't make it
much longer. Your daughter is a stronger swimmer, but only has a 50% chance of holding on long enough
for you to come back for her.

3rd Scenario: You are an EMT (emergency medical technician) on the scene of a car crash that involves
your spouse and the lover you didn't know s/he had. They are both gravely injured, your spouse's injuries
 the worst of them. You can tell it's unlikely s/he will pull through. Meanwhile, his/her lover has a neck
wound that will prove fatal if pressure isn't applied soon.

Assessment:
1. Write a scenario based on true story and compose a moral response for each stages.