CNL-518 Topic 4: The Six Stages of Kohlberg

Scenario: A female adolescent's parents place a low priority on the value of education. In fact,
they prefer that she care for younger siblings instead of studying or completing a high school
education. It is March. To avoid caring for her younger siblings, she has made up a story that she
has mandatory in-school suspension (ISS) for the rest of the school year. Her hope is that she can
be able to participate in school activities and pursue her educational dreams.

Directions: Read the scenario listed above. Complete all sections of the matrix provided below
from the perspective of an individual in each of the six stages of Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development and the information from the provided scenario. Use complete sentences and
include proper scholarly citations for any sources used.

Level 1: Preconventional Morality

Stage Adolescent’s Perspective Rationale for your Responses

The adolescent in a stage where

she is following direction of her
From the adolescent’s parents, due to believing their
perspective, she is abiding by her morals of what is right and what
parent’s rules to take on the is wrong (Kail & Cavanaugh,
responsibility of caring for her 2019). However, her stance to lie
younger siblings. Alternatively, about ISS to be able to study, is
she wants to be active in after her way of avoiding any
Stage 1: Obedience school activities that enhance her judgement or punishments from
and Punishment education. She cares for the her parents, since her
Orientation siblings because she is told to do responsibility is to care for her
so and hinders her education in siblings. The girl is not
the process. The young adolescent necessarily in the wrong to
fakes ISS so that she can prioritize education, since lying
prioritize her education since that about ISS was probably the only
is a value to her and important for solution, she could think of to
her to be successful for the future. avoid the punishment of
prioritizing education over her
parent’s responsibilities.

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 Stage Adolescent’s Perspective
The young girl puts her needs
first which is her value in
obtaining an education over her
Stage 2: Instrumental parents rule to watch the siblings. indicated that in return she will
Relativist Her idea to lie about ISS was her
Orientation/Exchange way to justify the importance of Cavanaugh, 2019). If she did not
of Favors education. Her perspective is
probably focused on justifying the obey her parents, one might argue
lying, since it will put her in a
better position for her future.
At a Conventional level, the girl
is probably acknowledging that
an education is important for her
to have if it leads to being
successful in the things she
Stage 3: Conventional
values. However, societies norms
Level/Good Boy or
of listening to parents is also
Girl
enforced from a moral standpoint.
Since she did lie about ISS, her
perspective is that she obtains an
education at the expense of not
watching her siblings
The young girl is sacrificing her
education to watch her siblings
because, that is what the role she
needs to fill entails. While she
Stage 4: Maintaining
wants to continue following her
the Social Order
dreams, she is willing to put
herself aside to maintain order
and avoid conflict with her
parents.
© 2022. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
Rationale for your Responses
In this stage, the young girl is
putting herself first for her needs
based on her value of education.
Justifying the lying about ISS
obtain an education (Kail &
lie about ISS and continued to
that she would develop
resentment or other negative
issues.
The reasoning that the girl would
lie about ISS, rather than obey
her parent’s direction of watching
the siblings comes from aiming to
please others based on their idea
of approval (Kail & Cavanaugh,
2019). The young girl probably
can’t experience ISS every day,
so she is still going to continue
abiding by the rule of watching
her younger siblings. However,
she is willing to risk the
obedience to her parents to ensure
she has an education.
Reasoning behind her
maintaining social order in her
household is to not disappoint her
parent’s direction of watching the
siblings. The goal is to promote
good in people, and avoid
conflict (Kail & Cavanagh,
2019). However, her ability to lie
about ISS to get an education is
justifiable since her future
depends on her education.
 Stage Adolescent’s Perspective Rationale for your Responses

The reasoning is avoiding

She agreed to watch her siblings
despite sacrificing her education
in order to benefit her parents
needs for support. However, this
does not benefit both parties,
Stage 5: Social
since she is unable to maintain
Contract and
her educational dreams, which is
Individual Rights
a large value to her. So, her
perspective in order to benefit
both, is to lie about a required ISS
day, so she can get some work
done.
The girl can justify her lying to
ISS because her principal of
getting an education outweighs
her parents’ instructions to watch
Stage 6: Universal
the siblings, who are ultimately
Principles
the parent’s responsibility.
Because her parents do not value
education, does not mean she
can’t value her education
conflict and maintaining order in
the social role her parents put her
in. This is a social contract where
an agreeance is made between
people, even if one does not
benefit from it (Kail &
Cavanaugh, 2019). However, the
young girl could argue that her
education is valuable for her to
obtain, as sacrificing to watch her
siblings hinders her growth in this
area.
Reasoning behind this is from an
abstract point of moral reasoning
that toggle between persons
moral code over justice, equality,
or compassion (Kail &
Cavanaugh, 2019). The girl puts
her personal views about her
education over the rule that she
has to watch her siblings.

References

Kail, R. & Cavanaugh, J. (2019). Human Development: A Life-Span View. 8th Edition.

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