IMPACTING MORAL

AND CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT

By
Rabia Umer
MS Clinical Psychology
WHAT IS MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
 Moral development is the process through which
individuals develop proper attitudes and behaviors
towards other people in society, based on social
and cultural norms, rules and laws.
 It is an aspect of a person’s overall development
that follows over the course of a lifetime.
 Moral development is important to learn at a
young age because it will help person to choose
better choices when become older. Young child
learn morality from those closes to him/her and
parents have a big role in helping to built a
strong moral value.
KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
LAWRENCE KOHLBERG (OCTOBER
25, 1927 – JANUARY 19, 1987)
 He was an American psychologist.
 He served as a professor in:

- the Psychology Department at the University of

Chicago
- and at the Graduate School of Education at
Harvard University.
 He started as a developmental psychologist and
then moved to the field of moral education.
 He was particularly well-known for his theory of
moral development which he popularized through
research studies conducted at Harvard's Center
for Moral Education.
FROM PIAGET TO KOHLBERG
 Kohlberg agreed with Piaget theory in
principle but wanted to develop his ideas
further.
 Kohlberg studied the moral reasoning as an
aspect of cognitive development that has to
do with the way an individual reasons about
moral decisions.
 KOHLBERG THEORY OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
 This theory is a stage theory.
 In other words, everyone goes through the
stages sequentially without skipping any
stage.
 Assessed moral reasoning by posing
hypothetical moral dilemmas and examining
the reasoning behind people’s answers.
 Proposed three distinct of moral reasoning:
Pre- conventional, Conventional, and Post-
conventional.
  HOW DID KOHLBERG COME UP WITH
THE THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
 All his ideas started from the research he performed
with very young children as his subjects.
 He found out that children are faced with different
moral issues, and their judgments on whether they
are to act positively or negatively over each dilemma
are heavily influenced by several factors.
 In each scenario that Kohlberg related to the
children, he was not really asking whether or not the
person in the situation is morally right or wrong, but
he wanted to find out the reasons why these children
think that the character is morally right or not.
 THE HEINZ DILEMMA
 For purposes of illustration, Kohlberg uses the Heinz Dilemma.
 A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There
was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was
a form of radium that a pharmacist in the same town had
recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the
pharmacist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to
produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for
a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could
only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost.
He told the pharmacist that his wife was dying and asked him
to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the pharmacist
said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money
from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's
store to steal the drug for his wife.
 LEVELS AND SIX STAGES OF
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Level 1: Pre-Conventional Moral Development
Stage 1 Punishment-Obedience Orientation
Stage 2 Instrumental Relativist Orientation
Level 2: Conventional Moral Development
Stage 3 Good boy-Good girl Orientation
Stage 4 Law and Order Orientation
Level 3: Post-Conventional Moral Development
Stage 5 Social-Contract Legalistic Orientation
Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
 LEVEL 1: PRE-CONVENTIONAL
MORALITY [BIRTH-ADOLESCENCE] 
 Young children do not really understand the
conventions or rules of a society. 
Stage 1- Punishment-Obedience Orientation
  Related to Skinner’s Operational Conditioning,
this stage includes the use of punishment so
that the person refrains from doing the action
and continues to obey the rules.
 LEVEL 1: PRE-CONVENTIONAL
MORALITY [BIRTH-ADOLESCENCE] 
Stage 2-Self Interest Orientation/Instrumental
Relativist Orientation
 In this stage a good action is seen as one that
is in the best interest of the individual.
 Right action consists of what instrumentally
satisfies one's own needs and occasionally
the needs of others. 
 The underlying concern of stage thinking is
“what’s in it for me”. The child will follow
rules if there is a known benefit to him or
her. Children in this stage are very
concerned with what is fair. 
 LEVEL 2: CONVENTIONAL MORALITY
[ADOLESCENCE-YOUNG ADULTHOOD] 
Stage 3 - “Good boy-Good girl" Orientation
 Individuals at this stage of moral reasoning will try to win the
approval of others so that their identity is perceived as good.
 The acceptance of the individual by the peer group has a
huge impact in terms of what actions are considered good or
bad.
 At this stage people tend to judge the morality of actions in
terms of evaluating their consequences in relation to a
person’s relationships.
 Good and bad intentions are recognized. People want their
relationships to be characterized by respect, gratitude and
treating others as we wish to be treated. A good action is
therefore on that will bring about this positive result.
 LEVEL 2: CONVENTIONAL MORALITY
[ADOLESCENCE-YOUNG ADULTHOOD]
Stage 4 – Law and Order Orientation
 The desire to have a functioning society is at the
heart of this stage of moral reasoning.
 Laws, norms and conventions become very
important in so far as they maintain a
functioning society.
 People at this stage of moral reasoning have
moved beyond the strong need for individual
approval associated with stage three.
 The concern at stage four is to go above the
individual needs in favor of the needs of society
as a whole.
 LEVEL 3: POST-CONVENTIONAL
MORALITY [ADULTHOOD]
Stage 5 - Social-Contract Legalistic Orientation
 At this stage it is recognized that individuals can
hold different opinions and values and these
should be respected impartially.
 Freedom of choice becomes important and
certain fundamental principles are upheld, such
as the right to life and the right to choose.
 At this stage, no single choice is seen as right or
absolute since others do not have the moral
authority to judge the actions of the individual. 
 LEVEL 3: POST-CONVENTIONAL
MORALITY [ADULTHOOD]
Stage 6 –Ethical Principle Orientation
 Moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning at this
stage.
 Conscience (sense of right and wrong) is seen as an
important factor in making moral decisions.
 Mutual respect is valued as a universal principle.
 Laws are seen as valid only in so far as they promote
the principle of justice.
 Therefore, there is an obligation on people to
disobey an unjust law.
 Decisions are met categorically and in an absolute
way rather that with conditions attached.
  FOUR QUALITIES OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
1. Stage development is steady.
One must progress through the stages in
order, and one cannot get to a higher stage
without passing through the stage
immediately preceding it.
2. Subjects cannot understand moral reasoning
at a stage more than one stage beyond their
own.
Thus a person at stage two, who categorizes
good and bad on the basis of his own
pleasure, cannot comprehend reasoning at
stage four which appeals to fixed duties the
performance of which need not offer any
promise of reward or pleasure.
3. Subjects are cognitively attracted to
reasoning one level above their own main
level.
A stage one person will be attracted by stage
two reasoning, a stage two person by stage
three reasoning, and so on. Kohlberg states
that reasoning at higher stages is cognitively
more acceptable than reasoning at lower
stages, since it resolves problems and
dilemmas in a more satisfactory way.
4. Movement through the stages is effected
when cognitive uncertainty is created.
That is, when a person’s cognitive outlook is
not suitable to cope with a given moral
dilemma. If in a given situation one’s
cognitive framework cannot resolve a
problem, the cognitive organism adjusts to a
framework which does. Yet if a person’s
orientation is not disturbed there is no
reason to expect any development.
FIVE FACTORS THAT AFFECTS MORAL AND
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD
1. FAMILY
 Family plays an important role in a child’s
moral development.
 His first initiation into the mysteries of the
good and the bad is through his parent’s
acceptance or rejection of his various actions.
 The actions which are approved by the parents
are regarded as good and those rejected by
them are regarded as bad.
 The truth remains that the foundations of a
child’s moral development are laid in the
family.
2. SCHOOL
 School, too, plays an important role in forming
moral concepts.
 The child is influenced by the notions of the good
and the bad as a result of his relationship with
his classmates, teachers and senior students.
 The propriety of his moral behavior depends to a
great extent on his learning.
 Children accept many things which they see their
seniors doing in the school.
 The teaching of moral science and a program of
moral education go a long way in the moral
development of children and adolescents.
3. PEER GROUP
 Children are always in search of suitable
companions for play.
 They are influenced by the notions of good
and bad that prevail among his chosen
companions.
4. SOCIETY AND CULTURE
 The general social atmosphere also affects
the moral development of the individual.
 It is this reason why the moral behavior of
individuals belonging to cultured societies is
markedly different from that of individuals
belonging to uncivilized societies.
5. AGE
 Age is an important factor in forming moral
concepts and moral behaviors.
 As the individual passes from infancy to
adolescence, he becomes more tolerant
towards certain those ideals which sometimes
do not tally with what he thinks to be good.
 From unconditional obedience of his seniors
in early and late childhood, the individual
becomes critical and defiant in early
adolescence.
 But in later adolescence he comes to accept
many things which he had earlier rejected.
THANKS