MODULE 8

KOLHBERG’S
STAGES OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
Maria Rita D. Lucas, Ph.D.
 BIOGRAPHY
 Lawrence Kohlberg born in 1927
 Grew up in Bronxville, New York
 Died on January 17th , 1987 at the age of 59
 Kohlberg became a professor of education and social psychology
at Harvard in 1968
 His book on moral development is used by teachers around the
world to promote moral reasoning
 Lawrence Kohlberg adopted and built on Piaget’s
work. Like Piaget, he believed that children form ways of
thinking through their experiences which include
understandings of moral concepts such as justice, rights,
equality and human welfare.
Three Levels of Moral
Development

Moral re
asoning i
Moral rea based on s
M o ra l R soning is enduring
easonin based on t consisten or
based o g is he t principl
n the convention es.
consequ s or
ence/res “norms” o
u
the act. lt of f society
Post-
Conventional
Conventional

Preconventional
Level
 Level Stage Description

Punishment/ Obedience
Preconventional 1 -One is motivated by fear of
Level punishment.

Mutual Benefit

2 -One is motivated to act by

the benefit that one may
obtain later.
 Level Stage Description

Conventional Social Approval

3 - One is motivated by what
others expect in behaviour.

Law and Order

4 - One is motivated to act in

order to uphold law and
order.
 Level Stage Description
Social Contract
Post-
Conventional 5 - Laws that are wrong can be
change. One will act based on
social justice and the common
good.
Universal Principles

-Having a set of standards

that derives one to possess
6 moral responsibility to make
societal change regardless of
consequences to oneself.
 you !
ha n k
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