LESSON 7

The Stages of Moral

Development

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
(1) Describe each stage of moral development
(2) Evaluate one’s personal growth against the stages of
personal development
 Moral development refers to the "process
through which a human person gains his/her
beliefs, skills and dispositions that make
him/her a morally mature person.

stages of behavior
• taboo
• Law
• conscience
• Reciprocity
• social consensus
• personal moral principles
Stated differently, the five stages may
be reduced to three asfollows:
The amoral stage - egocentric, hedonist and
prudentialconsiderations.

The pre-moral stage - authoritarian, ego-

idealist, social and reciprocal considerations.

The moral stage -personal, autonomous,

altruistic, rational, independent and
responsible considerations
Moral development is defined as the "process by
which a human person acquires beliefs, skills,
and dispositions that enable him or her to be
morally mature." Kohlberg (2013) divides
moral development into three stages: Level 1
(preconventional morality), Level 2
(conventional morality), and Level 3 (post-
conventional morality). Each level has two
stages, for a total of six stages of moral
development.
 
Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality

• Lowest level of moral development

• Moral values have not been internalized.
• Refers to as pre-conventional, corresponds to
how infants and young children think.
• thinks only in terms of the pain (punishment)
or pleasure (reward) caused by her actions.
 
Level 1 - Pre-conventional morality

• Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation.

avoid punishment, the child/individual does good
Children obey because adults command them to.
Fear of punishment drives moral decisions.
• Stage 2: Instrumental Orientation
Right behavior is defined by what the individual
believes is in his or her best interests.
Level 2: Conventional
• continue to accept authority figures' rules, but
this is now because they believe it is necessary
to maintain positive relationships and societal
order
• age at which older children, adolescents, and
young adults learn to conform to societal
expectations
Level 2: Conventional
• Stage 3: "Good Boy, Nice Girl" Orientation.
seek the approval of others and act in ways
to avoid disapproval

• Stage 4. Law and Order Orientation.

becomes aware of society's broader rules,
judgments concern obeying the rules in order
to uphold the law and avoid guilt.
Level 3 - Post-conventional Morality
• highest level of internalization.
• Individual judgment is founded on principles
chosen by the individual
• because the morally responsible agent
recognizes that what is good or right is not
reducible to following the rules of one's group. It
is instead a matter of personally understanding
what one should do and deciding to act
accordingly using one's free will
Level 3 - Post-conventional Morality
Stage 5. Social contract orientation
realizes that, while rules/laws exist to benefit the
greatest number of people
Laws are viewed as social contracts as opposed to rigid
orders
Stage 6. Universal, ethical, principle orientation.
Laws are viewed as social contracts as opposed to rigid
orders
They have developed moral judgments based on
universal human rights principles that apply to everyone
Development of conscience-based moral
decision
Panizo defines conscience as "an act of the
practical judgment of reason deciding upon an
individual action as good and to be performed
and as evil and to be avoided."

It is metaphorically referred toas the "inner or

little voice of God.
 
The formation of conscience

• To begin, conscience formation begins with a deep

desire to seek moral truth
• One develops the habit of seeking answers to
questions about right and wrong as a way of life
• Second, a clear conscience must be founded on
honesty, sincerity, and forthrightness.
• Third, the habit of consistently educating oneself by
exposure to objective moral norms and the rationale
behind those norms sustains conscience formation.