Kohlberg’s stages of moral development

Kohlberg’s Theory maintains that moral development in children occurs progressively in six stages. It was proposed in 1958 by the American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, who expanded and completed it throughout his professional career.

What is moral development

One of the objects of study of psychology with respect to human cognitive development is moral reasoning, a process in which the person acquires and applies moral rules. This occurs from infancy and as it grows into adulthood, and even continues to develop into adult life. In other words, children are acquiring a greater understanding of what is right and what is wrong, according to the information they receive from their environment and culture, and this set of convictions evolves throughout life.

One of the pioneers in studying the moral development of children was the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980). In his works Judgment and Reasoning in Children and Moral Criterion in Children, published in 1932 and 1934, respectively, Piaget laid the foundations for the study of cognitive development in childhood and formulated the first hypotheses on how judgment occurs. morale as children grow. 

Mainly, Piaget defined two stages in which moral reasoning develops and marked the age of 10 as a turning point in children’s thinking. Children under 10 years of age viewed rules as fixed and made moral judgments based on the consequences of breaking a rule or not. On the other hand, children older than 10 years showed greater flexibility and their moral judgments were not based solely on consequences.

Origin of Kohlberg’s Theory

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was an American psychologist who is best known for establishing the Stages of Moral Development Theory, also known as Kohlberg’s Theory.

During his academic training, Kohlberg studied the work of Piaget and was subsequently inspired by it to begin his research on the development of morality in children. 

Unlike other researchers who focused on defining what morality is and what actions are moral, Kohlberg was interested in understanding the process by which we conceive ideas of what is right and what is wrong. With that in mind, he revised and expanded Piaget’s hypotheses and conducted a study to take an in-depth look at how moral reasoning occurs in children. To do this, he based himself on the possibility that moral development could extend beyond the two stages that Piaget had mentioned.

Based on the results of his research, Kohlberg elaborated his Theory of the stages of moral development. This theory was part of his doctoral dissertation From him The development of modes of thought and choices in children from 10 to 16 years old , which was carried out at the University of Chicago, United States, in 1958.

Kohlberg’s theory

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development Stages argues that moral reasoning is primarily related to the sense of justice, and occurs at three levels: pre-conventional morality, conventional morality, and post-conventional morality. Each of these levels is made up of two stages, that is, the development of moral reasoning is carried out in six stages in total.

Unlike Piaget, Kohlberg believed that the development of morality continued throughout life. However, he also held that many people only reached the third and fourth stages of moral development.

The stages of moral development of Kohlberg’s theory

Kohlberg’s Theory suggests that children move through each stage by replacing the thought of the previous stage with the thought of the new stage. 

preconventional morality

The first level of Kohlberg’s Theory is called preconventional morality . It is the most basic level of moral development and covers children under 9 years of age. 

In this period, children have not yet adopted a sense of morality. They are only governed by moral rules and the consequences of breaking them, which are dictated by adults, mainly parents. In other words, they judge the morality of an action based on its immediate consequences. This level is divided into the following stages:

• Stage 1: This stage is oriented towards obedience and punishment. At this stage children believe that the rules are fixed and binding. In case of not following them, they receive a punishment. Because of this, they judge that something is right or wrong depending on whether they are punished or not.
• Stage 2: This stage is oriented towards personal interest and greater individualism. At this stage, children begin to realize that the rules are not fixed and that there are different perspectives, depending on who dictates them. They also focus on the benefit they can get from following a rule. Because of this, they tend to believe that something is right if it brings them benefit, and that something is wrong if it causes harm or discomfort.

conventional morality

The second level is known as conventional morality , and is a period that includes most adolescents and adults. Here people internalize moral standards according to the rules of the groups of which they are a part. They also abide by social rules even if there are no consequences for obeying or breaking them. Also, they can question the moral rules or not. This level covers:

• Stage 3: This stage is oriented towards what is considered socially accepted and stands out for the improvement of interpersonal relationships. Moral reasoning is based on life within a certain group, such as the family, the educational community, the workplace, etc.
• Stage 4: is characterized by obedience to authority and maintenance of social order. People are more aware of social rules on a larger scale and understand the importance of obeying them to maintain social order. At this stage, the factors of guilt and responsibility play an important role.

postconventional morality

The third level of Kohlberg’s Theory is post-conventional or principled morality . It is the highest level of moral development. People question whether the rules they follow are correct or not, based on their own principles. Kohlberg believed that only 10-15% of the population achieved post-conventional morality. This level is made up of:

• Stage 5: is motivated by the social contract, since the person is aware that each individual fulfills a function in society and must try to improve it. At the same time, individual rights and specific moral rules of each person may also prevail at this stage.
• Stage 6: This stage is characterized by abstract reasoning and universal ethical principles, such as freedom, dignity or respect. People ultimately develop their own principles of morality, of how society should be and behave, which may or may not agree with society’s existing moral rules.

Kohlberg’s research

To establish his theory, Kohlberg analyzed 72 Chicago children, ages 10, 13, and 16. The experiment consisted of interviewing the children for approximately 2 hours each. During the interview, the children were given 10 moral dilemmas that they had to think about. After answering, they had to justify their reasoning. Kohlberg asked them several questions to determine the reasoning that each child applied to provide solutions to the dilemmas.

The dilemmas included descriptions of certain real life situations, in which the protagonists faced different problems. One of them, for example, was the Heinz Dilemma. This describes the situation of a woman sick with cancer that could only be cured if she takes a certain medicine. The pharmacist who created that drug charged ten times what it cost to make it. After trying to convince the pharmacist to lower the price of the drug, the sick woman’s husband went to the pharmacy to steal the drug. Subsequently, the participants in the experiment had to answer if they agreed with what the husband had done and why.

Participants also had to answer additional questions. Based on the responses of each age group to his experiment, Kohlberg defined the stages of moral development.

Limitations and Legacy of Kohlberg’s Theory

Since Kohlberg proposed his Theory of Developmental Stages, it has received various criticisms, which led him to continue making revisions in subsequent decades, such as his Moral Development , published in 1982; Stages of Morality: A Current Formulation and a Response to Criticism , in 1983; and My Personal Search for Universal Morality , in 1991.

Some of the limitations of Kohlberg’s Theory were:

• Include only the western and male perspective of morality. The study was carried out in a specific city, without considering other cultures, philosophies or different realities.
• Exclude the female perspective.
• The small study group, in addition to being a difficult experiment to generalize due to the number of individuals analyzed.
• The indicator of morality was also criticized, since the experiment was based mainly on justice and left aside other moral values, such as compassion or concern for others, etc.
• The moral dilemmas that Kohlberg used, for example, where there were situations involving marriages, were not related to experiences that children might have had.

Despite criticism, Kohlberg was considered one of the greatest psychologists of the 20th century, and his research on moral development paved the way for other studies of morality and the development of reasoning both in psychology and in other areas.

Sources

• Sanfeliciano, A. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development . Ceril.net. Available here .
• Triglia, A. (2016, November 24). Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development . Psychology and mind. Available here .
• Vergara, C. Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Current affairs in psychology. Available here .
• Elorrieta-Grimalt, MP (2012). Critical analysis of moral education according to Lawrence Kohlberg. Heaven. Available here .
• Editorial team. (2020, November 16). Kohlberg’s stages of moral development . Online psychology. Available here .