KOHLBERG MORAL DEVELOPMENT Stadiums

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was a renowned American psychologist who devoted most of his career to researching the psychosocial and moral development of human beings. This researcher based his theory on Piaget's concept of moral development.

Kohlberg defined moral judgment as a mental process that allows us to think and draw conclusions on our own values ​​to later order them in our head following a hierarchy. In this Psychology-Online article, we will develop in depth the Kohlberg's stages of moral development and we will see the main criticisms of his theory of moral development.

Index

1. Kolhberg's Levels of Moral Development
2. Kohlberg's stages of moral development
3. Criticisms of Kohlberg's theory of moral development

Kohlberg's theory of moral development is heavily influenced by Jean Piaget's theory of moral development. Specifically, Kohlberg applied the scheme of moral development in stages that Piaget elaborated to study the thought and how the moral judgment of the individual evolves. In this article, you will find more information about

Kohlberg's theory of moral development consists of six stages. In turn, Kohlberg's stadiums are divided into three main levels. Next, we will look at the levels of Kohlberg's moral development:

• Preconventional level: usually lasts up to 9 years. The preconventional level is the most primitive form of moral judgment. It is a morality oriented to satisfy one's wants and needs or constrained to obedience and concerned with punishment. It is called preconventional because in reality the child does not understand the meaning and function of social norms.
• Moral or conventional level of consciousness: defines the thinking of adolescents and adults. At this level, individuals take into account their individual interests and social conventions about what is good or bad. Social norms condition the moral judgment of the individual.
• Post-conventional level: at this level people have their own moral principles that are based on collective values ​​and individual freedoms. Individuals distinguish the legal from the moral and act accordingly in accordance with justice and human rights.

Kohlberg's 3 levels of moral reasoning consist of six stages. We are going to see the main characteristics of Kohlberg's stadiums.

Preoperational level

The first of Kolhberg's levels of moral development is the preoperational phase. According to Kohlberg's moral judgment, this phase is divided into two stages:

• Stadium of orientation to punishment and obedience: the difficulty of the child to take into account different perspectives on the same problem marks the nature of this stage. The reason to act well is, above all, to avoid punishment or to get a reward, and only recognize as bad those behaviors that involve physical harm to other people or their properties.
• Self-interest orientation stage: The growing awareness that there are different perspectives and interests defines the new stage. The child understands that all people have their own interests and seek to satisfy them.

Moral or conventional level of consciousness

The phase of moral or conventional consciousness is the second level of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. This stage consists of two stages:

• Consensus orientation stage: the concern to obtain the respect of people and to live in accordance with what others expect of us defines this stage. Norm orientation ensures that conduct is within established canons.
• Authority orientation stage: the individual assumes that everyone must comply with the laws and that they must be applied impartially to all. The supreme reason is to maintain social order and is justified by an obligation of conscience that requires people to fulfill their obligations to society.

Post-conventional level

The last of the Kohlberg levels is the post-conventional phase. This stage of moral development is divided into two stages:

• Orientation stage towards the social contract: at this stage the individual considers that there are supreme values ​​and rights that every society must guarantee. There's a social commitment with the rights and duties that make up the social contract, based on the conviction that these facilitate coexistence and the objectives of social life.
• Universal rights orientation stage: Kohlberg postulates a last stage that represents an ideal culmination point of moral development. Moral reasoning in this phase is based on the creation of universal moral principles that are different from the laws themselves.

Kohlberg's developmental theory has been widely criticized for various reasons. The most frequent criticism of the levels and stages of Kohlberg's moral reasoning is the claim to universality of stadiums.

Another criticism refers to the psychology of moral development offered by Kohlberg. According to psychologist Carol Gilligan, Kohlberg's stadium model is fundamentally male. According to this author, women follow a different moral development than men and she proposes an alternative model to that of Kohlberg, less focused on morality as justice and more on the morality of care and the feeling of personal responsibility towards others.

Neither of these two morals would be superior to the other, but alternative ways of conceiving problems and orienting towards them. Although at the time Gilligan's critique was received as a valuable and interesting contribution, attempts to find solid empirical support for her ideas have not been very fruitful.

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• Barra Almagiá, E. (1987). Moral development: an introduction to Kohlberg's theory. Latin American Journal of Psychology, 19(1), 7-18.
• García Madruga, J.A. and Delval, J. (2010). Developmental Psychology I. Cognitive and linguistic development. Madrid: UNED.