Kohlberg’s Theories of
Moral Development
Lawrence Kohlberg
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Lawrence Kohlberg was a psychologist who
developed a theory of moral development.
He saw distinct stages of morality that
individuals move through as they mature.
Lawrence Kohlberg
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There is a major difference between Piaget’s
cognitive stages and Kohlberg’s stages of
moral reasoning – we do not have a choice
regarding mental development, but we do
have a choice in our moral reasoning.
Kohlberg’s system has three main levels,
each with two stages.
Preconventional Level
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Younger than 6 years old
Morality is determined by outside authority
Two different stages
Preconventional Level
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Stage 1: Punishment and obedience
orientation. Physical consequences of action
determine its goodness or badness.
Preconventional Level
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Stage 1: Punishment and obedience
orientation. Physical consequences of action
determine its goodness or badness.
Stage 2: Self-interest orientation. What is
right is what satisfies your own needs and
occasionally the needs of others,
e.g. “what’s in it for me?”
Conventional Level
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From about 7 to 11 years old
Moral reasoning is based on the expectations
of others regarding what is right or wrong.
At first children are seeking the approval of
others, but gradually the idea that you should
act a certain way because society expects it
emerges
Conventional Level
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Stage 3: “Good boy – good girl” orientation –
good behavior is what pleases or helps
others and is approved by them
Conventional Level
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Stage 3: “Good boy – good girl” orientation –
good behavior is what pleases or helps
others and is approved by them
Stage 4: Law and order orientation – right is
doing one’s duty, showing respect for
authority, and maintaining social order for its
own sake
Conventional Level
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Stage 3: “Good boy – good girl” orientation –
good behavior is what pleases or helps
others and is approved by them
Stage 4: Law and order orientation – right is
doing one’s duty, showing respect for
authority, and maintaining social order for its
own sake – this is where most people stop
Postconventional Level
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From about 11 onwards - maybe
A relatively small proportion of people
actually achieve this level, according to
researchers
At this level, personal ethics and human
rights come into play
Postconventional Level
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Stage 5: Social contract orientation – what is
right is a function of individual rights and
agreed upon standards. Democracy and “the
greatest good for the greatest number of
people” are examples.
Postconventional Level
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Stage 6: Universal ethical principle
orientation – what is right is determined
decision of conscience according to selfchosen ethical principles
This involves an individual imagining what
they would do in another’s shoes.
 Video
 Maybe
later…
Kohlberg’s Moral Dilemma
Kohlberg’s Moral Dilemma
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In Europe, 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 druggist in the same town had recently discovered. the drug
was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the
drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for
a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he
could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told
the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let
him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going
to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets
desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for
his wife.
Kohlberg’s Moral Dilemma
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In Europe, 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 druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug
was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the
drug cost him to make - $4000. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he
could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told
the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let
him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going
to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets
desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for
his wife.
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Should Heinz steal the drug? Why or why not?
Pre-conventional
Moral Reasoning
Stages 1 & 2
Stage 1: Punishment & Obedience
 A focus on direct consequences
 Negative actions will result in
punishments
 EXAMPLE: Heinz shouldn’t
steal the drug because he’d go to
jail if he got caught.
Stage 2: Self-interest
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“Right” is a fair exchange.
Morals guided by what is “fair”
EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug
because the druggist is being greedy by
charging so much.
Conventional Moral
Reasoning
Stages 3 & 4
Stage 3: Interpersonal Expectations
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An attempt to live up to the expectations of
important others
Follow rules or do what others would want so
that you win their approval
Negative actions will harm those relationships
EXAMPLE: Heinz should try to steal the drug because
that’s what a devoted husband would do.
Stage 4: Law-and-Order
To maintain social order, people
must resist personal pressures and
follow the laws of the larger society
 Respect the laws & authority
 EXAMPLE: Heinz should not steal
the drug because that would be
against the law and he has duty to
uphold the law.
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Postconventional
Moral Reasoning
Stages 5 & 6
Stage 5: Legal Principles
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Must protect the basic rights of all people by
upholding the legal principles of fairness,
justice, equality & democracy.
Laws that fail to promote general welfare or that
violate ethical principles can be changed,
reinterpreted, or abandoned
EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug
because his obligation to save his wife’s life
must take precedence over his obligation to
respect the druggist’s property rights.
Stage 6: Universal Moral Principles
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Self-chosen ethical principles
Profound respect for sanctity of human life, nonviolence,
equality & human dignity
Moral principles take precedence over laws that might
conflict with them,
Conscientious objectors – refuses to be drafted because
they are morally opposed to war.
EXAMPLE: Heinz should steal the drug even if the person
was a stranger and not his wife. He must follow his
conscience and not let the druggist’s desire for money
outweigh the value of a human life.
Other Ethical Dilemmas
Other Ethical Dilemmas
Other Ethical Dilemmas
Criticisms
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Kohlberg’s population for his research was
primarily male.
Some research on girls’ moral reasoning
finds patterns that are somewhat different
from those proposed by Kohlberg.
Whereas boys’ moral reasoning revolves
primarily around issues of justice, girls are
more concerned about issues of caring
and responsibility for others. (Slavin,
2003, pp. 58-59)
Criticisms (continued)
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Young children often reason about moral
situations in more sophisticated ways than
the stage theories of Piaget and Kohlberg
would suggest. Children as young as 3 or 4
years old use intentions to judge the behavior
of others (Slavin, 2003).
Criticisms (continued)
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Moral reasoning does not directly translate
into behavior. Behavior may be affected by
many other factors other than reasoning.