Theory of Moral Development (Kohlberg) | Kohlberg’s stages of Moral Development | Pre-Moral Level | Conventional Morality Level | Self Accepted Moral Principles

Theory of Moral Development (Kohlberg)

Lawrence Kohlberg a Psychologist belonging to the university of Harvard is known for putting forward a theory of the development of moral judgment in the individual right from the years of early childhood .He has based his theory of moral development on the findings of his studies conducted on hundreds of children from different cultures.

                    He differs from the popular view that children imbibe the sense and methods of moral judgment from their parents and elders by way of learning. According to him as soon as we talk with children about morality, we find that they have many ways of making judgments which are not internalized from the outside and which do not come in any direct and obvious way from parents teachers and even peers (Kohlberg, 1968). Going further he clarified that internal or cognitive processes like thinking and reasoning also play a major role in one’s moral development i.e. the way children make moral judgment depends on their level of intellectual development as well as on their upbringing and learning experience.

        For studying the process of moral development in human beings, Kohlberg first defined moral development as the development of an individual’s sense of justice.

Table: Kohlberg’s six stages of Moral Development:

Level I: Pre- moral (age 4 to 10 years)

Stage 1: The stage of obedience for avoiding punishment

Stage 2 : The stage of conforming to obtain rewards and favours in return.

Level II: Conventional Morality (Age 10 to 13 years)

Stage 3: The stage of maintaining mutual relations and approval of others

Stage 4: The stage of obedience for avoiding censure by higher authority or social systems.

Level III: Self – accepted moral principles (Age 13 or not until middle or later adulthood)

Stage 5: Stage of conforming to the democratically accepted law and mores of community welfare

Stage 6: Stage of conforming to the universal ethical principles and the call of one’s conscience.

Pre-Moral Level (  4  to  10 years):

The child begins to make judgments about what is right or wrong, good or bad. However, the standards by which he measures the morality are those of others. He is persuaded to take such judgment either to avoid punishment or to earn rewards. Development of morality at this level usually follows the following two stages.

Stage 1: In the beginning the child’s morality is controlled by the fear of punishment. He tries to obey his parent s and elders purely to avoid reproof & punishment.

Stage 2: In the second stage of the pre-moral stage, children’s moral judgment is based on self-interest and considerations of what others can do for them in return. Here they value a thing because it has some practical utility for them.

Conventional Morality Level (10 to 13 years)

At this stage also, children moral judgment is controlled by the likes and dislike of others -the conventions, rules and regulations and the law and order system maintained within society. Staling or mercy killing would thus be judged wrong because it is considered wrong by the society at large by the legal system. In this way, the conventional level of morality may be regarded as the level where the child identifies with authority. It is characterized by the following stages.

Stage 3: In the early years of the second level of moral development, the child’s moral judgment is based on the desire to obtain approval of others and avoid being declared a good boy or a good girl. For this purpose he begins to judge the intention and likes and dislikes of other to act accordingly.

Stage 4: In the later years of conventional morality level, children’s moral judgments are governed by convention as well as the law and mores of social system.

Self Accepted Moral Principles (Age 13 or Later Childhood)

This marks the highest level of attainment of true morality as the centring force for making judgments now rests with the individual himself. He does not value a thing or conform to a idea merely because of consideration of the views of others, conventions or the law and order system of society but because into the frame work of the frame work of the self-accepted moral principles. This level is also characterized by two separate stages.

Stage 5:  At this stage the individuals moral judgment are internalized in such a form what he responds positively to authority only if he agrees with the principles upon which the demands of authority are based.

Stage 6:  At this stage the controlling forces for making moral judgments are highly internalized. The decision of the individual are now based upon his conscience and the belief in universal principles of respect, justice and equality. He does what he, as an individual thinks regardless of legal restrictions or the opinion of others. Thus at this stage people act according to the inner voice of their conscience and lead a life that they can without self-condemnation or feeling of guilt or shame.