1. Module 6:
Kohlberg’s
Stages of
Moral
Development
2. TAKE THE CHALLENGE !
Challenge yourself to:
explain the stages of moral
development.
analyze a person’s level of moral
reasoning based on his/her responses
to moral dilemmas.
cite how the theory of moral
development can be applied to your
work as a teacher later on.
4. MORAL DILEMMA
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 so expensive to make,
but the druggist was charging ten
times of what the drug cost him to
make. He paid $400 for the radium
and charged $4,000 for a small dose
of the drug.
5. Continue please …
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 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 mans
7. If you were Heinz would you
steal the drug? Why? Why not?
If I am Heinz, I will …
8. In which of these responses is your answer most
similar?
Stage 1 – “No, I wouldn’t steal the drug, because I
would be punished. The law says stealing is wrong,
so its wrong.”
Stage 2 – “No, I wouldn’t steal the drug, because while I
want to save my wife, being punished would be
worse than losing her. I could just get married again.”
Stage 3 –”No, I wouldn’t steal the drug, because people
would see me as a selfish thief who
breaks rules just for my own benefit.”
9. Continue please …
Stage 4 –”No, I wouldn’t steal the drug, because there
is a greater good to be maintained – rules exist in
order to protect all members of society. If I were to
act in my own selfish behalf and steal, it would set a
dangerous precedent with terrible long term
ramifications.”
Stage 5 –”No, I wouldn’t steal the drug, though it
would pain me miserably. I believe the rights of my
wife to the drug are valid, but they must be
balanced against the rights of the druggist. Her
rights to life are greater. I believe the druggist is
acting immorally, and that he should be implored to
sell it cheaper, but I would stop short of stealing and
10. Continue please …
and breaking laws that all of us have decided to
accept as good members of the society.”
Stage 6 –”I would steal the drug, administer it to my
wife, and then turn myself in to the police. I would
demand that I be punished to the full extent of the
law. While stealing is reprehensible, my ethical
principles value life above property, and therefore, to
be true to myself and to life itself, I must break the
lesser law in order to follow the greater good.”
11. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
According to Kohlberg, moral development occurs
in six stages :
12. LEVEL STAGE DESCRIPTION
Pre-conventional Punishment/Obedience.
Level- Moral One is motivated by fear of
reasoning is based 1 punishment. He will act in
on the order to avoid punishment.
consequence/result
of the act, not on
the whether the act
is good or bad. Mutual Benefit. One is
motivated to act by the
2
benefit that one may
obtain later. “You scratch
my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
13. LEVEL STAGE DESCRIPTION
Conventional Social Approval. One is
Level- Moral motivated by what others
expect in behavior – good boy,
Reasoning is based 3 good girl. The person acts
on the conventions because he/she values how
or “norms” of he/she will appears to others.
society. These may He/she gives importance on
include approval of what people think or say.
others, law, order. Law and Order. One is
motivated to act in order to
4 uphold law and order. The
person will follow the law
because it is the law.
14. LEVEL STAGE DESCRIPTION
Post-conventional Social Contract. Laws that are
Level - Moral wrong can be changed. One
will act based on social justice
Reasoning is based 5 and the common good.
on enduring or
consistent
principles. It is not
just recognizing
Universal Principles. This is
the law, but the associated with the
principles behind development of one’s
the law. 6
conscience. Having a set of
standards that drives one to
possess moral responsibility to
make societal changes regardless
of consequences to oneself.
Examples of persons are Mother
Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr.
15. Kohlberg and Moral Education
Goal of Moral Education-
is to encourage individuals to develop to the next
stage of moral reasoning. The most common tool
for doing this is to present a “moral dilemma”
and have students in groups determine and
justify what course the actor in the dilemma
should take.
Group Discussion, students are able to practice
moral reasoning and are able to learn from other
perspectives.
16. Continue please…
Kohlberg and his colleagues came up with the “just
community” schools approach towards
promoting moral development (Power, Higgins, &
Kohlberg, 1989).
The fundamental Goal of these schools is to
enhance students’ moral development by offering
them the chance to participate in a democratic
community. Here, democracy refers to more than
simply casting a vote. It entails full participation
of community members in arriving at consensual
rather than “majority rules” decision-making.
17. Continue please…
At the center of the implementation is a community
meeting in which issues related to life and
discipline in the schools are discussed and
democratically decided, with an equal value
placed on the voices of the students and teachers.
Underlying Goal of these meetings is to establish
collective norms which expresses fairness for all
members of the community. It is believed that by
placing the responsibility of determining and
enforcing rules on students, they will take
prosocial behavior more seriously. At the same
time, this approach stems from the cognitive-
developmentalist view that discussion of moral
dilemmas can stimulate moral development.
18. Continue please…
It is important to note that, a “just community
schools” simply leaves students to their own
devices.
A primary advantage to the just community
approach is its effectiveness in affecting
students actions, not just their reasoning.
Students are, in effect, expected to “practice
what they preach”, by following the rules
determined in community meetings.
