FREE ESSAY ON LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Lawrence Kohlberg conducted research on moral development, using surveys as his major
source of assessment. He presented surveys with moral dilemmas and asked his subjects to
evaluate the moral conflict. In developing his theory, he made an intensive study using
the same survey techniques of the bases on which children and youths of various ages make
moral decisions. He found that moral growth also begins early in life and proceeds in
stages throughout adulthood and beyond which is until the day we die. Influenced by
Piaget's concept of stages, Kohlberg's theory was created based on the idea that stages
of moral development build on each other in order of importance and significance to the
person. 
On the basis of his research, Kohlberg identified six stages of moral reasoning grouped
into three major levels. Each level represented a fundamental shift in the social-moral
perspective of the individual. At the first level, the preconventional level, concrete,
individual perspective characterizes a person's moral judgments. Within this level, a
Stage 1 heteronomous orientation focuses on avoiding breaking rules that are backed by
punishment, obedience for its own sake and avoiding the physical consequences of an
action to persons and property. As in Piaget's framework, ego-centrism and the inability
to consider the perspectives of others characterize the reasoning of Stage 1. 
At Stage 2 there is the early emergence of moral reciprocity. The Stage 2 orientation
focuses on the instrumental, pragmatic value of an action. Reciprocity is of the form,
you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. The Golden Rule becomes, If someone hits you,
you hit them back. At Stage 2 one follows the rules only when it is to someone's
immediate interests. What is right is what's fair in the sense of an equal exchange, a
deal, an agreement. At Stage 2 there is an understanding that everybody has his (her) own
interest to pursue and these conflict, so that right is relative in the concrete
individualist sense.
Individuals at the conventional level of reasoning, however, have a basic understanding
of conventional morality, and reason with an understanding that norms and conventions are
necessary to uphold society. They tend to be self-identified with these rules, and uphold
them consistently, viewing morality as acting in accordance with what society defines as
right. Individuals at Stage 3 are aware of shared feelings, agreements, and expectations,
which take primacy over individual interests. Persons at Stage 3 define what is right in
terms of what is expected by people close to one's self, and in terms of the stereotypic
roles that define being good. Being good means keeping mutual relationships, such as
trust, loyalty, respect, and gratitude. The perspective is that of the local community or
family. There is not as yet a consideration of the generalized social system. 
Stage 4 marks the shift from defining what is right in terms of local norms and role
expectations to defining right in terms of the laws and norms established by the larger
social system. This is the member of society perspective in which one is moral by
fulfilling the actual duties defining one's social responsibilities. One must obey the
law except in extreme cases in which the law comes into conflict with other prescribed
social duties. Obeying the law is seen as necessary in order to maintain the system of
laws which protect everyone.
Finally, the post conventional level is characterized by reasoning based on principles,
using a prior to society perspective. These individuals reason based on the principles,
which underlie rules and norms, but reject a uniform application of a rule or norm. While
two stages have been presented within the theory, only one, Stage 5, has received
substantial empirical support. 
Stage 6 remains as a theoretical endpoint which rationally follows from the preceding 5
stages. In essence this last level of moral judgment evokes reasoning rooted in the
ethical fairness principles from which moral laws would be devised. Laws are evaluated in
terms of their coherence with basic principles of fairness rather than upheld simply on
the basis of their place within an existing social order. Thus, there is an understanding
that elements of morality such as regard for life and human welfare transcend particular
cultures and societies and are to be upheld irrespective of other conventions or
normative obligations.
There is some controversy that Kohlberg's theory of moral development is sexist towards
women. Kohlberg's theory is based on data drawn from an all-male sample. Kohlberg's six
stages that describe the development of moral judgment from childhood to adulthood are
based on a study of eighty-four boys whose development Kohlberg has followed for a period
of over twenty years. Although Kohlberg claims universality for his stage sequence, those
groups not included in his original sample rarely reach his higher stages. Those who
appear to be deficient in moral development when measured by Kohlberg's scale are women.
Their judgments seem to reach only the third stage of his six-stage sequence. At this
stage, morality is expressed in interpersonal terms and goodness is equated with helping
and pleasing others. This conception of goodness is considered by Kohlberg to be
functional in the lives of mature women in the home. He implies that if women enter the
traditional arena of male activities, then they will recognize the inadequacy of this
moral perspective, and only in this way can they progress like men toward higher stages
where relationships are subordinated to rules and rules to universal principles of
justice.
Women researchers have views of their own on Kohlberg's implications that women don't
reach a full development of maturity. The reason why women cannot reach the higher stages
of Kohlberg's scale is not because their moral development cannot reach maturity.
Research has found that woman's moral development centers on the elaboration of the
knowledge of the importance of responsibility, relationships, and care. This importance
is something that women have known from the beginning. However, because that knowledge in
women has been considered intuitive or instinctive, psychologists have neglected to
describe its development. The women's care for and sensitivity to the needs of others
traditionally has been defined as the goodness of women, but these also mark the women as
deficient in moral development.
Lawrence Kohlberg's theory is the basis for debates today on moral development.The six
stages of his theory are dependent on the other from simple to the complex. Each stage
also is more cognitively complex than the previous stages.The works of Jean Piaget on
cognitive development influenced Kohlberg. There is some controversy on whether his
theory is sexist. Arguments on this matter frequently arise among psychologists.