Kohlberg Stages

2 Pages 591 Words

Moral issues have been a fundamental issue since the beginning of time. Conflicting assertions and different opinions have created a topic of interest to many philosophers, researches, sociologists and many other intellectuals.
Lawrence Kohlberg studied the stages of moral judgement expanding on what Jean Piaget, the father of moral development studied. However, “Kohlberg determined that the process of attaining moral maturity took longer and was more gradual than Piaget had proposed.”
Kohlberg believed that moral development progressed as time went on, through as series of stages. Kohlberg identified six stages of moral development that he proposed humans follow throughout life. He groups these stages into three major levels. The first level, the preconventional level, “a persons moral judgements are characterized by a concrete, individual perspective.” Stage one focuses on the fact that a persons moral judgements are based on the fact that breaking rules that are made will result in punishment. In this stage, they remain obedient in order to avoid any consequences of an action.. This stage is based on egocentric behavior which is the inability to consider another person perspective.
“At this level, the child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right or wrong, but he interprets the labels in terms of either the physical or hedonistic consequences of action (Punishment, reward, exchange of favors) or the physical power of those who enunciate the rules and labels.” Stage one is considered the punishment and obedience orientation phase. ‘The physical consequences of an action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning deference to power are values in their own right.” For example, Joe and Pete are playing in their first grade classroom. Joe see’s a toy that Pete is playing with, and...