Kohlberg — Moral Development

Overview

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development is one of the most frequently tested topics in Child Development and Pedagogy for OTET. Building on Piaget's work, Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning develops through a predictable sequence of stages, and that understanding these stages helps teachers appreciate why children at different ages make different moral judgments.

For OTET, you must know the three levels (pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional), the six stages within them, and how this theory applies to classroom situations. Questions typically ask you to identify which stage a child's response belongs to, or to apply the theory to teaching moral values. Kohlberg's work is also compared with Piaget's moral development theory, so understanding the distinction is important.

The theory emphasises that moral development is about how children reason about right and wrong, not merely what they decide. A child may give the "correct" answer but for immature reasons — Kohlberg's framework helps teachers understand this distinction.

Key Concepts

• **Moral reasoning over moral behaviour**: Kohlberg studied how people justify their moral decisions, not just what decisions they make. The reasoning process reveals the stage of development.

• **Invariant sequence**: All individuals progress through the stages in the same fixed order. No stage can be skipped, though not everyone reaches the highest stages.

• **Universal applicability**: Kohlberg claimed these stages are found across all cultures, though this claim has been challenged by critics.

• **Heinz Dilemma**: Kohlberg used moral dilemmas (most famously, whether Heinz should steal a drug to save his dying wife) to assess moral reasoning. The answer matters less than the justification given.

• **Three levels, six stages**: Moral development progresses through pre-conventional (stages 1-2), conventional (stages 3-4), and post-conventional (stages 5-6) levels.

• **Age correspondence**: Pre-conventional reasoning is typical of children below 9 years; conventional reasoning dominates adolescence and adulthood; post-conventional reasoning is rare and appears only in some adults.

• **Cognitive prerequisite**: Moral development requires corresponding cognitive development — a child at Piaget's pre-operational stage cannot exhibit conventional moral reasoning.

Formulas / Key Facts

| Level | Stage | Name | Core Reasoning | |-------|-------|------|----------------| | Pre-conventional | 1 | Punishment-Obedience | "I'll be punished if I do wrong" | | Pre-conventional | 2 | Instrumental Purpose | "What's in it for me?" | | Conventional | 3 | Good Boy/Nice Girl | "I want approval from others" | | Conventional | 4 | Law and Order | "Rules and laws must be followed" | | Post-conventional | 5 | Social Contract | "Laws are agreements that can be changed" | | Post-conventional | 6 | Universal Ethical Principles | "Conscience and universal justice guide me" |