Moral Development Part 2:

Today we will continue looking at Kohlberg’s stages of moral development.  Just a little more information on Kohlberg’s theory first though. Kohlberg tested his theory and on 72 boys from both middle and lower class families in Chicago. They were ages from 10-16. (Later on he sampled younger children as well) By the way do you see any problems with this sample? Anyways he also had other researchers test the same children and then compared notes with them. This is call interrater reliability. On this sample they found that the reliability was high. Meaning they agreed with each other on the scores given.

So onto the first level: Preconventional Morality. Stage 1 is called Obedience and Punishment Orientation. This stage is characterized by the person believing that powerful authorities have a fixed set of rules that must be followed without question. This stage corresponds with Piaget’s first level (we will talk about this in later posts).  At this stage the concern is with what the authorities permit and punish.

The second stage is also in the first level it is the Individualism and Exchange stage. This stage is characterized by people realizing that there is not just one right view. The person understands that different persons have different perspectives. In this stage the person believes that each individual is able to pursue his or her individual interests. In this stage what is right is whatever the individual perceives or wants to be right.

In both of these stages it is about punishment. However, perceive it differently. In stage 1 punishment is tied up in wrongness whereas in stage 2 it is more about the risk that a person wants to avoid.

If you see typos please forgive I was in a hurry J

Have a great day!!