Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory

Harvard Center for Moral Education

20 years of using interviews to investigate the nature of moral thought, by classifying interview responses to a story. The interviewee answers a series of questions about the moral dilemma

Kohlberg used this moral dilemma to question various interviewees to determine their moral thought pattern.

From these answers Kohlberg hypothesizes three level of moral development

What he was looking for Kohlberg did not care about the yes or no

answer about stealing the drug, but rather the explanation behind the answer

Kohlberg then broke down the answers and developed the three stages of moral development:– Preconvention – Conventional – Post conventional

Preconventional Stage Level 1.Obedience and punishment

orientation– Children obey because adults tell them

to obey. People base their moral decision on fear of punishment

Preconventional Stage Level 2. Self–interest orientation

– Individuals pursue their own interests and expect others to do the same –what is right involves equal exchange

Conventional Stage Level 3. Mutual interpersonal

expectations and conformity– Individuals value trust, caring, and

loyalty to others as a basis for moral judgments-

– Want to live up to expectations

Conventional Stage Level 4 Social system morality

– Moral judgments based on social law – The importance of doing one’s duty – Maintaining the fabric of society

Postconventional Stage Level 5.Social contract and Individual

rights– Individuals reason that values, rights and

principles may transcend the law – difference between moral and legal right

Postconventional Stage Level 6.Universal ethical principles

– Individual principles of conscience and justice