MODULE

“Right action needs to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that
have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.”
- Lawrence Kohlberg

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

 explain the stages of moral development.
 analyze a person's level of moral reasoning based on his responses to moral
dilemmas.
 cite how the theory of moral development can be applied to your work as teacher
later on.

INTRODUCTION

Individuals, when confronted by situations where they need to make moral

decisions, exercise their own ability to use moral reasoning. Lawrence Kohlberg was
interested in studying the development of moral reasoning. He based his theory on the
findings of Piaget in studying cognitive development. Our ability to choose right from
wrong is tied with our ability to understand and reason logically.

TASK 1: ACTIVITY

Read the moral dilemma below.

Ryan, 17, has been saving up money to buy a ticket for this concert of rock band.
His parents have discouraged him from going as the concert will surely be with a rowdy
crowd. The band is notorious for having out-of-control audience who somehow
manages to get drunk and stoned during the concert. Ryan agreed not to watch
anymore. But a day before the concert, Nic, 15-year-old brother of Ryan, saw a corner
of what appeared to be a concert ticket showing in the pocket of Ryan's bag. Nic
examined it and confirmed it was indeed a ticket. Looking at Ryan's bag, Nic also found
an extra shirt and 2 sticks of marijuana. So he figured Ryan will go to the concert after
all. That night, Ryan told his parents that he was spending tomorrow night at a
classmate’s house for a school requirement. Then later that evening, he told Nic of his
plan to go to the concert. Nic didn’t say anything, but he found it difficult to sleep that
night, thinking whether to tell their parents or not.

1. If you were Nic, what would you do?

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2. Why would you choose to do that? What were the things you considered in
deciding what to do?
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TASK 2: ANALYSIS

Examine the answers you gave. Compare it with the responses provided below.
In which of these responses is your answer most similar?

Stage 1 - "Yes, I will tell our parents. Because if they found out later that I knew, for
sure they will get angry and most likely punish me.

“No, I will not tell because Ryan will make my life difficult and also punish
me for telling.”

Stage 2 - "Yes, I will tell my parents because they will reward me for it. I will subtly
ask for that new iPod that I'm wishing to have."

"No, I will not tell. Ryan will surely grant me a lot of favors for not telling.
He'll not also squeal on me.”

Stage 3 - "Yes, I will tell so my parents will think I am such an honest boy."

"No, I will not tell. Ryan will think of me as a really cool brother!"

Stage 4 - "Yes, I will tell because we should follow the rules that our parents say.”

"No, because it's been our rule to keep each other’s secrets.”

Stage 5 - "Yes, I will tell because he might be hurt or get in trouble and his welfare is
top most priority."

“No, because he is big enough to question my parents decision not to let

him go.”

Stage 6 - “Yes, I will tell because lying is always wrong and I want to be true to what
I believe in.”

“No, because I believe brothers watch out for each other. If he trusted me
with this, I should stay true to him and not say anything.”

In what level of moral development did your response to the dilemma fall?
Reflect about what this indicates about your moral reasoning in this moral dilemma

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As you continue to read this Module, you will get to know more about the
different levels of moral reasoning espoused by Kohlberg.
TASK 3: ABSTRACTION / GENERALIZATION

Lawrence Kohlberg built on Piaget's work, and set the ground work for the
present debate within psychology on moral development. Like Piaget, he believed that
children form ways of thinking through their experiences which include understandings
of moral concepts such as justice, rights, equality and human welfare. Kohlberg
followed the development of moral judgment and extended the ages covered by Piaget,
and found out that the process of attaining moral maturity took longer and occurred
slower than Piaget had thought.
If Piaget designed specific tasks (Piagetian tasks) to learn about the cognitive
development of children, Kohlberg utilized moral dilemmas (Kohlberg dilemmas), The
case you read in the Activity part of this module was written for this module but was
based on how Kohlberg wrote his dilemmas. Like Piaget, he presented these dilemmas
to the individuals in his research and asked for their responses. He did not aim to judge
whether the responses were right or wrong. He was interested in analyzing the moral
reasoning behind the responses.
From his research, Kohlberg identified six stages of moral reasoning grouped
into three major levels. Each level represents a significant change in the social-moral
reasoning or perspective of the person.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

According to Kohlberg, moral development occurs in six stages.

Level Stage Description

Preconventional Level Punishment/Obedience.
Moral reasoning is based on the 1 One is motivated by fear of punishment.
consequence/result of the act, He will act in order to avoid punishment
not on the whether the act itself is Mutual Benefit.
good or bad. One is motivated to act by the benefit that
2
one may obtain later. You scratch my
back, I’ll scratch yours.
Conventional Social Approval.
Moral reasoning is based on the One is motivated by what others expect in
conventions or “norms” of behavior – good boy, good girl. The
society. This may include 3 person acts because he/she values how
approval of others, law and order he/she will appear to others. he she gives
importance on what people will think or
say.
Post-conventional Law and order.
Moral reasoning is based on One is motivated to act in order to uphold
enduring or consistent principles. 4 law and order. The person will follow the
It is not just recognizing the law, law because it is the law.
but the principles behind the law.
Social Contract.
Laws that are wrong can be changed.
5
One will act based on social justice and
the common good.
Universal Principles.
This is associated with the development
of one’s conscience. Having a set of
standards and drives one to possess
6
moral responsibility to make societal
changes regardless of consequences to
oneself. Examples of persons are Mother
Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Task 4: APPLICATION

I. Identify the stage of Moral Development shown in the following:

______________1. Joy allows her classmates to copy her homework so that they will
think she is kind and will like her to be their friend.

_____________ 2. Ricky does everything to get passing grades because his Mom will
take his play station away if he gets bad grades.

______________3. A civic action group protests the use of pills for family planning,
saying that although the government allows this, it is actually
murder because the pills are abortifacient (causes abortion).

______________4. Jinky lets Hannah copy during their math test because Hannah
agreed to let her copy during their sibika test.

______________5. Karen decides to return the wallet she found in the canteen so that
people will praise her honesty and think she's such a nice girl.

______________6. John decides to return the wallet he found in the canteen because
he believes it's the right thing to do.

______________7. Lyka wears her ID inside the campus because she likes to follow
the school rules and regulations.

______________8. A jeepney driver looks if there's a policeman around before he

u-turns in a no u-turn spot.

______________9. Liza volunteers to tutor children-at-risk children in her community

for free so they will learn to love school and stay in school.

______________10. Little Riel behaves so well to get a star stamp from her teacher.

TASK 5: SYNAPSE STRENGTHENERS

1. Read the Moral Dilemma Discussion guide found in (http://tigger.uic.edu/~Inucci/

MoralEd/practices/practice3lindtext.html). Try out these guidelines with a moral
dilemma.

2. Research on the views of Eliot Turiel (Domain Theory) and Carol Gilingan (Moral
Reasoning and Gender) Relate them with Kohlberg’s Theory.
Task 6: Research Connection

Read a research that is related to Kohlber’g Theory. Fill out the matrix below.

How are the findings of this research useful to teachers?

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Task 7: REFLECTION

5-MINUTE NON-STOP WRITING BEGINS…..NOW!!!!

From the module on Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, I realized that….

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 Self-Learning Assessment Activities Answer Sheets

TASK 1: ACTIVITY
Read the moral dilemma below.

TASK 2: ANALYSIS
Examine the answers you gave. Compare it with the responses provided
below. In which of these responses is your answer most similar?

TASK 3: ABSTRACTION / GENERALIZATION

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
According to Kohlberg, moral development occurs in six stages.

TASK 4: APPLICATION
I. Identify the stage of Moral Development shown in the following:
TASK 5: SYNAPSE STRENGHTENERS
1. Read the Moral Dilemma Discussion guide found in
(http://tigger.uic.edu/~Inucci/ MoralEd/practices/practice3lindtext.html). Try
out these guidelines with a moral dilemma.

2. Research on the views of Eliot Turiel (Domain Theory) and Carol Gilingan
(Moral Reasoning and Gender) Relate them with Kohlberg’s Theory.

TASK 6: RESEARCH CONNECTION

Read a research that is related to Kohlber’g Theory. Fill out the matrix
below.

TASK 7: (INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS) REFLECTION

5-MINUTE NON-STOP WRITING BEGINS…..NOW!!!!

From the module on Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, I realized
that….
 End of Module Assessment

Looking Forward!
Research for the next topic: Vygotsky Socio- Cultural Theory

Self and Module Check

How was your experience? Tell me about it. (Draw an emoji to your response)
SELF EVALUATION MODULE EVALUATION
I learned a lot from this module Module is learner-friendly, comprehensive &
easy to understand
I learned just tight Module is clear but lacks few details
I still need guidance on certain topics. Module has vague points that require revision
I don’t understand anything discussed. Module does not cater my learning.

REFERENCES

Corpuz, Brenda B Phd et al. The Child and Adolescent Learners and
Learning Principles., Published by: LORIMAR PUBLISHING INC.