DAVAO DEL NORTE STATE COLLEGE

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MODULE 8: KOHLBERG’S STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

“Right action tends 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

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; and
• 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 finding of Piaget in studying cognitive development. Our ability
to choose right from wrong is tied with our ability to understand and reason logically.

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 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?
____________________________________________________________________________

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

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
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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 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 believed 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.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACTION/GENERALIZATION
Lawrence Kohlberg adopted and built on Piaget’s work, and set the groundwork for the present
debate within psychology on moral development. Like Piaget, he believed that children form ways of
thinking through their experiences which include understanding of mora concepts such as justice, rights,
equality and human welfare. Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgement and extended the
ages covered by Piaget, and found out that the process of attaining moral maturity took longer and
occurred slower that 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,

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege
 DAVAO DEL NORTE STATE COLLEGE
Institute of Teacher Education 0

he presented theses 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 analysing 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 1 Punishment/Obedience. One is motivated by fear of

punishment. He will act in order to avoid punishment.
Moral reasoning is based on the
consequence/result of the act, 2 Mutual Benefit. One is motivated to act by the benefit that
not on the whether the act itself one may obtain later. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch
is good or bad. yours.

Conventional 3 Social Approval. One is motivated by what others expect in

behavior- good boy, good girl. The person acts because
Moral reasoning is based on the he/she values hoe he/she will appear to others. He/she
conventions or “norms” approval gives importance on what people will think or say.
of others, law and order.
4 Law and Order. One is motivated to act in order to uphold
Post-conventional law and order. The person will follow the law because it is
Moral reasoning is based on the law.
enduring or consistent principles. 5 Social Contract. Laws that are wrong can be changed. One
It is not just recognizing the law, will act based on social justice and the common good.
but the principles behind the law.
6 Universal Principles. This is associated with the
development of one’s conscience. Having a set of standards
that drives one to possess moral responsibility to make
societal changes regardless of consequences to oneself.
Examples of persons are Mother Teresa, Martin Luther
King, Jr.

APPLICATION
The activity for this will be uploaded in the LMS.

Reference: Corpuz, Brenda, Lucas, Ma. Rita D, et al. (2015). Child & Adolescent Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Address: Davao del Norte State College Website: www.dnsc.edu.ph

Tadeco Road, New Visayas Email: [email protected]
Panabo City, Davao del Norte, 8105 Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/davnorstatecollege