Theories of

Moral
Development
 What is morality?
● A society’s standard of do’s and don’ts
● Highly relative to time, place and culture
● Not innate
● Cognitive psychology: morality unfolds in a pre-set order as a
child matures
● Socio-cultural psychology: morality developed by socialization

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 1.
Theory of moral
development
Lawrence Kohlberg
 Kohlberg’s Study
● 72 Chicago boys, aged 10-16 years
● 58 followed up at three-yearly intervals for 20 years
● 2-hour interview based on ten moral dilemmas
● Analysis of reasoning for children’s moral judgment
● Reasons tended to change as the children got older

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 Why adolescents?
● Pre-adolescent children think either in terms of concrete
unvarying rules or in terms of rules of society
● Adolescents capable of reasoning on a higher plane
● Able to comprehend broad moral principles
● Moral conflicts can exist between two sets of socially accepted
standards

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 Kohlberg’s theory
● A person’s moral behavior is influenced by his/her
understanding of the concept of ‘morality’
● Moral reasoning as a mediator of moral action
● Three distinct levels of moral reasoning
● Each level divided into 2 stages

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Want big impact? Use big image.

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 Stage of moral development
● Progressive: people pass through the stages in the given order
● New stage replaces reasoning typical of the earlier stage
● 75% of people remain in conventional level of reasoning
● Incapable of reaching highest level before age 13
● A person able to understand moral reasoning a stage above
his/her own stage

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 Preconventional level
● Morality externally controlled, by standards of adults
● Determined by consequences of one’s actions: reward or
punishment
● No personal code of morality
● Authority outside the individual
● Moral decisions based on physical consequences of actions

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 Preconventional level
Stage 1 Stage 2
Obedience and punishment Instrumental purpose
Based on what authority figure Individualism and exchange
says If you are good to others, they will
Verified by reward or punishment be good to you
Unable to view the world from Aware that different people can
others’ perspective have different perspectives
Avoidance of punishment A bit less egocentric

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 “If Heinz lets his wife die, he
will get in trouble. He’ll be
blamed for not spending the
money to save her, and there’ll
be an investigation of him and
the druggist for his wife’s
death”

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“Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug
because he’ll be caught and sent
to jail if he does. If he does get
away, his conscience will bother
him thinking how the police will
catch up with him at any
minute”

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 Conventional level
● Begins to understand social rules
● Develops a more objective perspective of right and wrong
● Community oriented moral reasoning
● Capable of understanding consequences of one’s behavior on
social relationships
● Begin to conform to social rules and regulations

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 Conventional level
● Internalize moral standards of valued adult role models
● Authority internalized but not questioned
● Reasoning based on norms of the group to which one belongs
● Social system that stresses the responsibilities of relationships
and social order seen as desirable and must

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 Conventional level
Stage 3 Stage 4
Good boy-good girl Social order maintaining
Interpersonal relationships Concerned about ensuring societal
Empathy, care, loyalty and respect order

Social approval from close ones Doing one’s duty - a crucial factor
major motivating factor Obedience to rules in order to
Good in order to be seen as good uphold the law and avoid guilt
by others

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“If Heinz let’s his wife die, he’ll
never be able to look anybody
in the face again.”

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 “After Heinz steals the drug,
he’ll feel bad thinking how he
has brought dishonor on his
family and himself; he won’t be
able to face anyone again”

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 Post conventional level
● Emphasis on personal or idealized principes
● Interest in abstract concept of justice and laws of one’s own
society
● Abstract and ill defined ethical principles
● Individual judgment based on self-chosen principles
● Moral reasoning based on individual rights and justice

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 Post conventional level
Stage 5 Stage 6
Social-contract Universal ethical principle
Recognize necessity for social Importance of abstract, universal
rules and norms principles of justice
Recognition that laws can be Right and wrong not determined
unfair by rules and laws, but by individual
Understand and believe in reflection on proper behavior
democracy in action Self-chosen ethical principles

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 “If Heinz doesn’t steal the
drug, and if he lets his wife die,
he’ll always condemn himself for
it afterward. He won’t be
blamed and he’ll have lived up
to the outside rule of the law but
he won’t have lived up to his
own standards of conscience.”

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“If Heinz steals the drug, he
won’t be blamed by other
people, but he’ll condemn
himself because he won’t have
lived up to his own conscience
and standards of honesty.”

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 Moral development in females
● Differences due to distincting socialization experiences
● Men view morality in terms of broad principles like justice and
fairness
● Women view morality in terms of responsibility toward
individuals and willingness to make sacrifices to help a specific
individual within the context of a particular relationship

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 Moral development in females
● Based on compassion and caring
● Highest level of morality represented by compassionate
concern for the welfare of others
● May lead men and women to regard the morality of a
particular behavior in a contradictory manner

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 Explanation of delinquency
● Serious offenders have a moral orientation that differs from
law-abiding citizens
● Lack of respect for law
● Personality based on self-interest
● Reduced levels of moral reasoning

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 2.
Theory of moral
development
Jean Piaget
 Piaget’s concept of morality
● Interplay of action and thought builds moral concepts
● Children younger than 4 years not capable of moral judgment
● Focus on what children think, not what they do
● Focused on children’s understanding of rules, moral
responsibility, and justice
● Ideas regarding rules, moral judgments and punishments
change

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 Observation
● Behavior of children
● What they do when someone violates the rule
● What they do to defend the rule and themselves

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 Story telling
● A short story or scenario that described some form of
misbehavior by a child or an adult
● Possible corrective actions to be meted out to the offender
● Asked them which actions were fair and just, and which were
not, and why

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 Types of punishment strategies
● Expiation (atonement): punitive action, offender pays the price
for offense
● Reciprocity: offender made to see the consequences of his/her
neglect, and to clearly understand the need to behave in a
more cooperative manner

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 Heteronomous morality (4-7 years)
● Moral realism
● Morality formed out of being subject to another’s rules
● Regard morality as obeying other’s rules and laws
● Rules made by some authority figure (parents, teacher, God)
● Breaking rules lead to immediate and severe punishment

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 Heteronomous morality (4-7 years)
● Function of a punishment to make the guilty suffer
● Severity of punishment related to severity of wrong-doing
● Rules as absolute and unchanging
● Rules have always been the same as they are now
● Behavior judged as “bad” in terms of the observable
consequences, regardless of intentions or reasons

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 Heteronomous morality (4-7 years)
● Justice and rules to be unchangeable properties of the world,
free from influence of people
● Judge one’s behavior on the basis of consequences of his/her
behavior
● Cannot judge on the basis of his/her intention

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 “Marie wanted to give her
mother a nice surprise and cut
out a piece of sewing for her.
But she didn’t know how to use
the scissors properly and cut a
big hole in her dress.”

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 “Margaret went and took her
mother’s scissors one day when
her mother was out. She played
with them for a bit. Then, as she
didn’t know how to use them
properly, she made a little hole
in her dress.”

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 Autonomous cooperation stage (7-10 years)
● Transitional stage between heteronomous and autonomous
morality
● Not a separate stage in itself

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 Autonomous morality (10 years or older)
● Moral relativism: based on one’s own rules
● Recognize there is no absolute right or wrong
● Morality depends on intentions, not consequences
● Aware of the fact that rules and laws are created by people and
can be changed by people

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 Autonomous morality (10 years or older)
● Able to appreciate significance of subjective facts and of
internal responsibility
● Seriousness of a lie judged in terms of betrayal of trust
● Understand difference of opinion
● Punishment based on restitution/reciprocity
● Recognize justice as an imperfect system

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 3.
Critical
Evaluation
 Under evaluation of children
● Under evaluation of children’s capacity for moral judgment
● Piaget’s theory
● Children after age 3 are able to consider others’ purpose and
intention
● Consider a person guiltier if an action was done intentionally
● Children as young as 3 years able of make moral judgments
based on motive and outcome information (Nelson, 1980)

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 Extra Resources!
● Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
● Piaget - Egocentrism and Perspective Taking
● Piaget's Theory of Moral Development
● Factors Influencing Young Children's Use of Motives and Outcomes as Moral
Criteria

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