Describe Kohlberg’s Stages or Moral Development
Unit 1: Understand Child and Young Person Development
1.1 Describe Kohlberg’s stages or moral development
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is an adaptation of the development theory of Jean Piaget. Piaget studied many aspects of moral judgment, most of his findings fit into a two stage process of moral development. Put into the simplest of terms, Stage 1: children younger than 10 or 11 years think about moral dilemmas one way and Stage 2: older children consider them differently.
Kohlberg modified and expanded upon Piaget’s work to form a theory that explained the development of moral reasoning. He outlined the development in six stages, with three different levels; he proposed that moral development is a process that occurs throughout the lifespan of a person.
Kohlberg’s theory was based upon research and interviews with young children, his core sample (1958) comprised of 72 boys aged 10, 13 and 16, from both middle and lower class families in Chicago. Later he expanded the sample to include a wider range of children, delinquents, younger children and boys and girls from other American cities and also from other countries (1963, 1970). Kohlberg presented to these children a series of moral dilemmas which they answered and were then interviewed about.
Example of one of the dilemmas presented:
Heinz Steals the Drug
"In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug.
The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But
1.1 Describe Kohlberg’s stages or moral development
Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is an adaptation of the development theory of Jean Piaget. Piaget studied many aspects of moral judgment, most of his findings fit into a two stage process of moral development. Put into the simplest of terms, Stage 1: children younger than 10 or 11 years think about moral dilemmas one way and Stage 2: older children consider them differently.
Kohlberg modified and expanded upon Piaget’s work to form a theory that explained the development of moral reasoning. He outlined the development in six stages, with three different levels; he proposed that moral development is a process that occurs throughout the lifespan of a person.
Kohlberg’s theory was based upon research and interviews with young children, his core sample (1958) comprised of 72 boys aged 10, 13 and 16, from both middle and lower class families in Chicago. Later he expanded the sample to include a wider range of children, delinquents, younger children and boys and girls from other American cities and also from other countries (1963, 1970). Kohlberg presented to these children a series of moral dilemmas which they answered and were then interviewed about.
Example of one of the dilemmas presented:
Heinz Steals the Drug
"In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug.
The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $ 1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But