Postconventional Moral Development

The final stage of development is moral development. Moral development is how we make decisions based on what we know as right or wrong from the values we acquire from our families, friends, and experiences. As children develop they learn to achieve their needs and goals. Students want to do the right thing but can be concerned what their peers will think of their actions and decisions (Ormrod, 2012, p. 260). Karen shows this concern when worrying about what her classmates think about her while studying for French. One example is when Karen is afraid to take out the flashcards she had made prior to studying. When Karen sees that her peers are not using their flashcards to study, Karen decides it is best for her to leave her cards in her backpack.
The end result of moral development is postconventional morality. This stage is rarely seen to occur before college. During this stage people are able to recognize the rules are agreements between a group of people about what is appropriate behavior or not. This stage focuses on human rights or universal code of ethics. In the case study, Karen is currently in the conventional level of moral development. During the conventional level, Kohlberg claims that people will often aim to meet the expectations set by the authoritative figures such as parents or teachers. This time frame says that people such as Karen will be concerned about other people’s perspectives when making decisions. Karen is worried throughout the case study what her friends may think about her if she wants to study with them or use her flashcards to prepare for the test. People in this stage focus on conformity to those around them. In the preconventional level of moral development, “decisions are based on what is best for themselves, without regard for others’ needs or feelings” (Ormrod, 2012, p. 259). Since this is the first level of moral development, people in this stage label their actions as right or wrong, good or bad based on the culture that surrounds them.
During Karen’s conventional level of moral development, most of her decisions are influenced from her peers around her. The conventional level allows for moral conflicts to be resolved in a group or social terms rather than in individual terms (Kohlberg & Hersh, 1977, p. 56). Karen can take her friends method of studying and apply to not only to French test but to other classes Karen may struggle with. Karen has learned from her friends that better study methods come from practice rather than just