Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory Of Moral Development Essay

Many theorists believe that people go through stages for their moral development. Lawrence Kohlberg began researching the topic and then he created a model of moral development that is based on six different stages. He built upon the findings of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s two stage theory of moral development. Kohlberg was born on October 25, 1927 in Bronxville New York. He was one of four children born to Alfred Kohlberg and Charlotte Albrecht. Alfred was a silk merchant and Charlotte was a skilled amateur chemist. Their marriage was very short and Lawrence chose to go with his father after the divorce. After graduating Philips Academy in Massachusetts he served as a marine. During this time he was working on a ship that would smuggle Jewish war refugees. The ship was once intercepted and he was imprisoned in a British internment camp. When he returned to the United States in 1948 he enrolled in the University of Chicago. He was so smart that he was able to test out of most of the courses and complete his four year degree in just one year. Then he got his Ph.D. in 1958. He wrote his school dissertation about the findings of his research on the moral choices of young boys. This research led to a lifelong fascination with the development of morals in childhood. He landed assistant professor jobs at Yale and University of Chicago before settling at Harvard as a professor. He had two boys with his wife Lucy that he had married in 1955. He struggled with depression and a parasite infection for a long time after he went to Belize that he decided to committed suicide. His body washed up at Logan Airport several months after he went missing when he walked into the Boston Harbor on January 21st in freezing conditions. His Obituary from the New York Times said, “His book on moral development is used by teachers around the world to promote moral reasoning.” Many …show more content…
In this stage if you always do what is right then you will avoid punishment. Stage 2 is Individualism and relativist orientation. In this one if you are nice to others they will be nice to you. The first two fall into the grouping of Pre-conventional Morality. Stage 3 is Mutual interpersonal expectations and in this stage you are looking for approval over anything else that can be gained. The 4th stage is Social system and conscience. This stage is about contributing to the good. Stages 3 and 4 are in the grouping Conventional Morality. Then the 5th stage is social contact in which rules are to benefit all. Finally, stage 6 is Universal ethical principles that are values that one comes up with and these may contradict other laws. The last two stages fall into the grouping of Post-conventional Morality. Kohlberg also thinks that the sixth stage is hardly ever achieved. Kohlberg’s model was the first theory to give a detailed explanation on moral development. He focused more on cognitive thinking instead of going in the same direction as many behaviorists. Other psychologist like Carol Gilligan say there are faults in the model because the moral development of girls is not included. While others think the model is culturally biased and the stories do not apply to every child. Nonetheless, Kohlberg’s research into the topic of moral development was enlightening to many. The model gave insight on how people think when it comes