BLOG PODS #46 - Theory Bites 6a - Lawrence Kohlberg: Stages of Moral Development
INTRODUCTION
Why do kids do what they do? What drives their sense of right and wrong? Can you teach this stuff or is it imbibed by just being in the world? What role does education have in the moral development of children? Before, during and after the turn of the 20th Century these were some of the big questions exercising thinkers in psychology, sociology and philosophy.
Lawrence Kohlberg, building on Jean Piaget’s work, revolutionised contemporary understanding of how children and adults develop moral reasoning. He proposed that moral development happens in six distinct stages, and can be grouped into three levels - the stages progress as individuals mature, encounter real-life moral dilemmas and develop their thinking.
For professionals working with children, especially those recovering from developmental trauma and/or who offend, understanding Kohlberg’s theory can help us think about and guide more effective interventions and foster a healthier morality in kids.
But before we get into that, let’s back up a bit first…
Context
Simply and very generally put, Lawrence Kohlberg did the hard work of theorising required to progress the thinking of Emile Durkheim and Jean Piaget.
Writing at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Durkheim’s emphasis was on the moral impact of society on the developing child. The child growing up in society, internalises its norms and expectations such that the society becomes represented in the child. He was interested in the role of education in explaining the morality of society, and thereby reinforcing it*.* Critics, including Kohlberg, felt this approach to be too pedagogical or ‘teachy.’
Writing a bit later on, Piaget included the child’s developing morality in his staged theory of cognitive development. He emphasised the need for children to discover morality for themselves, rather than being taught it - which, he thought, robs the child of fully understanding it.
Then, into the fray, comes Lawrence Kohlberg who published his doctoral thesis in 1958 with a focus on thinking (cognition), morality and education. He asked a big group of adolescents for their views on various moral dilemmas; the classic one being: ‘should Heinz steal a drug to save the life of his wife or should he obey the law and let his wife die for the lack of the drug? Why or why not?’
He then followed the same group over the next 20 years, continuing to test them and observing the development of their moral reasoning. Kohlberg said this development changed in a predictable pattern that progressed with age, increasing in complexity and scope over time - his theory seeks to articulate this progression.
Principles of Kohlberg’s Theory
Before looking at the developmental stages themselves, there are some broad principles that will help us understand the theory, it’s structure and children’s progression through it:
Sequential Progression: Moral reasoning develops in a fixed order, and individuals cannot skip stages - Maslow called this ‘prepotency.’*
Cognitive Development Link: Advanced moral reasoning relies on cognitive growth; the more mature the cognition, the more advanced the moral reasoning.
Universal Stages: The stages are universal across cultures, though the pace of progression varies (as does what constitutes ‘moral, immoral or amoral’, of course!).
Focus on Reasoning Over Action: Moral development emphasises the reasoning behind actions, not just the behaviours and/or decisions themselves.
Discombobulation Drives Growth: Encountering and grappling with challenging moral situations and dilemmas promotes movement to higher reasoning.
Perspective-Taking: The ability to see situations from others’ viewpoints is essential for advancing through the stages (obviously, this requires meta-cognition and other exec functions like empathy - see 2 above).
The Six Stages of Moral Development
As with all the theories we’ve looked at, this one is broad and zoomed out; it can’t be applied rigorously and specifically to an individual child and be expected to nail it every time, faultlessly explaining what’s going on.
That said, it can give us a useful overview of human development as it deals with issues of morality, conscience and ethical thinking. And, like most theories, it can help structure our thinking and save us from lazy tropes and unhelpful practice habits.
So here goes; a quick overview of Kohlberg’s stages of moral judgment or justice reasoning (6 stages in 3 levels):
1. Pre-Conventional Level (Typically in early childhood)
In this stage children make choices that respond to labels or rules of right and wrong, good or bad, but these are interpreted in terms of the pros and cons for them and/or the power of those making the rules.
Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation
Decisions are made to avoid punishment.
Rules are viewed as fixed and unchangeable.
💡 e.g. a child doesn’t take biscuits without asking first because they fear being told off.
Stage 2: Self-Interest Orientation
Actions are driven by self-interest and immediate benefits.
Awareness emerges that others also have interests.
💡 e.g. a child helps to tidy their room because Mum has promised them a treat if they do.
2. Conventional Level (Typically in adolescence)
The child understands and wants to behave in ways that maintain the expectations of the ‘group’ (e.g. family, society, country) to which they belong - not merely out of an expected imperative to conform but a personal desire to do so.
Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord and Conformity
Focus on being a “good person” and meeting societal expectations.
Moral reasoning prioritises relationships and social approval.
💡 e.g. a child takes on a sponsored run because his friends will be impressed
Stage 4: Authority and Maintenance of Social-Order Orientation
Emphasis on law and order, duty, and upholding societal rules.
Actions are justified by maintaining a functioning society - serving the greater good.
💡 e.g. a driver doesn’t park on double yellow lines because that might block emergency vehicles.
3. Post-Conventional Level (Achieved by some adults, if at all)
The individual makes a clear effort to define and conform to principles that are valid aside from ‘group’ and aside from the individual’s own identification with the group. Such principles need to be logically comprehensive, univeral and consistent, not merely the vagaries of someone’s thinking in the moment.
Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation
Awareness that rules and laws exist to serve society but can be changed if unjust or need updating (practice changes, thinking moves on, etc.).
Decisions are based on fairness and human rights.
💡 e.g. someone decides to risk arrest at an illegal protest because demonstrating against human rights violations serves a higher cause.
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles
Guided by abstract moral principles like justice, equality and dignity.
Laws are secondary to these overarching principles & exist to serve them.
The idea that moral choices are based on moral principles - and sometimes the principles may cause a person to make choices in service to those principles that supersede convention/laws.
💡 e.g. the selfless, principled actions of people like Rosa Parks (who refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person); Alexei Navalny (challenging systemic corruption in Putin’s Russia) or Harriet Tubman (who smuggled hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad) might be examples of this stage.
It’s worth noting here (and remains a mystery to me if I’m honest!) that although Kohlberg thought stages 1-4 were universal to all people and across cultures and societies, he felt that adults rarely achieve moral development to stages 5 and 6, saying that only around 10-15% of people did. More recent research has suggested that around 20% of people reach the post-conventional level.
Whatever the truth of it, it’s unlikely any of us will know whether we have or will attain stage 6 until our personal circumstances confront us with the kinds of stark choices, the like of which Parks, Navalny and Tubman encountered.
Whatever the truth of it, it’s unlikely any of us will know whether we have or will attain stage 6 until our personal circumstances confront us with the kinds of stark choices, the like of which Parks, Navalny and Tubman encountered.
💡 e.g. recent events around the senseless killings of bystanders/protestors against the work of ICE agents in the U.S. show how suddenly circumstances can change and present moral dilemmas - do I protest this or not; am I prepared to put up with this or not? None of knows how we’ll react till it happens….)
FINAL THOUGHTS
So that’s the theory laid out in all its glory. Like the others we’ve covered already (links below), Kohlberg is staged and sequential, and it assumes a degree (at least) of prepotency at each stage.
But where does that leave us in our efforts to help the kids we work with and care for? In the next post, we’ll look at this a bit more closely to see what Kohlberg has to offer us in our work.
In the meantime, knowing a little about how children might develop this side of their functioning is useful, not least because it helps to shape and bring form to how we see an area of their lives that can easily add to their woes-as they encounter the wrong side of the law, for example-and how we can respond in ways that take account of their relative maturity when it comes to ethics, other-awareness and morality in general.
I hope that’s helpful. See you in the next one!
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More information:
WEB ARTICLE: Read the opening pages of Kohlberg’s ground-breaking doctoral thesis here (link)
PAPER: Moral Development: A Review of the Theory by Kohlberg & Hersch (1977 - link) This one has a useful education focus.
BOOK CHAPTER: Moral Education in the Cognitive Education Tradition: Lawrence Kohlberg’s Revolutionary Ideas (**link** pdf download) - an involved but useful summary of the man, his context and how he worked with and between the ideas of Durkheim & Piaget.
WEB ARTICLE: Summary of Kohlberg’s theory from Simply Psychology (link)
WEB ARTICLE: A more in-depth and detailed pdf of Kohlberg’s theory - again from Simply Psychology (pdf download link)
*PAPER: A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow (1943; see p.371 for reference to ‘prepotency’ - link)
PAPER: Moral Development, Religious Thinking and the Question of a Seventh Stage by Kohlberg & Power - a religious and philosophic take on it al… (1981 - link)
PAPER: Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development and Its Comparison with Ethics from the Perspective of Shia Islam - interesting read this for those who want to dig deeper into the role of religion in moral thinking, esp. the ‘moral nature of man.’ (link)
More in the Theory Bites series:
Theory Bites 1. - Urie Bronfenbrenner: Ecological Systems Theory (link)
Theory Bites 2. - Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Human Needs (link)
Theory Bites 3. - Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Stages of Development (link)
Theory Bites 4. - Sigmund Freud: Psychosexual Stages of Development (link)
Theory Bites 5. - Steven Porges: Polyvagal Theory (link)
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