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The Theory of Moral Development is subject that stemmed from Jean Piagets theory

of moral reasoning. Developed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, this theory


made us understand that morality starts from the early childhood years and can be
affected by several factors. Morality can be developed either negatively or
positively, depending on how an individual accomplishes the tasks before him
during each stage of moral development across his lifespan.
Kohlbergs ideas to develop this theory started from a research he performed with
young children as his subjects. After the research he found out that children are
faced with different moral issues, and their judgments on whether they are to act
positively or negatively over each dilemma are heavily influenced by several
factors. In each scenario that Kohlberg related to the children, he was not really
asking whether or not the person in the situation is morally right or wrong, but he
wanted to find out the reasons why these children think that the character is
morally right or not.
Levels and Stages of Moral Development
Preconvention Morality. The first level of morality of which he divided into two
stages i.e. obedience and punishment, and individualism and exchange. In the
Punishment- Obedience Orientation he related it to Skinners Operational
Conditioning, this stage includes the use of punishment so that the person refrains
from doing the action and continues to obey the rules. For example, we follow the
law because we do not want to go to jail. Individualism and Exchange, were in this
stage, children recognize that there is not just one right view that is handed down
by the authorities. Different individuals have different viewpoints.
Instrumental Relativist Orientation In this stage, the person is said to judge the
morality of an action based on how it satisfies the individual needs of the doer. For
instance, a person steals money from another person because he needs that money
to buy food for his hungry children. In Kohlbergs theory, the children tend to say
that this action is morally right because of the serious need of the doer.
Conventional Morality. The second level of morality which includes the society
and societal roles in judging the morality of an action. For instance, the society
comes up with the Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation were In this stage, a person
judges an action based on the societal roles and social expectations before him.
This is also known as the interpersonal relationships phase. For example, a child
gives away her lunch to a street peasant because she thinks doing so means being
nice.
Conventional molarity also includes Law and Order Orientation. In this stage, it
includes respecting the authorities and following the rules, as well as doing a
persons duty. The society is the main consideration of a person at this stage. For
instance, a policeman refuses the money offered to him under the table and arrests
the offender because he believes this is his duty as an officer of peace and order.
Post conventional Morality. The post-conventional morality is mainly concerned
with the universal principles that relation to the action done. This stage includes:
social contract orientation as well as universal ethical principles orientation. Social
Contract Orientation it looks a person at various opinions and values of different
people before coming up with the decision on the morality of the action. Universal
Ethical Principles Orientation it deals with moral reasoning, this orientation is when
a person considers universally accepted ethical principles. The judgment may
become innate and may even violate the laws and rules as the person becomes
attached to his own principles of justice.
Theoretical assumptions
Kohlberg's stages of moral development are based on the assumption that humans
are inherently communicative, capable of reason, and possess a desire to
understand others and the world around them. The stages of this model relate to
the qualitative moral reasonings adopted by individuals, and so do not translate
directly into praise or blame of any individual's actions or character. Arguing that his
theory measures moral reasoning and not particular moral conclusions, Kohlberg
insists that the form and structure of moral arguments is independent of the content
of those arguments, a position he calls "formalism"
Kohlberg's theory centers on the notion that justice is the essential characteristic of
moral reasoning. Justice itself relies heavily upon the notion of sound reasoning
based on principles. Despite being a justice-centered theory of morality, Kohlberg
considered it to be compatible with plausible formulations of deontology
and eudemonia. Kohlberg's theory understands values as a critical component of
the right. Whatever the right is, for Kohlberg, it must be universally valid across
societies (a position known as "moral universalism"):[7] there can be no relativism.
Moreover, morals are not natural features of the world; they are prescriptive.
Nevertheless, moral judgments can be evaluated in logical terms of truth and falsity.

According to Kohlberg: someone progressing to a higher stage of moral reasoning


cannot skip stages. For example, an individual cannot jump from being concerned
mostly with peer judgments (stage three) to being a proponent of social contracts
(stage five).[15] On encountering a moral dilemma and finding their current level of
moral reasoning unsatisfactory, however, an individual will look to the next level.
Realizing the limitations of the current stage of thinking is the driving force behind
moral development, as each progressive stage is more adequate than the last.[15]
The process is therefore considered to be constructive, as it is initiated by the
conscious construction of the individual, and is not in any meaningful sense a
component of the individual's innate dispositions, or a result of past inductions.

Application
on: Well, in the John Dewey sense, it means that we need to deliberately promote
more adequate moral reasoning through the process of schooling. Some research
indi- cates that if there is not a certain percentage of post-conventional reasoning
present bythe time a pupil leaves high school, it is un- likely that growth toward
stage 5 and 6 rea- soning will take hold after this time. Less than a third of adults
appear to develop post-con- ventional forms of moral reasoning. Today, educational
researchers have preliminary evidence that it is possible to promote struc- tural
change in moral judgment through di- rect instructional methods. This could have
tremendous significance for the extension of rights and responsibilities among
persons in the next generation.
Elements: Issues of fairness, reciprocity, and of equal sharing are always
presenschool community. These issues often in- volve genuine moral conflicts that
affect classroom members or even the school as a whole. Much of the current moral
develop- ment research has been done using class- room discussions to stimulate
cognitive con- flict. The teacher, using moral dilemma ex- amples drawn from
history, literature, sci- ence, family studies, or possibly the class- room interaction
itself: -helps the students recognize genuine moral dilemmas confronting them and
the specific issues of competing rights and responsibilities involved; -facilitates
explorations of alternative solu- tions of justice; -encourages examination of the
alternatives to make a decision on the best resolution
such that fairness is extended in the most adequate way. Thus, by providing an
environment forex- amining conflict in ways which encourage students to take the
perspective of others, the teacher encourages the "stretching and searching
process" which seems necessary for cognitive restructuring to occur
the relationship between rea- soning and behavior on moral issues has some sound
theoretical bridges, but has not yet been satisfactorily researched. Dr. Kohl- berg
stresses that principled moral judgement is a necessary but not a sufficient
condition for principled moral action to occur. Other variables, such as ego strength
and emotion, come into the picture. However, some studies do indicate that persons
at a pre-conven- tional level are more apt to act in a self-serv- ing way, and persons
at a post-conventional level of moral judgment are more likely to act in a pro-social
way. If wewantto bridge moral reasoning to action through education in our schools,
it seems certain we will need to make our schools more moral institutions. Schools
are usually maintained at a punishment/ obedience or a law-and-order level of
moral- ity. If we want our students to have experi- ence using principled ways of
settling inter- personal issues we educators must move out of the power orientation.
Dr. Kohlberg's de- velopment and research of a just community school model in
Cambridge offers a promis- ing direction for examining this reasoning to behavior
issue because he involves students in responsible action in making the rules of the
school.

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