Who Was Lawrence Kohlberg?
Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist who developed one of the most influential theories of moral development in the field of psychology during the 1950s and 1960s. Building on the earlier work of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning develops through a series of six distinct stages, grouped into three broader levels, as individuals mature from childhood into adulthood. His theory remains a foundational framework taught in psychology, education, and ethics courses today.
Level 1: Pre-Conventional Morality
The first level of Kohlberg’s framework, typically associated with young children, is centered on self-interest and the direct consequences of actions rather than any broader understanding of social rules. Stage one, obedience and punishment orientation, involves following rules simply to avoid punishment, without any deeper understanding of why the rule exists. Stage two, self-interest orientation, involves following rules when doing so serves a person’s own interests, often through a simple exchange of favors.
Level 2: Conventional Morality
The second level, which most adolescents and adults reach, centers on maintaining social order and living up to the expectations of others. Stage three, interpersonal accord and conformity, involves acting in ways that gain approval from others and align with social expectations, often described as ‘good boy, good girl’ morality. Stage four, authority and social order maintaining orientation, involves following laws and rules because they are necessary to maintain social order, with an emphasis on duty and respect for authority.
Level 3: Post-Conventional Morality
The final and most advanced level involves reasoning based on abstract ethical principles that may go beyond, or even conflict with, existing laws and social conventions. Stage five, social contract orientation, involves recognizing that laws are social agreements that can be changed if they no longer serve the greater good, balancing individual rights with the needs of society. Stage six, universal ethical principles, involves following self-chosen ethical principles, such as justice and human dignity, even when those principles conflict directly with established laws.
The Heinz Dilemma
Kohlberg developed his stages largely through analyzing responses to moral dilemmas, the most famous of which is known as the Heinz dilemma. In this scenario, a man named Heinz must decide whether to steal an expensive drug he cannot afford in order to save his dying wife. Kohlberg was less interested in whether participants said Heinz should or should not steal the drug, and far more interested in the reasoning behind their answer, since the reasoning itself revealed which stage of moral development a person was operating from.
Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory
While influential, Kohlberg’s theory has faced significant criticism over the decades. Psychologist Carol Gilligan argued that Kohlberg’s framework, developed primarily using male research subjects, undervalued relationship-based and care-oriented moral reasoning more commonly observed in women, proposing an alternative ‘ethics of care’ framework. Other critics have pointed out that the theory may reflect cultural bias toward Western, individualistic notions of justice and rights, and that real-world moral reasoning does not always progress as neatly or predictably through the proposed stages.
Applications in Education and Beyond
Despite its criticisms, Kohlberg’s stages remain widely taught and applied in fields ranging from education to criminal justice to organizational ethics. Educators use the framework to understand how moral reasoning develops in students over time, which can inform how ethical dilemmas, discipline, and character education are approached at different age levels. The theory also continues to influence discussions in fields like business ethics and legal philosophy, where questions about the relationship between law, morality, and personal conscience remain highly relevant.
How the Stages Build on One Another
Kohlberg believed that individuals move through these stages sequentially, with each new stage representing a more sophisticated and abstract form of moral reasoning than the one before it, though not everyone reaches the highest stages. Movement through the stages is thought to be driven by cognitive development and exposure to moral reasoning more advanced than one’s own current stage, which is part of why open discussion of ethical dilemmas is considered a valuable tool in moral education.
Where Most People Stop
According to Kohlberg’s own research, most adolescents and adults settle into stage four, the conventional level focused on maintaining social order, and relatively few individuals consistently reason at the post-conventional level. Reaching stages five or six generally requires not just cognitive maturity but sustained exposure to diverse perspectives and complex ethical challenges, which is part of why post-conventional reasoning is more commonly associated with fields like law, philosophy, and social activism, where questioning existing rules and systems is a routine part of the work.
Comparing Kohlberg to Piaget’s Earlier Work
Kohlberg’s theory built directly on Jean Piaget’s earlier, simpler model of moral development, which described children moving from a stage of strict rule obedience to a more flexible understanding of rules as social agreements. Kohlberg expanded significantly on this foundation, adding much greater nuance and extending the framework into adulthood, since Piaget’s original model focused primarily on childhood moral reasoning rather than the more abstract ethical reasoning capacities that can continue developing well into adult life.