Running of interpersonal cooperation and stage four, the

Running head: KOHLBERG’S MORAL STAGE THEORY                                               2 Kohlberg’s MoralStage Theory        Lawrence Kohlberg was a developmentaltheorist of the mid-twentieth century who carried on the work of Jean Piagetand is best known for his detailed and specific theory of children’s moraldevelopment.  According to LawrenceKohlberg there are three levels of moral reasoning that include two stageswithin each level.

The Pre-Conventional Level, the Conventional Level, and thePost-Conventional or Principled Level are the main stages according to Kohlberg. Each of these levels is then further sub-divided into two stages to make atotal of six stages (Crain, 1985).     Stage One of The Pre-Conventional Levelincludes the punishment and obedience orientation.

Stage Two is theinstrumental purpose orientation. The Conventional Level includes Stage Three, the morality of interpersonal cooperation and Stage Four, thesocial-order-maintaining orientation. The Post-Conventional Level includes StageFive, the social-contract orientation and Stage Six, the universal ethicalprinciple orientation.      According to Kohlberg’s theory, moraldevelopment proceeds gradually from one stage to the next, in an ordered andpredictable sequence. Although Kohlberg recognizes each child progressesthrough these stages at different rates, and acknowledges that some youth maynever reach the highest stages, his theory does not account for regression backto former, previously mastered stages as do some other developmental theorists.  Kohlberg believed that most youth reach themid-level of moral reasoning at the Conventional Level.  At this stage, an individual performsconventionally determined good behavior to be considered a good person.

They are concerned not just withinterpersonal relationships but also with the rules set down by society.  The law becomes all-important (Pollock, 2017).  This stage includes respect for fixed rules, laws  Running head:  KOHLBERG’S MORAL STAGE THEORY                                               3 andproperly constituted authority. In this stage, there is a completeunderstanding of that a wrongdoer be punished and should pay his debt tosociety while law abiding citizens should be rewarded.

Authority figures areseldom questioned and highly respected.  Thisis the highest stage that most adults will attain.   Youth, at this stage, believe their moraldecisions will be based on whether or not their decisions would win theapproval of those people whose opinions matter to them.  An example of this might be when a teen ishanging out with friends and they offer him an illegal drug to experiment.

If the teen had reached this stage, he/shewould be thinking about the many discussions he/she has had with his parentsabout the use of illegal drugs and how addicting and destructive they canbe.  This thought process will likelydissuade the teen from accepting the drugs from his friend.  According to Elizabeth Vozzola, “ moral education derived in part from Kohlberg’s workand his development of a school program called the “ just community,” wherestudents increased their moral reasoning through democratic participation inthe running of the school” (Vozzola E., 2015).    For the most part, I agree with Kohlberg’s moral stages.

If lacking anything, I would like to see moreof the morality and reasoning aspects included in his studies.  I also believe that everyone matures atdifferent levels and have personally known people that may have skipped throughsome of these stages.  Additionally, aswith any analysis, your experimental pool will vary from group to group, including different genders and cultural backgrounds.  For me, I like to think that I am Stage 4 ofLevel 2, wherein most, fully mature adults land.  It would be interesting to me to see researchconducted on criminal behavior and how various groups of  Running head:  KOHLBERG’S MORAL STAGE THEORY                                          4criminalstransitioned through the stages.