MORAL

DEVELOPMENT

HED 510
Presentation - Week 4
 KOHLBERG’S THEORY
Three Citeria for Framing Kohlberg’s Stage Theory
• Structure Criterion: Individuals exhibit a similar reasoning pattern regardless of the content or situation.
• Sequence Criterion: Indicates that stages appear in a specific order, regardless of setting or experience.
⚬ Not all individuals advance through all stages, nor will they move through stages at the same rate.
⚬ The Sequence stage is fixed.
• Hierarchy Criterion: Each successive stage is more highly developed than the previous one because it incorporates aspects
of all earlier stages.
⚬ Individuals understand and use all stages of thinking below the stage at which they are currently functioning, but never
at higher stages.

Prerequisites for Moral Stage Conditions Facilitating Moral Stage Kohlberg’s Stages for Moral
Development Development Reasoning
• The ability to understand another person’s • Two Factors: exposure to higher stage thinking • Six-stage sequence grouped into three levels. Each
perspective. and disequilibrium. level is two stages and represents relationships
• Mediates between cognitive and moral • Disequilibrium or cognitive conflict occurs between the self & society’s rules & expectations.
development. when individuals are faced with situations that • Level I- Preconventional: Individual focused and
• Cognitive structures & Perspective are not contradict their moral reasoning or when the not understanding social rules & expectations.
sufficient for moral development. reasoning is different. • Level II- Conventional: "Member of Society.”
• Growth in both cognitive & social • Exposure to conflict, in both opinions and Individuals identify with societal rules and
perspective= a state of readiness. reasoning, also leads to moral development. expectations.
• Level III: Postconventional or Principal: “Prior to
Society.” Individuals separate from rules and
expectations and base their decisions on self-chosen
principles.
 THE SIX STAGE SEQUENCE OF KOHLBERG’S
STAGES OF MORAL REASONING
01 - Heteronomous Morality 02 - Individualistic Instrumental 03 - Interpersonally Normative
Morality Morality
• Preconventional Level. • Second Stage of Preconventional Level. • Conventional Level.
• Obey rules, avoid punishment, & • Follows the rules if it is in their best • Right is defined as meeting the expectations
refrain from harming others & their interest. of someone close.
property. • Understands that others have their own • Concerns centers on their image and
• Justify actions based on avoidance needs that may conflict with theirs. gaining others approval.
of punishment & power of • Right is defined by what is fair, an equal • Shared feelings, agreements, and
authority. exchange, or agreement. expectations take precedence over
• They do not consider the rights or • Ensures self-satisfaction while minimizing individual interests.
concerns of others. possible negative consequences. • Generalized social system perspective does
not yet exist.

04 - Social System Morality 05 - Human Rights and Social 06 - Morality of Universalizable,

Welfare Morality Reversible, and Prescriptive General
Ethical Principles
• Second Conventional Stage • First Principled Stage. • Second Principled Stage.
• Social System are a consistent set of • Laws and social systems are evaluated • Morality involves equal consideration
rules and procedures applied equally. based on promoting fundamental human of all points of view of those involved
• Right is upholding the laws rights and values. in a moral situation.
established by society and carrying • Social system is a contract freely entered • Decisions are based on universal
out duties agreed upon. into to protect members rights and welfare generalized principles.
• Maintains the system and fulfills for all. • The process by which a contract is
societal obligations. • Moral obligations and social relationships made, it is also equally important to
are based on the ability to agree and depend view the fairness of the procedures
on agreements. underlying the agreement.
 REST’S NEO-KOHLBERGIAN APPROACH
Developed an objective measure of moral development, the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Borrowed from Kohlberg’s Moral
Development Stages, Rest examined two elements in a person’s thinking, expectations and rules, and how interests are
balanced. Below are central concepts for determining moral rights and responsibilities.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Obedience Instrumental Egoism & Simple Exchange Let’s Interpersonal Concordance
Do what you are told. make a deal. Be considerate, nice, and kind, and you will get
along with other people.

Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

Law & Duty to the Social Order Societal Consensus Non-Arbitrary Social Cooperation
Everyone in society is obligated and protected You are obligated by whatever arrangements How rational and impartial people would
by the law. are agreed to by due process procedures. organize cooperation is “moral.”

Assumptions Underlying Rest’s Theory

First Second Third
• Questioned whether content & • More complex alternative. • Rejected the step-by-step
structure can be separated in moral • Consider the percentage of an development.
reasoning. individual's reasoning rather than • Envisioned development as a
• Type of consideration individuals what stage they are in. shifting distribution.
use when making a decision. • Believes a person can have • Referred to the development
• Schemas around institutions and movement in several stages at the process as schemas, soft more
role systems in society. same time. permeable stages and not hard.
 REST’S SCHEMAS
Personal Interest Schema Maintaining Norms Postconventional Schema
Schema
• Derived from Kohlberg’s • Derived from Kohlberg’s Stage 4. • Derived from Kohlberg’s Stages
Stages 2 & 3. • Envisions Societal Collaboration. 5 and 6.
• Develops in childhood. • Common elements: • Places Moral obligation on
• Individuals consider what each ⚬ Desire for generally accepted communal values.
stakeholder has to gain or lose. norms to govern a collective. • More advanced in a normative
• What is morally right, the ⚬ Norms apply to all who live in a ethical sense.
investment an individual holds society. • Four elements critical to the
in consequences of actions. ⚬ A need for clear, uniform, and Postconventional Schema:
• Overall, focuses on the self and categorical norms or rule of law. ⚬ Primacy of moral criteria
recognizes some awareness of ⚬ Reciprocal; if I obey the law, ⚬ Appeal to an ideal
the other in making moral others will too. ⚬ Shareable values
decisions. ⚬ Establishes a hierarchical rule of ⚬ Full reciprocity
order, chain of command, • Leading indicator of students’
authority, and duty. development in college.
⚬ Respect for authority is not derived
from personal attributes, but from
respect for society.
 RESEARCH ON
MORAL STAGE DEVELOPMENT
The Impact of Educational
Interventions
Factors Related to the Development of Specific interventions designed to foster moral Cultural and Religious Differences
Moral Judgement reasoning seem to have some impact on
principled thinking, particularly those
emphasizing discussion of moral dilemmas or Research findings related to cultural and
Becoming more aware of the world in general overall psychological development (Rest,
and one’s place in it does more to foster moral religious differences in moral development
1986b). However this maybe be conditional as are mixed. Values and principles upon which
development. College may foster moral an intervention that might work for one student
development by providing a variety of social, individuals base moral judgments vary in
my not work for another. different cultures and contexts. Good and
intellectual, and cultural experiences. An
example would be students living on campus as Cartwright (1998) found no relationship
it provides exposure to divergent ideas and between moral development
interactions with roommates are conditions that and religious orthodoxy, intense religious
promote moral development. College Students training, or passionate religious
devotion among students enrolled in state
Findings for first-year students’ moral stage and Christian universities.
development include pedagogy, diversity, and
institutional type. Other variables that may
influence the development of moral reasoning
in college include educational level, age, and
academic major (King & Mayhew, 2005).
 GILLIGAN’S THEORY OF WOMEN’S
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
In the 1900's human development theorists, did not include women in psychological studies and
would in fact portray women as deviants. In 1982, Carol Gilligan published, In a Different Voice,
which she presented research findings about women’s moral development. Gilligan spent 30 years
studying girls and their relationships, and her research has changed views on moral development.
Gilligan proposed that women’s moral development proceeds through a sequence of three levels
which identifies a more intricate relationship between self and others; and two transition periods
that represents the achievement of a more sophisticated understanding between selfishness and
responsibility.
 GILLIGAN’S THEORY:
IN A DIFFERENT VOICE

Level I Level II Level III

Orientation to Goodness as Self- The Morality of
Individual Survival Sacrifice Nonviolence
An individual is self-centered, An individual moves from a self-centered, Moral mandate to avoid hurt, to the
preoccupied with survival, and unable to independent view of the world to one of richer overriding principle that governs moral
distinguish between necessity and desire. engagement with and reliance on others, judgment and action. Selfishness and
The goal at this level is to fulfill survival is predicated on social acceptance. responsibility disappears and
individual desires and needs for the reconciliation opens the door for the
purpose of preserving the self. Second Transition: From Goodness to Truth individual to recognize
Individuals examine their own needs to her power to select among competing
First Transition: From Selfishness to determine if they can be included within the choices and keep her needs within the
Responsibility realm of responsibility. Individuals view mix of moral alternatives.
The conflict between necessity and desire examination of their own needs as truth, not
is clear, giving the individual more selfishness.
choices for moral judgment.
 RESEARCH ON GILLIGAN’S
THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Gender Differences Cultural Differences Between Care Gilligan’s Theory Applied to
and Justice Orientations Student Affairs
In an analysis of research on gender and A study of Gilligan’s ethic of care in students Gilligan’s ideas concerning ethics of care and justice have
morality, no support for the notion that found no gender-related differences, but there been applied to college counseling, residence life, career
Kohlberg’s model down scores the reasoning of were differences between countries. Other planning, service learning and leadership development.
women and those with a care orientation. research reported gender differences in moral Gilligan’s theory in the contexts of community
Gilligan’s qualitative methods results reveal orientation and found differences recognizable development, policy enforcement, conflict management,
how different voices (that is, care and justice) across cultures and team building.
reflect moral life.
Reframing Gilligan’s Ethic of Care Analyzing Qualitative Data: Measuring Care-Based Moral
Gilligan’s Listening Guide Development
In 1970s, Gilligan shifted the conversation Collected and analyzed the psychological data Ethic of Care Interview (ECI) to measure care-
about moral development, from self and for her research on women throughout 30 years based moral development. ECI measures five
morality to voice and relationships. of her research. She explored individual’s stages of care-based moral thought, which move
“Care is a feminist, not a “feminine” ethic, and interchange of their inner and outer worlds with from self-concern, to questioning self-concern
feminism, guided by an ethic of care, is how ones voice interplays with voices of other. as a singular criterion, to primary concern for
arguably the most radical, in the sense of going Listening Guide questions include “Who is others, to questioning a single criterion of
to the roots, liberation movement in human speaking and to whom? In what body or concern for
history. Released from the gender binary and physical space?” others, to a balance of concern for self and
hierarchy, feminism is neither a women’s issue others.
nor a battle between women and men. It is the
movement to free democracy from patriarchy.”
(p. 101) Gilligan (2014)
HOW DID KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT INFLUENCE FOWLER’S THEORY OF
FAITH DEVELOPMENT?
Epistemological Focus
• Served as a model for understanding faith as a way of knowing and interpreting
• Fowler widened the scope of knowing to account for the interrelatedness between modes of knowing in faith

Structuring of Knowing
• Enabled Fowler to find and describe structural features of faith and allow for comparison across a wide range of differing
variables

Structural Stages
• Fowler’s theory has 6 stages that are similar to Kohlberg’s in that they are meant to be moved through in order, each one
building on the previous stage.

Interactional Process
• Fowler states that growth and development in faith is a result of life challenges which is similar to Kohlberg’s theory
which shows a relationship to structural development and environmental challenges

Philosophical Psychologies
• Fowler believes, just as Kohlberg, that the there are more developed structural or faith stages that make it possible to
understand things more clearly
 THE SOCIAL NETWORK
ZUCKERBERG VS. EDUARDO

At what stage were each of the characters involved in the conflict?

Eduardo | 04 - Social System Morality Second Conventional Stage | He upheld the laws by funding Facebook and carried out duties agreed upon as
well as maintained the system and fulfilled societal obligations which included a business model.
Zuckerberg | 02 - Individualistic Instrumental Morality | He ensured self-satisfaction while minimizing possible negative consequences. An example,
when he called Eduardo to come to California to celebrate 1 million subscribers but in reality he planned to dilute Eduardo’s ownership share
to .03%. Zuckerberg response to Eduardo being upset was “Sign the papers.”

How might a higher education administrator have applied any of the theories of Moral Development to assist the
characters in navigating the moral conflict?
In this case, Eduardo and Zukerberg did not engage in any conflict that interfered with academics. However, if the situation would arise as it did with
the twins, higher education administrators could refer them to the Harvard College Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct Office, using
the Conditions Facilitating Moral Stage Development. Which facilitates exposure to conflict for both parties to voice their opinions and reasoning,
leading to moral development and conflict resolution.

Identify a developmental goal for Eduardo and a goal Zuckerberg.

Eduardo | A realistic goal of stage 6. As an example, he could enter into contract negotiations with more of a business contractual lens, rather than
assuming he would be covered under the same contractual agreement as his friend.
Zuckerberg | A goal of stage 6 would be ideal, but to be more realistic stage 4 would a step in the right direction of him upholding contractual
obligations for all stakeholders rather than an individualistic approach.
THANK YOU
Presented by Suzanne Ortega, Karen Torres, & Stella Rocha
California Baptist University