{"id":966,"date":"2022-11-02T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/lawrence-kohlbergs-moral-development-theory\/"},"modified":"2023-07-07T13:42:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T11:42:16","slug":"lawrence-kohlbergs-moral-development-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.centreforelites.com\/en\/lawrence-kohlbergs-moral-development-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"LAWRENCE KOHLBERG\u2019S MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0Kohlberg built his moral development<\/a> views on Jean Piaget\u2019s work<\/a>. Like Piaget, Kohlberg believed that moral reasoning is a process that is closely linked to cognitive development<\/a>. Kohlberg also used the same methodology as Piaget in the study of moral development<\/a> where he presented his research subjects with stories which had some moral dilemmas. The dilemmas were about the appropriate course of action which was to be taken by the characters in the stories, to be able to uphold morality. The main difference between Kohlberg’s and Piaget\u2019s work is that while Piaget\u2019s work on moral development<\/a> ended in childhood Kohlberg\u2019s moral development<\/a> theory extended from childhood right through to adolescence<\/a> and adulthood.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Heinz\u2019s story is one of the stories with some moral dilemmas Kohlberg presented to 72 boys aged 10, 13 and 16 years in Chicago, USA. A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. The drug that the doctors thought might save her was expensive to make and the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make.  Heinz, the husband to the sick woman after much struggle managed to raise about half the total cost of the drug. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to get the drug on credit, but the druggist resisted. Because Heinz was desperate he broke into the drug store and stole the drug.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the story Kohlberg would ask the following question: Was Heinz right or wrong to steal the drug? Indicate why you think he was right or wrong? Kohlberg in these dilemmas was not really interested in whether the subject says “yes” or “no” to this but in the reasoning behind the answer. Kohlberg, through studying stories with moral dilemmas and their various explanations by the subjects he was able to determine what level of moral development<\/a> the subjects were. This led to the development<\/a> of a model to explain the process of moral development<\/a>. The model identified three levels of moral reasoning, each comprising two stages of moral development<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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