Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral
Development Theory
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory explains how and why people act morally. They are placed into six stages with three broad categories and two sub categories. The process of determining which stage the person is placed into is by asking the individual their response to a complex dilemmas. The way the person reasons through this problem will place them into a category. The second category is the Conventional Reasoning stage for people who have believes coming from family, religion, or society. The first subcategory is the thoughts of being a good guy and following the rules of how people should act. The second subcategory is the social system morality which follows law and order.The last category is the Post Conventional stage. Only five to ten percent of people are able to fully internalize their moral values which places them in this category. Social contract is the first subcategory for individuals who are able to decide if laws are should or should not be followed. The universal ethical principles is the second subcategory for people who reason with the idea that no one is perfect and human life should be reserved(KOHLBERG'S). Once placed in one of these categories people can move in order through them. Knowing how an individual reasons can be useful to predict how they will act in certain situations. (5.6) Below is a visual representation of Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory.