Moral Developlment

Moral Development vs Ethics
This post is in part a reply to (inspired by) the post entitled “Normal Development.”
Moral development has been a popular topic in psychology beginning with the works of Jean Piaget. I am more interested in Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg followed Piaget’s model claiming that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime (Kholberg 1958.
For a good example of how moral development is a lifelong process, I examine myself. I came to the realization a few years ago that I had an unconventional upbringing and may not have developed the same ideas of what are socially acceptable ethical principals as the majority of the American population. My future career is one in which ethical principals must be followed to avoid law suits. For this reason I took a class called “Health care Ethics and Regulations.” Here I learned that ethics and personal moral codes are often in conflict. For example: In the case of homosexuality, many believe it is morally wrong, yet some of the same people also believe it is unethical to discriminate legally against a group of people by disallowing them the same rights afforded heterosexuals. It is my opinion that Kohlberg does not recognize a distinction between moral judgment and ethical justice.
Kohlberg's six stages follow Piaget's constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, using the principal that it is extremely rare to regress backward in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities. In other words stages cannot be skipped; “each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.” (Walker, 1989)
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
(How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation
(What's in it for me?)
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(Social norms)
(The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles
(Principled conscience)


The 3 Major Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development:
• Does moral reasoning necessarily lead to moral behavior? Kohlberg's theory is concerned with moral thinking, but there is a big difference between knowing what we ought to do versus our actual actions.
• Is justice the only aspect of moral reasoning we should consider? Critics have pointed out that Kohlberg's theory of moral development overemphasizes the concept as justice when making moral choices. Factors such as compassion, caring and other interpersonal feelings may play an important part in moral reasoning.
• Does Kohlberg's theory overemphasize Western philosophy? Individualistic cultures emphasize personal rights while collectivist cultures stress the importance of society and community. Eastern cultures may have different moral outlooks that Kohlberg's theory does not account for.


Refrence sites

http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/overview.html

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3960446079037918273

Kohlberg, Lawrence (1958). "The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16". Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Chicago.h justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime


Walker, Lawrence, J. (February 1989). "A longitudinal study of moral reasoning". Child Development (Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 1) 60 (1): 157–166