Critical Review of the Moral, Cognitive, Social and...

KOHLBERGS SIX STAGES Level 1. Preconventional Morality Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. Kohlbergs stage 1 is similar to Piagets first stage of moral thought. The child assumes that powerful authorities hand down a fixed set of rules which he or she must unquestioningly obey. To the Heinz dilemma, the child typically says that Heinz was wrong to steal the drug because Its against the law, or Its bad to steal, as if this were all there were to it. When asked to elaborate, the child usually responds in terms of the consequences involved, explaining that stealing is bad because youll get punished (Kohlberg, 1958b). Although the vast majority of children at stage 1 oppose Heinz’s theft, it is still possible for a child†¦show more content†¦36-42; Kohlberg, 1958b). If Heinz’s motives were good, the druggists were bad. The druggist, stage 3 subjects emphasize, was selfish, greedy, and only interested in himself, not another life. Sometimes the respondents become so angry with the druggist that they say that he ought to be put in jail (Gibbs et al., 1983, pp. 26-29, 40-42). A typical stage 3 response is that of Don, age 13: It was really the druggists fault, he was unfair, trying to overcharge and letting someone die. Heinz loved his wife and wanted to save her. I think anyone would. I dont think they would put him in jail. The judge would look at all sides, and see that the druggist was charging too much. (Kohlberg, 1963, p. 25) We see that Don defines the issue in terms of the actors character traits and motives. He talks about the loving husband, the unfair druggist, and the understanding judge. His answer deserves the label conventional morality because it assumes that the attitude expressed would be shared by the entire community—anyone would be right to do what Heinz did (Kohlberg, 1963, p. 25). As mentioned earlier, there are similarities between Kohlbergs first three stages and Piagets two stages. In both sequences there is a shift from unquestioning obedience to a relativistic outlook and to a concern for good motives. For Kohlberg, however, these shifts occur in three stages rather than two. Stage 4. Maintaining the Social Order.