Kohlberg’s 6 Stages of Moral Development

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Published 2019-11-29
Lawrence Kohlberg's theory claims that our development of moral reasoning happens in six stages: 1. Obedience and Punishment, 2. Self-interest 3. Interpersonal Accord and Conformity 4.Authority and maintaining social order, 5.Social Contract, 6.Universal Ethical principles.

Kohlberg claims that we reach one stage after another showing an ever-deeper understanding of moral questions. The stages themselves are structured in three levels: Pre-Conventional, Conventional and Post-Conventional.


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Read the entire script here: docs.google.com/document/d/1SqhBnPM3m1dwfJJW_xo39H…

All Comments (21)
  • @Destiney..
    1- Avoiding Punishment 2- Seeking interest 3- Societal conformity 4- Maintaining the social order 5- Social contract 6- Ethics are paramount, and laws change to serve it.
  • @ShawnRavenfire
    My answer to the question at the end: Breaking the law to save a life is justified, and almost any judge would dismiss the case for extenuating circumstances. But even if that were not the case, if the man could have saved his wife's life, or a complete stranger, it would still be a noble act for him to be willing to go to jail for stealing the drug, putting others' needs above his own. As for the pharmacist, I wouldn't send him to jail either. While I do believe that he has a MORAL obligation to help the man's wife (if not by giving the drug freely or at a reduced price, then at least agreeing to some kind of installment plan), he doesn't have any LEGAL obligation to help her. It's just like if I see someone drowning, I'm morally obligated to do save them, but not legally obligated. It's not the job of the police to force us to be good people, just to prevent us from directly infringing upon each others' freedoms. So for that reason, the pharmacist shouldn't be arrested, but should be held accountable in other ways, such as future customers taking their business elsewhere.
  • I’m 26 , it took me 26 almost 27 years to understand this. As an adolescent child I knew helping others being bullied was right, as a teen I would question every rule my religious conservative family had. Disagree with most agreeing with very little. Now as an adult I understand we are all different and see life through different eyes and experiences , compassion and understanding is the core of justice and to understand your fellow human as a human is what will stop you from inflicting more pain on the world.
  • @tanhan1527
    So Heinz casually forgot about his baked bean and ketchup company?
  • @toekneesee
    At 0:46, Fin's fear of punishment isn't from the teacher; Fin's fear of punishment is from getting his ass kicked by the ninth graders!
  • @Rob46373
    I remember being bullied and not being able to fight back because I was taught violence is bad and didn't want to be punished or didn't want my mother to know me beating up someone :(
  • @derntootin5107
    sometimes you have to do the wrong thing for the right reasons and apologise afterwards. help those that cannot help themselves.
  • My kid's psychologist told me my daughter's sense of conscience was more fully developed than my ex's. This is super interesting.
  • @matthewleitch1
    In response to the moral dilemma at the end, I would suggest trying another pharmacy. UPDATE Many people have pointed out that the dilemma said the drug was not available elsewhere. I missed that at first. However, that is because the dilemma is now completely implausible and unrealistic. Drug stores do not make unique pharmaceuticals. I thought of other bizarre aspects of the scenario too. It is not usable today. Perhaps more important, this experience underlines how far we usually go to avoid getting boxed into dilemmas like this.
  • The husband is legally unjustified but morally justified. He committed the act of theft but rescued his dying wife. The pharmacist is the opposite; he is legally justified and morally unjustified. He cannot be forced to sell his product cheaper, but he could’ve set up a payment plan to make it affordable. I feel like the best solution is to have the government negotiate drug prices to make it affordable. No single individual can change anything, but collectively our voices for better healthcare will be heard. ⚕️My stage is 5: Social Contract. The laws should be enforced, but I understand laws can be poorly designed. Getting politically involved and advocating your rights is the best pathway forward.
  • @Leoshti
    Pov: your psychology teacher is making u watch this
  • @lornenoland8098
    The first scenario of the children fighting occurred when I was in 3rd grade. Two larger kids were viciously beating a smaller one, lying on the ground bloodied and screaming. I was horrified and wanted to stop the attack. The large crowd of other kids, however, were cheering and encouraging the attackers, like some kind of mob excited with blood lust. Where would their behavior fall on this spectrum? I felt helpless to do anything, and being a child could think of nothing, so I moved along home and told my mom. We got in the car and drove back by where it had happened, but it was all over by then. I learned everything I ever needed to know about human nature on that day.
  • @johnoleary1715
    It's a rule-of-law test. The scenario (at the end of the video, btw) provides a set moral questions that suggest (imply, whatever) that a system of rules cannot always provide a moral (principled, whatever) outcome to every interpersonal conflict in a society, which is true (btw). The answer you give to these questions is going to reflect your personal values. Obviously, you (or, any given person) want to respect the law. However, if the rules of law, which is simple system of rules trying to resolve a complex set of circumstances that occur in your (or, any given) society, fail to provide a moral or principled outcome in a given scenario, the correct thing to do is reevaluate the law, or the application of the law, and make corrections or realignments so that the desired outcome occurs. Of course, not everyone will have the same desired outcome. So, if a person ranks their principals so that the preservation of life supersedes the protection of property (perhaps in every situation, but not necessarily), they'll find a way to justify taking the drug away from the pharmacist (by whatever means) and saving Mrs. Heinz (who should have a enough money to buy the drug in the first place because they sure seem to sell a lot of ketchup, but whatever). Regardless of how you answer these questions, if the answers you give result in the preservation of life over property, then you obviously value life over property (or the concept of personal property). Which, I suppose, is the point of the questions. You can make more of a drug, and you can resolve a personal property dispute after the fact with some sort of just outcome, but you cannot restore a life lost to decision based on a set of rules that fail to resolve a complex scenario unforeseen by the author(s) of the rules. If you don't have confidence in the answers you give these questions (which I expect is pretty common), it's probably because you are having a hard time resolving the conflict between your principals; respect for an individual's choice of how they conduct their business and deal with their property (the pharmacist), or the preservation of one person's life over the liberty of another's. Some would find this an easy choice, and some would not. Also, the amount of time you have to think about your answers and/or your values may matter. So, if you read this far, maybe you want my answer. I have to assume that Mrs. Heinz (or whoever) has a fixed amount of time to live and that immediate action is the only way to save her (or them: I think they made that clear in the video, but a time constraint is an important condition that has to be true, so I want to state my assumption here). Also, I'm assuming the pharmacist actually made the drug and is not just selling someone else's product. This matters to the question of the pharmacist's actions and responsibilities. The answer (based on my values) is to steal the drug, save the wife (or even a stranger), turn myself (Mr. Heinz) in to the authorities, and deal the consequences, which include paying for the drug after the fact. In case you're thinking it, yes, I'm aware that someone, somewhere, is probably dying of a treatable medical condition right now. The context of this story is what I'm talking about here, so, no, I'm not going to go hunt for a situation so I can rob a pharmacist and save someone's life. I'm just responding to the situation given, and, yes, I'm going to have a different answer for a different situation. Whatever choice I make in any given situation is personal and does not act as a baseline for my opinion of what others choose to do (the pharmacist, for instance). That said, it's absurd (and immoral) to withhold a replicable drug in a situation where a life can be saved and compensation can be resolved later. But, as we all know, this does happen. If I were the pharmacist, I would probably have a different business model that wouldn't result in the situation given. I'd probably not be in business for very long either. However, I do not believe the pharmacist in the above scenario is a murderer for withholding a drug that he can make but demands compensation for. Regardless of how you change the scenario, I'm going to put the value of life over the certain liberties of an individual because that's how I rank my values. Different scenarios will yield different variations on the same theme or outcome, but my values will always place the the right of an individual in immediate peril to live or survive over the right of another individual to retain or acquire wealth at the expense of another. So, it doesn't matter how you change the scenario, how I change my answer will be based on these values. tl;dr: of course I'd steal the drug, it wouldn't matter if I loved my wife, It wouldn't matter if it was a stranger, and I don't think the pharmacist should be charged with murder.
  • This is the first time I've heard about these stages of moral development and the Heinz Dilemma. As I was watching the video I noticed that I was repulsed by the pharmacist's unwillingness to help the Heinz's dying wife. Heinz breaking into the pharmacy to steal the drug to save his wife was admirable. I think his actions were justified considering he was saving his wife's life. I also think the situation changes depending on whether the sick person was his wife or a stranger, though it shouldn't really. I think that a life is a life and how do we measure the value of a life compared to that of another? Here's a question, though: how would the situation change if the wife's condition was such that giving her the drug would save her life but only prolong her pain and suffering? Then, perhaps, the pharmacist wouldn't be such a bad guy in the story. Do I think pharmacists should be arrested for selling life-saving drugs at 10x the manufacturing price? Hell yes.
  • @walter3934
    Two things I want to add. One, to be careful of pit traps. Someone at moral development stage 1 and someone at moral development stage 3 shows the same reaction to what happened. It's good to carefully think things through. Two, it seems that the more morally developed someone is, the less they seem to respect the rules. Disobedience to rules does not immediately indicate moral development. Rules are needed as a vague guideline. A sign of moral development is how you could consider every factor without bias to concoct a solution that fits the situation. Basically not every solution fits every problem and never think that if you seem like the most morally developed person, no other opinion should be heard except yours.
  • This is one of the most informative and knowledgeable youtube channel that I have watched
  • @PrettyBrownNeek
    Good thing I found this video! Someone shared their notes and it only included the levels, not the stages! Great breakdown and resource ❤
  • @JLHMahal
    Our morals develop all throughout our lifetime. True that the stages especially the last one may not always be completed. Most of the time too, we find ourselves going back and forth through the stages. It's the sign that we have not really firmly grasp the stages that we must have completed and the element of Choice and Values would always come into play. 😇🤓🤩 Thank you for sharing.😇😁🤓