LEARNING PACKET 2-LESSON 3

THE STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME:

 Describe each stage of moral development.
 Evaluate one’s personal growth against the stages of personal development.

INTRODUCTION:
If a human person has developed a moral character, the facility to act morally and ethically is in
his/her hands. What are the stages of moral development that the human person as a moral agent
undergoes? These are the main points this lesson focuses on.

ACTIVITY:
1. Answer the following question:
What makes you attend to your classes in school every day? Check which apply/applies
to you.
_____ Teachers tell me so. (school policy)
_____ I am afraid to be dropped from my subjects and/or fail.
_____ To show to my parents and teachers that I am a good student.
_____ I promised my promised my parents never to be absent.
_____ It is the right thing to do; school rules say so.
_____ I want to be a professional-career person someday.

2. Share your answers with your group.

ANALYSIS:
1. Among the reasons given above, agree among each of your group members the best
reason/s for your attendance in school every day, and why?
2. What are the very adequate reasons? And “what are not those with very adequate
reasons?”

ABSTRACTION:
As previously explained, the moral agent, the human person, is a being capable of acting,” with
reference to right and wrong,” that is, one who is capable of being moral, having him a moral
character.
Social psychologists look at the moral agent as he is, where he is, in the society where he lives.
From birth, he/she is cared, nurtured and influenced by the world around him/her. He/ she grew
up in a family, develops a society, and thus he/she is exposed to all the do’s and don’ts of his/her
family and his/her society. His/her moral life, his/her norms and moral standards, are shaped by
the prevalent cultural influences. In other words, as disclosed and unveiled as he/she is, the moral
agent undergoes development.
Moral development refers to the “process through which a human person gains his/her beliefs,
skills and dispositions that make him/her a morally mature person. William A. Kay (1970) has
the following to say regarding the nature of moral development.
….. just as the pattern of intellectual growth can be simply described as being through stages of
animal behavior, pre-logical thinking, thought governed by empirical logic, and finally by formal
logic, so morality can be described as passing through stages of behavior controlled first, by
taboo: then second, by law; third by conscience (i.e., irrational, intrajected values); fourth, by
reciprocity; fifth, by social consensus and finally by personal moral principles, though not
necessarily in that order.
Stated differently, the five stages may be reduced to three as follows:
 The moral stage—egocentric, hedonist and prudential considerations.
 The pre-moral stage—authoritarian, ego-idealist, social and reciprocal considerations.
 The moral stage personal, autonomous, altruistic, national, independent and responsible
considerations.
Let analyze your answers in the Activity phase of this lesson. If your reasons why you go to
school are— “I am afraid to be dropped and fail” and “to show to my parents that I am a good
student” you are in the a-moral’s ego-idealist stage.
If you go to school every day because “I promised to my parents I will never be absent” that is
William Kay’s pre-moral stage (social and reciprocal consideration) if your reason is “it is the
right thing to do,” you have reached Kay’s moral stage — personal, autonomous, rational,
independent and rational considerations.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Moral development refers to the “process through which a human person gains his/her beliefs,
skills and dispositions that makes him/her a morally mature person”. Kohlberg (2013) describes
the stages of moral development in three (3) stages, namely:
Level 1—Pre-conventional morality
Level 2—Conventional morality, and
Level 3—Post conventional morality.
Each level has two stages each, such that-there are six stages of moral development.
They are described in details below:

Level 1— Pre-conventional morality—

This is the lowest level of moral development in Kohlberg’s theory. As the pre-conventional
level, children don’t have a personal code of morality. Instead, their moral code is controlled by
the standards of adults and the consequences of following or breaking adults’ rules. Authority is
outside the individual and reasoning is based on the physical consequences of actions.
There is no internalization of moral values.
 Stage 1. Obedience and Punishment Orientation. the child/individual does good in order
to avoid being punished. If he/she is punished, he/she must have done wrong. Children
because adults tell them to obey. Moral decisions are based on fear of punishment. It is a
matter of “obey or you get punished.” e.g., Josef does not cheat because he is afraid of a
punishment, a failing grade and “I go to school because I am afraid to be dropped and
fail.
 Stage 2. Instrumental Orientation. Right behavior is defined by whatever the individual
believes to be his/her best interest. What’s in it for me?” in this stage there is limited
interest in the needs of others, only to be the point where it might further the individual’s
own interests. It is matter of “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours-mentality” an
example would be when a child is asked by his parents to do a chore. The child asks
“what’s in it for me?” and the parents offer the child a reward by giving him a a treat.
In this stage, right involves equal exchange. e.g., Mario retaliate by taking Juan’s favorite
pen. Mario does not report the incident to the teacher because they involve equal
exchanges.

Level 2—Conventional Morality—

Throughout the conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is tied to personal and societal
relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now due to
their belief that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order. Adherence to
rules and conventions to somewhat rigid during these stages and a rule’s appropriateness or
fairness is seldom questioned.
 Stage 3— “Good Boy, Nice Girl” Orientation—
In stage 3, children want the approval of others and act in ways to avoid disapproval.
Emphasis is placed on good behavior and people being “nice” to others. The individual is
good in order to be seen as being a good person by others. Therefore, answers relate to
the approval of others. The individual values caring and loyalty to others as a basis for
moral judgments. E.g., if a politician is around in times of calamities primarily because
he wants to appear “good boy” or “good girl” to electorates, he displays stage 3 moral
developmental stage.
“To show to my parents and teachers that I am a good student” and “I promised by
parents never to be absent fall under this stage of good boy, nice girl orientation.

 Stage 4— Law and Order Orientation—

The child/individual becomes aware of the wider rules of society, so judgments concern
obeying the rules in order to uphold the law and to avoid guilt. It is a matter of “I have to
do this because the law says so.” It is still blind obedience to the law so morality still
lacks internalization. “it is the right thing to do” “school rules say so” as reasons for
going to school are in stage 4.

Level 3—Post-conventional Morality—

This is the level of full internalization. Morality is completely internalized and not based
on external standards. Individual judgment is based on self-chosen principles and moral
reasoning is based on individual rights and justice. According to Kohlberg this level of
moral reasoning is as far as most people get.
 Stage 5—Social Contract Orientation— The child/individual becomes aware that while
rules/laws might exist for the good of the greatest number, there are times when they will
 work against the interest of particular individuals. In this level, individuals reason out that
values, rights and principles transcend the law.
Laws are regarded as social contracts rather than rigid orders. Those that do not promote
the general welfare should be changed when necessary to meet the greatest good for the
greatest number of people.
 Stage 6—Universal, ethical, principle orientation—Individuals at this stage have develop
their own set of moral guidelines which may or may not fit the law. They have developed
moral judgments that are based on universal human rights. The principles apply to
everyone.
e.g. human rights, justice and equality. The person will be prepared to act to defend these
principles even if it means going against the rest of society in the process and having to
pay the consequences of disapproval and/or imprisonment. When faced with a dilemma
between law and conscience, the person follows the conscience.
Kohlberg doubted few people reached this stge. (McLeod, 2013)

Development of conscience-based moral decision—

Moral development includes development of conscience-based moral decision. This is in the

post-conventional level of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. Panizo defines conscience
as “an act of the practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individual action as good to be
performed and as an evil which needs to be avoided” it is metaphorically referred to as the “inner
voice of GOD. Panizo (1964) quotes St Thomas regarding the obligatory force of conscience.
Every conscience, whether right or erroneous, whether with regards to acts which are considered
evil in themselves or acts which are indifferent, is obligatory, so that he who acts in opposition to
his conscience, does wrong.”

Rev. Thomas V. berg, (2012) defines conscience as follows:

In the NL (natural law) tradition—conscience is understood to be a judgment emanating from
human reason about choices and actions to be made, or accomplished, or already opted for and
performed…
Aquinas held that conscience, in the strict sense, was as an act of human reason—called a
judgment—following upon, and concluding a time of deliberation. In the sense, conscience is the
interior resounding of reason. Conscience is reason’s awareness of a choice, or an action’s
harmony or disharmony, with the kind of behavior which truly leads to our genuine well-being
and flourishing.
If our choice or action is not in accord with the judgment of a rightly formed and active
conscience, then that judgment will linger in our conscious awareness, presenting itself as a felt
disharmony between the choice, and the moral norm (and corresponding virtue), being violated.
While such ‘felt disharmony’ is indeed of an emotive nature (e.g., a healthy emotional guilt), the
judgment of conscience remains something distinct and irreducible to the negative feeling which
happens to accompany it.

The formation of conscience—

Corresponding therefore to the prior discussion on moral development is the formation of
conscience. What then is meant when it is said that the conscience must be formed?
….. First, conscience formation begins with the deep-seated decision to seek moral truth. One
adopts, as a way of life, the habit of seeking out answers to questions about right and wrong,
persevering in that quest until one arrives at a state of moral certainty, after having made the
most reasonable effort possible to arrive at those answers.
….. Second, a sound conscience must stand on the firm foundation of integrity, sincerity and
forthrightness. Duplicity, personal inconsistency and dishonesty undermine any hope of forming
a properly functioning conscience.
….. Third, conscience formation is sustained by the habit of consistently educating oneself by
exposure to objective moral norms and the rationale behind those norms.

Conscience needs a guide…. The church’s moral teaching while certainly enlightened by
divinely revealed law, is, at its core, the application of what this tradition has discovered over the
centuries about the kinds of behavior that lead us to live genuinely fulfilling, human lives, you do
not place yourself at odds with such a tradition lightly.
Consequently, conscience formation requires a habit of on-going self-formation (what we might
call moral information gathering) through study, reading, and other types of inquiry. This
includes consultation with persons whose moral judgment we know to be sound and in accord
with the Church’s moral tradition. Finally, conscience, if it is to be correct, needs the assistance
of the virtue of prudence. By “prudence” we mean the virtue as understood within the NL
(natural law) tradition. This should not be confused with timidity,,.. “covering one’s back” or
dissimulation (hiding the truth). Berg, 2012.
It may be added, as clarified in Fr. Vitaliano Gorospe (1974), that getting to the highest-level,
conscience-based moral decision can mean the widening human consciousness. It is a growth or
development from family consciousness to clan consciousness, community consciousness, town
consciousness, provincial, regional, national, and international or global consciousness. At one’s
consciousness widens, the moral parameters or standards of one’s decision making widens, one’s
moral consciousness widens, one matures.

APPLICATION:

1. The Heinz Dilemma—

A woman was on her deathbed. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It
was a form or radium that a druggist in the same time had recently discovered. The drug was
expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce.
He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s
husband Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together
about $1,000, which is half of what the drug costs. He told the druggist that his wife was dying
and ask him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: No, I discovered the
drug and I am going to make money from it. So, Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s
laboratory to steal the drug for his wife.
Should Heinz’s decision to steal the drug for his wife justifiable? Why or why not?

From a theoretical point of view, it ir not important what the participant thinks that Heinz should
do. Kohlberg’s theory holds that the justification the participant offers is what its significant, the
form of their response. Below are some many examples of possible arguments. Based from the
given arguments, identify the stage among Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development:
 Heinz should not steal the medicine because he will consequently be put in prison which
will be tagged as a bad person.
 Heinz should steal the medicine because he will be much happier if he saves his wife,
even if he will serve to serve a prison sentence.
 Heinz should not steal the medicine because prison is an awful place, and he would more
likely languish in a jail cell than over his wife’s death.
 Heinz should steal the medicine because his wife expects it; he wants to be a good
husband.
 Heinz should not steal the drug because stealing is bad and he is not a criminal: he has
tried to do everything he can without breaking the law, you cannot blame him.
 Heinz should not steal the medicine because the law prohibits stealing, making it illegal.
 Heinz should steal the drug for his wife, but also take the prescribed punishment for the
crime as well as paying the druggist what he is owed. Criminals cannot just run around
without regard for the law; all actions have eventual consequences.
 Heinz should steal the medicine because everyone has a right to choose life, regardless of
the law.
 Heinz should steal the medicine, because saving a human life is a more fundamental
value than the property rights of another person.
 Heinz should not steal the medicine, because others may need the medicine just as badly,
and their lives are equal significant.

2. Give reasons why students cheat. Classify the given reasons based on Kohlberg’s six
stages.
3. Longitudinal data on studies of Kohlberg’s theory show a relation of the stages to age,
although a few people ever attain the two highest stages. Only 10-15% are capable of the
kind of abstract thinking necessary for stage 5 or 6 (post-conventional morality). That is
to say, most people take their moral views from those around them and only a minority
think through ethical principles for themselves.
What should be done in values education/character education classes to help students
advance in their moral development and reach the 2 highest stages.
4. Which level of Kohlberg’s moral development did the Greatest Teacher Jesus Christ,
reached? Explain your answer.
5. Acting in accordance with the dictates of your conscience is in which development stage
of Kohlberg.
 KEY TAKEAWAYS
 According to William Kay, human persons go through three stages of moral
development, 1) the moral stage—egocentric, hedonist and prudential considerations.
2) the pre-moral stage—authoritarian, ego-idealist, social and reciprocal
considerations, 3) the moral stage personal, autonomous, altruistic, national,
independent and responsible considerations.
 According to Kohlberg human person go through three levels of moral development: 1)
conventional, 2) conventional, and 3) post-conventional. Each level has two distinct
stages and so Kohlberg has six stages of moral development.
 During the pre-conventional level, a child’s sense of morality is extremely controlled.
Children accept and believe the rule of authority figures, such as parents and teachers,
and they judge an action based on its consequences.
 During the conventional level, an individual’s sense of morality is tied to personal and
societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this
is now because they believe that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and
societal order.
 During the post-conventional level, a person’s sense of morality is defined in terms of
more abstract principles and universal values which are now internalized.
 For William Kay and Kohlberg, every person is meant to grow into moral maturity.
And moral maturity is evident in a person who acts based on his conviction rooted on
universal ethical principles not because his act will bring him/her pleasure or pain, or
that his/her act is in accordance with the laws or expectations of his/her particular
group or society as a whole.
 Genuine moral development, which is attaining the the post-conventional stage, the
highest stage in Kohlberg’s, is essentially development of conscience.
 Conscience formation begins with the deep-seated decision to seek moral truth. It must
stand on the firm foundation of integrity, sincerity and forthrightness and must be
sustained by the habit of consistently educating oneself by exposure to objective moral
norms, and the rationale behind those norms.
 For conscience to be formed, it needs a guide, for Christians, the Church’s moral
teaching and persons whose moral judgments are sound and in accordance with the
Church’s moral tradition.
 Conscience formation requires a habit of on-going self-formation (moral information
gathering) through study, reading and other types of inquiry.
 Conscience-based moral decision means the widening of human consciousness, towns
consciousness, provincial, regional, national and international or global consciousness.
 As one’s consciousness widens, the standards of one’s decision making widens, one’s
moral conscience widens, one matures.
 Moral development is internalization of moral norms. One acts morally based on
his/her convictions not because the law says so, or a person in authority orders so.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING:

1. Do a tabular comparison of the stages of moral development from the points of view of William
A. Kay and Lawrence Kohlberg. Two items are already done for you as examples.

STAGES OF MORAL BEHAVIOR

WILLIAM A. KAY LAWRENCE KOHLBERG
Taboo Preconventional obedience and punishment orientation
Law Conventional-maintaining the social order
 2. What is the ideal stage of moral development in Kohlberg?

REFLECTION:
 Based on William Kay’s and Kohlberg’s stages of moral development point, in which stage are
you?
 What are you doing for genuine conscience formation to reach post-conventional level of moral
development, the full internalization of universal ethical principles?

Reference source:
Corpuz, Ruben A. and Brenda B. Corpuz, “ETHICS” Lorimar Publishing Inc. Cubao, QC. Philippines, 2020

END OF THE LESSON