EDUC 121

• Moral


  Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior
• Kohlberg's Levels/Stages of Moral Development

  • Level I: Obedience/Punishment
  • Level I: Self-Interest
  • Level II: Conformity and Interpersonal Accord
  • Level II: Authority and Social Order
  • Level III: Social Contract
  • Level III: Universal Principles
• Level I: Obedience/Punishment


  No difference between doing the right thing and avoiding punishment
• Level I: Self-Interest


  Interest shifts to rewards rather than punishment, effort is made to secure greatest benefit for oneself
• Level II: Conformity and Interpersonal Accord


  The "good boy/girl" level. Effort is made to secure approval and maintain friendly relations with others
• Level II: Authority and Social Order


  Orientation toward fixed rules. The purpose of morality is maintaining the social order. Interpersonal accord is expanded to include the entire society
• Level III: Social Contract

  Mutual benefit, reciprocity. Morally right and legally right are not always the same. Utilitarian rules that make life better for everyone
• Level III: Universal Principles

  Morality is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit
• Good


  Conforming to a standard of right behavior
• Lawrence Kohlberg was born in New York City in 1927, graduated from the University of Chicago in one year, attended Yale and earned a PhD in psychology, and became fascinated by moral development in children, theorizing six stages of human moral development
• Stage 1: Punishment & Obedience


  A focus on direct consequences, negative actions will result in punishments
• Stage 1: Punishment-Obedience Orientation


  • Physical consequences of an action determines goodness or badness
  • Those in authority have superior power and should be obeyed
  • Punishment should be avoided by staying out of trouble
• Stage 2: Mutual Benefit


  Getting what one wants often requires giving something up in return, "Right" is a fair exchange, morals guided by what is "fair"
• Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation/Mutual Benefit


  • Action is judged to be right if it is instrumental or satisfying one's own needs or involve on even exchange
  • Obeying rules should bring some sort of benefit in return
• Stage 3: Interpersonal Expectations


  An attempt to live up to the expectations of important others, follow rules or do what others would want so that you win their approval
• Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation/Social Approval


  • Right action is one that would be carried out by someone whose behavior is likely to please or impress others
• Stage 4: Law-and-Order


  To maintain social order, people must resist personal pressures and follow the laws of the larger society, respect the laws & authority
• Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation


  • Fixed rules must be established and obeyed, essential to respect authority, moral decisions should be made in terms of self-chosen ethical principles
• Stage 5: Legal Principles


  Must protect the basic rights of all people by upholding the legal principles of fairness, justice, equality & democracy, laws that fail to promote general welfare or that violate ethical principles can be changed, reinterpreted, or abandoned
• Stage 5: Social Contract Orientation


  • Rules are needed to maintain the social agreement & the rights of the individual should be protected
• Stage 6: Universal Moral Principles


  Self-chosen ethical principles, profound respect for sanctity of human life, nonviolence, equality & human dignity, moral principles take precedence over laws that might conflict with them
• Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle Orientation


  • Moral decisions should be made in terms of self-chosen ethical principles, once principles are chosen, they should be applied in a consistent way