What is Lawrence Kohlbergs Preconventional stage?

Kohlberg (1963) built on the work of Piaget and was interested in finding out how our moral reasoning changes as we get older. He wanted to find out how people decide what is right and what is wrong. Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development follows specific patterns, Kohlberg (1984) argued that we learn our moral values through active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development follows a series of stages. Kohlberg’s six stages are generally organized into three levels of moral reasons. To study moral development, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to children, teenagers, and adults, such as the following:

A man’s wife is dying of cancer and there is only one drug that can save her. The only place to get the drug is at the store of a pharmacist who is known to overcharge people for drugs. The man can only pay $1,000, but the pharmacist wants $2,000, and refuses to sell it to him for less, or to let him pay later. Desperate, the man later breaks into the pharmacy and steals the medicine. Should he have done that? Was it right or wrong?

Why? (Kohlberg, 1984)

Level One-Preconventional Morality: In stage one, moral reasoning is based on concepts of punishment. The child believes that if the consequence for an action is punishment, then the action was wrong. In the second stage, the child bases his or her thinking on self-interest and reward. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” The youngest subjects seemed to answer based on what would happen to the man as a result of the act. For example, they might say the man should not break into the pharmacy because the pharmacist might find him and beat him. Or they might say that the man should break in and steal the drug and his wife will give him a big kiss. Right or wrong, both decisions were based on what would physically happen to the man as a result of the act. This is a self-centered approach to moral decision-making. He called this most superficial understanding of right and wrong preconventional morality. Preconventional morality focuses on self-interest. Punishment is avoided and rewards are sought. Adults can also fall into these stages, particularly when they are under pressure.

Level Two-Conventional Morality: Those tested who based their answers on what other people would think of the man as a result of his act, were placed in Level Two. For instance, they might say he should break into the store, and then everyone would think he was a good husband, or he should not because it is against the law. In either case, right and wrong is determined by what other people think. In stage three, the person wants to please others. At stage four, the person acknowledges the importance of social norms or laws and wants to be a good member of the group or society. A good decision is one that gains the approval of others or one that complies with the law. This he called conventional morality, people care about the effect of their actions on others. Some older children, adolescents, and adults use this reasoning.

Level Three-Postconventional Morality: Right and wrong are based on social contracts established for the good of everyone and that can transcend the self and social convention. For example, the man should break into the store because, even if it is against the law, the wife needs the drug and her life is more important than the consequences the man might face for breaking the law. Alternatively, the man should not violate the principle of the right of property because this rule is essential for social order. In either case, the person’s judgment goes beyond what happens to the self. It is based on a concern for others; for society as a whole, or for an ethical standard rather than a legal standard. This level is called postconventional moral development because it goes beyond convention or what other people think to a higher, universal ethical principle of conduct that may or may not be reflected in the law. Notice that such thinking is the kind Supreme Court justices do all day when deliberating whether a law is moral or ethical, which requires being able to think abstractly. Often this is not accomplished until a person reaches adolescence or adulthood. In the fifth stage, laws are recognized as social contracts. The reasons for the laws, like justice, equality, and dignity, are used to evaluate decisions and interpret laws. In the sixth stage, individually determined universal ethical principles are weighed to make moral decisions. Kohlberg said that few people ever reach this stage. The six stages can be reviewed in Table 5.6.

Table 5.6 Lawrence Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Reasoning

Age

Moral Level

Description

Young children- usually prior to age 9

Preconventional morality

Stage 1: Focus is on self-interest and punishment is avoided. The man shouldn’t steal the drug, as he may get caught and go to jail.

Stage 2: Rewards are sought. A person at this level will argue that the man should steal the drug because he does not want to lose his wife who takes care of him.

Older children, adolescents, and most adults

Conventional morality

Stage 3: Focus is on how situational outcomes impact others and wanting to please and be accepted. The man should steal the drug because that is what good husbands do.

Stage 4: People make decisions based on laws or formalized rules. The man should obey the law because stealing is a crime.

Rare with adolescents and few adults

Postconventional morality

Stage 5: Individuals employ abstract reasoning to justify behaviors The man should steal the drug because laws can be unjust and you have to consider the whole situation.

Stage 6: Moral behavior is based on self-chosen ethical principles. The man should steal the drug because life is more important than property.

Although research has supported Kohlberg’s idea that moral reasoning changes from an early emphasis on punishment and social rules and regulations to an emphasis on more general ethical principles, as with Piaget’s approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple. For one, people may use higher levels of reasoning for some types of problems, but revert to lower levels in situations where doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979). Second, it has been argued that the stage model is particularly appropriate for Western, rather than non- Western, samples in which allegiance to social norms, such as respect for authority, may be particularly important (Haidt, 2001). In addition, there is frequently little correlation between how we score on the moral stages and how we behave in real life.

Perhaps the most important critique of Kohlberg’s theory is that it may describe the moral development of males better than it describes that of females. Gilligan (1982) has argued that, because of differences in their socialization, males tend to value principles of justice and rights, whereas females value caring for and helping others. Although there is little evidence for a gender difference in Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (Turiel, 1998), it is true that girls and women tend to focus more on issues of caring, helping, and connecting with others than do boys and men (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000).

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Jean Piaget introduced the idea of how moral development occurs in stages, each level built on life experiences and active reasoning. Lawrence Kohlberg furthered this idea by examining how moral reasoning changes as we grow. How did people determine what was right or wrong? Following specific patterns of human behavior, Kohlberg organized the six stages into three levels of moral reasoning. Participants in his studies, including adults, teenagers, and children, were asked to offer reasoning to a dilemma. An example that Kohlberg used as a moral dilemma is as follows:

See also: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding

A man named Heinz, who lived in Europe, had a wife whom he loved very much. His wife was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and did not have long to live. Luckily, there was a pharmacist who invented a drug called radium that could cure her. The pharmacist owned all rights to this medication and decided to sell it at a high markup in order to make a profit. While it cost only $200 to make, he sold it for 10 times that amount: $2000. Heinz did not have enough money to pay the exorbitant price, so he tried fundraising to cover the costs. With time running out, he had only managed to gather $1000, which was not enough to buy the medication. Heinz begged the pharmacist to sell it to him at a reduced price but the man refused. Desperate and running out of time, Heinz broke into the pharmacy after hours and stole the drug. Was this the right or wrong thing to do? Why?

What is Lawrence Kohlbergs Preconventional stage?
Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was an American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development.

Stages of Moral Development

See also: Lev Vygotsky – Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

There were three levels of moral reasoning that encompassed the six stages. Like Piaget, subjects were unlikely to regress in their moral development, but instead, moved forward through the stages: pre-conventional, conventional, and finally post-conventional. Each stage offers a new perspective, but not everyone functions at the highest level all the time. People gain a more thorough understanding as they build on their experiences, which makes it impossible to jump stages of moral development.

  1. Stage 1 (Pre-Conventional)
    • Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?)
    • Self-interest orientation (What’s in it for me? aiming at a reward)
  2. Stage 2 (Conventional)
    • Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms, good boy – good girl attitude)
    • Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality)
  3. Stage 3 (Post-Conventional)
    • Social contract orientation (Justice and the spirit of the law)
    • Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience)

Preconventional morality – young children under the age of 9

See also: Andragogy Theory – Malcolm Knowles

Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation

The first stage highlights the self-interest of children in their decision making as they seek to avoid punishment at all costs. In relation to our example above, the man should not steal the medication from the pharmacy as he may go to jail if he is caught.

Similar to the first stage in Piaget’s theory, Kohlberg reflects on the moral thought of children. At a young age, they believe that rules are meant to be followed and those in charge will undoubtedly follow through with punishment. A child’s reasoning to the above example may include “it’s bad to steal,” or “it’s against the law,” without assessing the perspective of the man whose wife is sick.

This stage is labeled preconventional due to the limited association that children have with the outlined principles. They view the ethics taught as something that society implements, not as something they internalize themselves.

See also: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Write Effective Learning Objectives: The ABCD Approach

Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange

This stage observes how children begin to adopt the views taught, but also recognize that there is more than one point of view for each matter. Each person is different and will, therefore, have a unique outlook according to their interests. In terms of our example above, they may reason that “he may think that it is right to take the drug, but the pharmacist would not.”

The second stage relies heavily on the exchange of favors and can be summarized with the common marketing saying “what’s it in for me?” Children at this stage are not motivated by friendship or respect but by the personal advantages involved. For example, if a parent asks their child to complete a chore around the house, the child may ask what the benefit would be to them. Parents often recognize the “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” mindset at this stage and offer a reward, such as an allowance.

See also: Social Learning Theory: Albert Bandura

Conventional morality – older children, adolescents, and most adults

Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships

This stage recognizes the desire to be accepted into societal groups as well as how each person is affected by the outcome. In terms of our example above, the man should take the medicine from the pharmacy in order to be a good partner to his wife.

Children in the third stage are typically pre-teens or early teenagers and have now adopted the societal norms as their own. While they believe that people should behave appropriately in their communities, they recognize that there is no simple solution to moral dilemmas. In Kohlberg’s study per the example above, they accepted that he should steal the medicine and “he was a good man for wanting to save her.” They also reasoned that “his intentions were good, that of saving the life of someone he loves.”

Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order

In this stage, laws and social order reign supreme. Rules and regulations are to be followed and obeyed. In the above example, the man should not steal the medicine because it is against the law.

Stage four shows the moral development of a person as a part of a whole society. Each person becomes more aware of the impact of everyone’s actions on others and focuses now on their own role, following the rules, and obeying authorities. While stage three highlights the close relationships with family and friends, stage four attempts to maintain social order in the community. Pertaining to the example above, participants in stage four would argue that while they understood why he wanted to steal the medication, they could not support the idea of theft. Society cannot maintain order if its members decided to break the laws when they thought they had a good enough reason to do so.

See also: TPACK: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework

Postconventional morality – rare with adolescents and few adults

Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights

This stage acknowledges the introduction of abstract reasoning as people attempt to explain specific behaviors. In our example above, the man should steal the medication for his wife because she is deathly ill and the laws do not take the circumstances into account.

In the fifth stage, members begin to consider “What makes for a good society?” They are able to step back and assess each situation as a whole, reflecting on what is good and just. Reflecting on the morals and ethics of their current community allows them to address inconsistencies in their values and attempt to fix what they do not agree with. A society that runs smoothly does not necessarily uphold their desired principles. This is one step ahead of stage four, where the main goal is to keep a society functioning at all costs.

Stage 6: Universal Principles

The final stage of Kohlberg’s theory states that moral reasoning is based on personal values. In the above example, it is okay for the man to take the medication without paying as objects or property are not as valuable as his wife’s life.

Stage six was developed when Kohlberg discovered that elected processes do not always result in fair outcomes. Individuals at the fifth stage of moral reasoning recognized the importance of protecting human rights while also resolving challenges in a democratic way. Unfortunately, some majority votes resulted in regulations that actually hurt a minority group, leading to questions of an even higher level of reasoning.

See also: Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

The sixth stage was created to acknowledge the use of justice in moral reasoning. General, universal morals and ethics are used as a baseline for what is right and just. These are often abstract concepts that cannot be clearly defined, only outlined. Equality, justice, dignity, and respect are all ideas that form the basis of universal principles. Laws and rules are only effective if they support the universal principles, which each person at this stage works to uphold.

Similarly, they work on disobeying laws that are unfair, and feel guilty if they don’t obey the laws that they believe in. Individuals at this level of reasoning behaved in a certain way because it was the right thing to do, and were not motivated by laws or societal expectations. Kohlberg found it challenging to identify participants in his studies who could consistently display moral reasoning in the sixth stage.

See also: Kirkpatrick Model: Four Levels of Learning Evaluation

Summary

In the first stage, children obey the rules taught and believe what society says is right. Avoiding punishment is a leading factor in their desire to obey authority. This has diminished by stage two, where children can see that they are multiple points of view to the matter in question. They tend to reason according their own self-interests, including bartering with others.

In stage three, people value a supportive community and therefore have the desire to be a good, helpful member. This changes as they move into stage four, where they seek instead to meet the goals of the society, which includes maintaining law and order. Throughout both stages, we see how young teens value the morals and ethics of the group of which they are part.

In stage five, people evolve from the idea of being ‘good’ into what would be the right thing to do. They seek to create morals and values for a good society instead of maintaining the society for the sake of doing so. They take these ideas one step further in stage six, where they work to incorporate justice and creating a fair society for all.

See also: How To Design A Course