Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory

1. Write down your subject’s response and his or her age. The subject responding to the Henry dilemma is only 17 year’s old, female and in the college level (freshman year). She said that should the situation happen that she was presented with the dilemma, she would advise the husband to choose not to plan or act anything foolish as to defy authorities. To consider stealing the drug and actually doing it would mean getting caught and being in jail.

She’d rather believe that miracle can still happen to the dying wife but even if this will not happen, this teenager thinks that no amount of good and noble intentions will justify a wrong deed such as perchance considering stealing the drug.

Henry the husband must accept the fate of his wife’s condition because if she’s destined to have a longer life then whatever the challenges they (Henry and his wife) shall surely overcome them. 2. Use the chart in the text to rate the STAGE this response fits in with.

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The teenager’s moral stage of development is actually at the very basic level or Preconventional level: stage one where moral decisions are based on fear of punishment or the need to be obedient. 3. Justify why you rated the response as belonging to this stage. Kohlberg categorized the stages into five distinct types. Stage one is at the preconventional level which is highlighted in the preceding statement. At stage Two, moral reasoning is guided most by satisfying one’s self- interest, which may involve making bargains.

In stage one, individuals might say she/he should not steal drugs because he’ll be caught and go to jail. In stage two, the individual might say that Henry could steal the drug and save his wife, but in return he’ll have to sacrifice his freedom by going to jail. In stage three, individuals at this stage would say that Henry should steal the drug since that is what his family or those people whom one values thus conforming to the standards of others.

Individuals at stage four might say to Henry that he should not steal the drug because of what would happen to society if everybody took what they needed. Many adolescents and adults are at this level (Berk, 2007). Lastly, the postconventional level points to stage five where moral decisions are made after careful thinking about all the alternatives and striking a balance between human rights and laws of society which means that an individual might say that one should steal the drug because life is more important than money. Some but not all reach this level.