Question

Explain in detail why teenagers are placed in the 'Conventional Moral" stage of Kohlberg’s theory of Moral reasoning. Why do you think they are placed specifically! Reflect on what changes you would need to make to advance to the next stage of moral development.

Answer 1

Lawrence Kohlberg, developed a theory to understand the moral reasoning of individuals. Every individual goes through different stages of moral reasoning. Each stage has a different phase. Kohlberg introduced the theory to understand the rationale behind an individual's reasoning, when put in a moral dilemma. In his experiment, he constructed a hypothetical situation where an individual was asked how would have they made a moral decision if they were in place of the character in the story narrated to them. One such dilemma posed by Kohlberg was:

A man had a sick wife who was suffering from a rare kind of cancer. However, it was curable, but the drug that would have saved her was extremely expensive. The pharmacist insisted on selling it for $ 2,000 but the man had only $1,000 with him. The man told the pharmacist that he would pay him the money that he has now, and would pay the remaining amount in a few days. The pharmacist refused to budge into the man's plea. The man was so desperate to save his wife that he chose to steal the drug instead.

Individuals who were a part of the experiment were asked what should have the man done and why?

A child at the Preconventional stage of moral development, basis his moral decision or judgment on the repercussions that would follow. At this stage, a child says that the man should have not stolen the drug because it would lead to punishment. The rationale behind concluding the above is, a child l feels that actions that lead to positive reinforcements are good and the ones that lead to punishments are bad. The intention is not considered, it is about bad behaviour being unacceptable.

A child's ability to make judgments increases at the Coventional stage of moral development. At this stage they arrive to an understanding that the society runs according to some set norms, social orders and law. Teenagers are placed in this stage of reasoning. The child rationalised the doings of the man and concludes that 'it's alright for the man to steal because he would not be seen bad in the eyes of people, but if he does not save his wife, then he will never be able to look into anybody's eye again'. The reason why a teenager cannot indulge in rational thinking is because the part of the brain, pre-frontal cortex which is involved in decision-making and rational thinking does not develp fully until the age of twenty one. Once the pre-frontal cortex is fully developed, the individual indulges in rational thinking.

In the last stage of moral development at the Postconventional level, Kohlberg suggested that most individuals enter early adulthood and it is at this stage an individual's ability to rationalize without any preconceived thoughts attached to society or law, increases. At this stage, an individual arrives at a judgment that there wasn't anything wrong with the man stealing the drug for his wife as there is nothing above humanity. An individual is capable of indulging in rational thinking at this stage.