Development of Personality and Mental function : Kohlberg

• • Kohlberg
    • Believed children acquire moral reasoning in developmental sequence
      • Preconventional level
        • Children determine the goodness or badness of an action in terms of its consequences. 
        • They avoid punishment and obey without question those who have the power to determine and enforce the rules and labels. 
        • They have no concept of the basic moral order that supports these consequences.
          • Individual interest:
            • Behavior driven by self-interest and rewards
      • Conventional level
        • Concerned with conformity and loyalty
          • Interpersonal:
            • Behavior driven by social approval
        • One earns approval by being “nice.” 
          • Obeying the rules
          • Doing one’s duty
          • Showing respect for authority
          • Maintaining the social order are the correct behaviors.
      • Postconventional, autonomous, or principled level
        • Reached the cognitive stage of formal operations
          • Correct behavior tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been examined and agreed on by the entire society
          • Social contract
            • Behavior driven by balance of social order and individual rights
          • Universal ethics
            • Behavior driven by internal moral principles