how did lawrence kohlberg’s theory influence our understanding of child development?
Kohlberg provided one way of looking into the moral development of children, beginning with preconventional, moving on to conventional, and hopefully acheiving postconventional moral standards. Preconventional moral standards work on a very low scale – punishment and obedience are at the core and they invite individual motivation without involving others. At the conventional stage, there is a sense of law and order and children try to abide by the rules that society has set for them, whether at home, in school, or on the playground. When reaching the postconventional moral standard, Kohlberg said that children learned what was "right" and "wrong", not necessarily by what society says, but by what is universally believed to be true in terms of moral beliefs (crimes are wrong not only because they are against the law, but because they hurt people – hurting people is wrong). There were six stages in total, two for each category. Kohlberg’s model is applicable to our understanding of child development because it shows how children develop their sense of morals and how it originally comes from the inside and eventually children begin to think outside their self-centered world and thinking about the welfare of others. His theory shows the beginning of social development.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:03 am
Kohlberg provided one way of looking into the moral development of children, beginning with preconventional, moving on to conventional, and hopefully acheiving postconventional moral standards. Preconventional moral standards work on a very low scale – punishment and obedience are at the core and they invite individual motivation without involving others. At the conventional stage, there is a sense of law and order and children try to abide by the rules that society has set for them, whether at home, in school, or on the playground. When reaching the postconventional moral standard, Kohlberg said that children learned what was "right" and "wrong", not necessarily by what society says, but by what is universally believed to be true in terms of moral beliefs (crimes are wrong not only because they are against the law, but because they hurt people – hurting people is wrong). There were six stages in total, two for each category. Kohlberg’s model is applicable to our understanding of child development because it shows how children develop their sense of morals and how it originally comes from the inside and eventually children begin to think outside their self-centered world and thinking about the welfare of others. His theory shows the beginning of social development.
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May 8th, 2010 at 6:25 am
Kohlberg’s six stages were grouped into three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional.
Following Piaget’s constructivist requirements for a stage model, it is not possible to regress backward in stages (although none function at their highest stage at all times). It is also not possible to ‘jump’ stages; each stage provides a new yet necessary perspective, and is more comprehensive, differentiated, and integrated than its predecessors.
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