Week 8: Post 1

This week, we learned a lot about children’s moral values from Chapter 13. The late Lawrence Kohlberg, a professor of psychology, is most known for his theory of stages of development. He believed that “intellectual maturation advances moral thinking” (Berger 370). Based off Jean Piaget’s stages of cognition, Kohlberg’s stages are broken down into three levels which two stages in each level. Children in the preconventional moral reasoning stage are focused on the morals which most affect how they themselves feel. They tend to be egotistical and are not engrossed in others’ dilemmas. Those in the conventional moral reasoning stage pay close attention to the people in their environment; they try to mimic the morals of their parents, peers, and other trustworthy adults. Finally, adolescents in the postconventional moral reasoning stage are focused on questioning what they believe is right and wrong, regardless of what society believes. During this time, they start to form their own ideals for morals.

After reading about the Heinz dilemma, I found it quite interesting that adults can go through all three stages of moral development when faced with just one problem, while it takes time, development, and maturity for children to learn each stage.