Image 5.2
Discussing morality can be a touchy subject because we do not all agree on what might constitute moral behavior, and it is important to acknowledge that much damage historically has been done by people holding others to a certain moral code. Nonetheless, humanity survives due to a largely unspoken collection of moral behaviors. Therefore, it is quite relevant to our development as humans, and hence critical for educators to understand. In this chapter, you will learn about the developmental stages of moral development and what might be useful for educators to know.
Image 5.2Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was a 20th century psychologist known primarily for his research into moral psychology and development. Kohlberg grew up in Bronxville, NY and served in the Merchant Marines at the end of World War II. Kohlberg worked with a paramilitary organization to help smuggle Jewish refugees from Romania through a British Blockade into Palestine, and was captured by the British and held in an internment camp on Cyprus. He and fellow crew members escaped and went to Palestine during the fighting to establish the state of Israel. Kohlberg refused to participate in the fighting and instead preferred nonviolent forms of activism. He returned to the US in 1948 and enrolled at the University of Chicago, where he eventually received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in psychology.
Kohlberg’s dissertation was based on his research into the moral choices of adolescent boys and led to a life devoted to the exploration of moral and ethical development in young people.
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development were influenced by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s stage-based theory of cognitive development. Kohlberg expanded on Piaget’s cognitive development stages to form the six stages of moral development. He argued that correct moral reasoning was the most significant factor in moral decision-making, and that correct moral reasoning would lead to ethical behavior. Kohlberg believed that individuals progress through stages of moral development just as they progress through stages of cognitive development. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development included three levels and six stages to determine which stage of moral development his subjects were in, Kohlberg presented them with invented moral dilemmas, such as the case of a man who stole medicine for his sick wife. According to Kohlberg, few people reach stages five and six; most tend to stay at stage four.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived of by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Kohlberg began work on this topic while a psychology postgraduate student at the University of Chicago in 1985, and expanded and developed this theory throughout his life.
The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor. Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgment far beyond the ages studied earlier by Piaget, who also claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget’s work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual’s lifetime.
Kohlberg relied for his studies on stories such as the Heinz dilemma, and was interested in how individuals would justify their actions if placed in similar moral dilemmas. He then analyzed the form of moral reasoning displayed, rather than its conclusion, and classified it as belonging to one of six distinct stages.
Kohlberg’s scale is about how people justify behaviors. It is important to clarify that his stages are not a method of ranking how moral someone’s behavior is. There should however be a correlation between how someone scores on the scale and how they behave, and the general hypothesis is that moral behavior is more responsible, consistent and predictable from people at higher levels.
Kohlberg’s six stages (Figure 5.1) can be more generally grouped into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Following Piaget’s constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, it is extremely rare to regress in stages-to lose the use of higher stage abilities. Stages cannot be skipped; each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.
Levels
Stages
Level 1
Pre-Conventional
Stage 1 – Obedience and punishment orientation
How can I avoid punishment?
Stage 2- Self-interest orientation
What’s in it for me? / Paying for a benefit
Level 2
Conventional
Stage 3 – Interpersonal accord and conformity
Social nor ms, t he good boy/good girl attitude
Stage 4 – Authority and social order maintaining orientation
Law and order morality
Level 3
Post-Conventional
Stage 5 – Social contract orientation
Stage 6 – Universal ethical principles
Principled conscience
Pre-Conventional Level (Level 1):
Stage 1 (obedience and punishment driven)
Stage 2 (self-interest driven)
Conventional Level (Level 2):
Stage 3 (interpersonal accord and conformity driven)
Stage 4 (authority and social order obedience driven)
Post-Conventional Level:
Stage 5 (social contract driven)
Stage 6 (universal ethical principles driven)
Although Kohlberg insisted that stage six exists, he found it difficult to identify individuals who consistently operated at that level.
Further Stages
In Kohlberg’s empirical studies of individuals throughout their life Kohlberg observed that some had apparently undergone moral stage regression. This could be resolved either by allowing for moral regression or by extending the theory. Kohlberg chose the latter, postulating the existence of sub-stages in which the emerging stage has not yet been fully integrated into the personality. In particular Kohlberg noted a stage 4+, a transition from stage four to stage five, which shared characteristics of both. In this stage the individual is disaffected with the arbitrary nature of law and order reasoning; culpability is frequently turned from being defined by society to viewing society itself as culpable. This stage is often mistaken for the moral relativism of stage two, as the individual views those interests of society that conflict with their own as being relatively and morally wrong. Kohlberg noted that this was often observed in students entering college.
Kohlberg suggested that there may be a seventh stage-Transcendental Morality, or Morality of Cosmic Orientation-which linked religion with moral reasoning. Kohlberg’s difficulties in obtaining empirical evidence for even a sixth stage, however, led him to emphasize the speculative nature of his seventh stage.
Theoretical Assumptions (Philosophy)
The picture of human nature Kohlberg begins with is that humans are inherently communicative and capable of reason. They also possess a desire to understand others and the world around them. The stages of Kohlberg’s model relate to the qualitative moral reasonings adopted by individuals, and so do not translate directly into praise or blame of any individual’s actions or character. Arguing that his theory measures moral reasoning and not particular moral conclusions, Kohlberg insists that the form and structure of moral arguments is independent of the content of those arguments, a position he calls “formalism” (Figure 5.2).
STAGES
VIEWS OF PERSONS (VOP)
SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE LEVEL
6
Sees how human fallibility and frailty are impacted by communication
Mutual respect as a universal principle
5
Recognize that contracts will allow persons to increase welfare of both
4
Able to see abstract normative systems
Social systems perspective
3
Recognize good and bad intentions
Social relationships perspective
2
Sees that a) others have goals and preferences; b) either to conform or to deviate from norms
1
No VOP: only self and norm are recognized
According to Kohlberg, someone progressing to a higher stage of moral reasoning cannot skip stages. For example, an individual cannot jump from being concerned mostly with peer judgments (stage three) to being a proponent of social contracts (stage five). On encountering a moral dilemma and finding their current level of moral reasoning unsatisfactory, however, an individual will look to the next level. Realizing the limitations of the current stage of thinking is the driving force behind moral development, as each progressive stage is more adequate than the last. The process is therefore considered to be constructive, as it is initiated by the conscious construction of the individual, and is not in any meaningful sense a component of the individual’s innate dispositions, or a result of past inductions.
Progress through Kohlberg’s stages happens as a result of the individual’s increasing competence, both psychologically and in balancing conflicting social-value claims. Knowledge and learning contribute to moral development. Specifically important are the individual’s “view of persons” and their “social perspective level,” each of which becomes more complex and mature with each advancing stage. The “view of persons” can be understood as the individual’s grasp of the psychology of other persons; it may be pictured as a spectrum, with stage one having no view of other persons at all, and stage six being entirely socio-centric. Similarly, the social perspective level involves the understanding of the social universe, differing from the view of persons in that it involves an appreciation of social norms.
Kohlberg established the Moral Judgement Interview in his original 1958 dissertation. During the roughly 45-minute tape recorded semi-structured interview, the interviewer uses moral dilemmas to determine which stage of moral reasoning a person uses. The dilemmas are fictional short stories that describe situations in which a person has to make a moral decision. The participant is asked a systemic series of open-ended questions , like what they think the right course of action is, as well as justifications as to why certain actions are right or wrong. The form and structure of these replies are scored and not the content; over a set of multiple moral dilemmas an overall score is derived.
Heinz Dilemma
A dilemma that Kohlberg used in his original research was the druggist’s dilemma: Heinz Steals the Drug in Europe.
From a theoretical point of view, it is not important what the participant thinks that Heinz should do. Kohlberg’s theory holds that the justification the participant offers is what is significant, the
form of their response. Below are some of many examples of possible arguments that belong to the six stages:
One criticism of Kohlberg’s theory is that it emphasizes justice to the exclusion of other values, and so may not adequately address the arguments of those who value other moral aspects of actions.
In addition, Kohlberg’s theory was initially developed based on empirical research using only male participants.
Carol Gilligan, a former student of Kohlberg, argued that Kohlberg’s theory is overly androcentric and did not adequately describe the concerns of women although research has generally found no significant pattern of differences in moral development between sexes.
Next, Kohlberg’s stages are not immune to cultural influences because individuals in different cultures seem to go through Kohlberg’s stages at different rates. Kohlberg has responded by saying that although different cultures persistently promote different beliefs, his stages correspond to underlying modes of reasoning, rather than to those beliefs.
Lastly, other psychologists have questioned the assumption that moral action is primarily a result of formal reasoning.
Social intuitionists such as Jonathan Haidt, for example, argue that individuals often make moral judgments without weighing concerns such as fairness, law, human rights, or abstract ethical values.
In assisting students with moral and character development, it is acknowledged that morals and character traits/attributes come into play within a rapidly changing context. Teachers cannot teach students all the specific knowledge, values, or behaviors that will lead to success in all aspects of their lives. Teachers must, therefore, acknowledge that some values are relative and teach students to develop their own views accordingly. At the same time, teachers must acknowledge that there are some absolutes with respect to morality and character that are accepted as commonalties among members of specific communities, major world religions, and moral philosophers. ( Moral and Character Development in Education (Huitt, 2004).)
Moral and character development is integral to the development of self (Ashton & Huitt, 1980), and is as much the responsibility of early caregivers as it is of later educators. Nucci (1989) showed that “children’s moral understandings were independent of specific religious concepts” and that both secular and religious children focus “on the same set of fundamental interpersonal issues: those pertaining to justice and compassion” (p. 195). In sum, parents, educators, affiliates of religious and secular organizations, and community members have an obligation to provide young people with training appropriate to their age level that would assist them in holding to the absolutes that are common across philosophies and beliefs of the major religious traditions, while at the same time helping them develop and defend own acquired values.
Wynne (1989) reports that the quality of relationships among faculty (and between the faculty and adults in authority) is a major factor in the development of student character. An atmosphere of adult harmony is vitally important. According to Wynne, schools effectively assisting student character development are: (paraphrased into contemporary terms)
The educational system must prepare individuals to progress in each of these arenas of life. Therefore, character development must be seen as an organic process in the development of the material/physical, human/psychological, and spiritual/transcendental aspects of human beings.
By the early 2000s, character education had become the fastest growing school reform movement (Kline, 2017). According to the US Department of Education website, (n.d.) character education is defined as a learning process that enables students and adults in a school community to understand, care about and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. Thus a set of morally desirable traits exists and these traits should be purposefully taught in schools (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2004; McClellan, 1999; Prestwich, 2004). Huitt (2004) identified a list of moral and character attributes/traits as the focus for K-12 schools (Figure 5.3) based on data results collected in south GA. Those attributes/traits can be integrated into the curriculum to assist young people strive for excellence in both character and competencies. Lesson Plan examples from Figure 5.4 to Figure 5.8) are just a few.
| Ability to See Another’s Perspective | Freedom from Prejudice | Productive |
| Ability to Work in Teams | Good-Citizenship | Prompt & Punctual |
| Accountable | Hard-Working | Respect & Accept Authority |
| Attentive | Helpful | Respect for Physical Health |
| Caring | High Self-Esteem | Respect for Self & Own Rights |
| Committed | Honest | Respect for the Creator |
| Compassionate | Honorable | Respect for the Natural Environment |
| Competent | Independent | Respect the Rights of Others |
| Confident | Integrity | Respectful |
| Considerate | Knowledgeable | Responsible |
| Cooperative | Law-Abiding | Rule-Following |
| Courageous | Love of Learning | Searches for Meaning |
| Courteous | Loyal | Self-Controlled |
| Dedicated | Moral | Self-Disciplined |
| Dependable & Reliable | Obedient | Strives for Excellence |
| Determined | Open-minded | Teachable |
| Disciplined Mind | Optimistic | Thankful |
| Drug-Free | Patient | Trustworthy |
| Empathetic | Persevering | Truthful |
| Fair | Positive, Encouraging Attitude | Valuing Family |
| Faithful | Prepared |
The Lesson Plan is a great place for teachers to start teaching and supporting moral and character development in the classroom. Below are several examples of teaching and supporting moral and character development in a variety of subject areas across various grade levels:
Grade Level: 1st
Content Area: Language Arts
Learning Objective(s)
Predict outcomes, oral speaking, following 2-3 step directions.
Moral/Character Trait(s)
Lesson Title
Too Many Tamales
Lesson Summary
After reading the story Too Many Tamales about a girl who loses her mother’s ring, discuss how Maria solved the problem. Discuss other implications of the story. Divide the class into five groups. Allow the groups to choose from five questions related to honesty. After 10 minutes of planning together, each group acts out the honest way to handle the situation they were given.
Discussion questions about integrity for use either with or without a video.
| Grade Level: 5-12 | Content Area: Science/Health |
| Learning Objective(s) | Students will be better able to solve problems in a group team experience, strengthen group cohesion through team building and communication, and reinforce individual communication skills. |
| Moral/Character Trait(s) | Cooperation; Determination |
| Lesson Title | Group Rope Squares |
| Lesson Summary | This activity reinforces group cohesion and communication skills as well as problem solving and cooperation. Groups are formed and students have to work together to make a square out of coiled rope. |
| Grade Level: 7-8 | Content Area: Music |
| Learning Objective(s) | National Music Standards Learning Objectives: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. |
| Moral/Character Trait(s) | Self-discipline; Responsibility |
| Lesson Title | Choral Concert |
| Lesson Summary | Students perform song using correct posture, singing voice, and rhythm. Students perform accompaniment on non-pitched percussion instruments with appropriate technique and rhythm. Students discuss social and cultural context of the song lyrics. |
Grade Level: 6
Content Area: Reading/Language Arts, Health, Mathematics
Learning Objective(s)
Moral/Character Trait(s)
Respect for self, respect for others
Lesson Title
Lesson Summary
Students develop and use a questionnaire to survey others on their awareness of the danger of secondhand smoke, then graph the data collected, relate their findings to at least two character qualities/traits and present to the class.
Image 5.3: “Woman Teacher Cartoon”
Schools and classrooms contribute to students’ moral development , as well as the students’ social and emotional development. This includes the way in which teachers and schools address behavioral issues through classroom management and discipline. Paying attention to the emotional climate of classrooms is important because children incorporate emotional experiences within their social cognitive schemes. (Nucci, 2009)
Variations in the emotional experiences of children can affect their moral orientations. The development of morality in children is nurtured by experiences of emotional warmth and fairness. Children who grow up in such environments tend to construct a view of the world based on goodwill. A child who maintains such an orientation feels emotionally secure and expects the world to operate according to basic moral standards of fairness. Children who maintain this orientation are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior. A moral classroom climate is one that fosters this tendency toward goodwill. The elements of a moral classroom climate address the following four needs:
In early childhood it is especially important to construct a classroom climate characterized by positive emotion. In middle childhood students are less dependent on adults. However, they become more susceptible to social comparison and peer exclusion. A positive moral climate reduces competition and increases opportunities for peer collaborative learning and social problem solving. In adolescence the challenge is to offset the negative impact of student cliques and tendencies toward alienation. Large high schools pose special challenges for the creation of a moral community. The Just Community School and the Small Schools movement are efforts to address this challenge through “schools within schools.”
A positive moral atmosphere is complemented by behavioral management in the form of developmental discipline. In addition to the goals of control and efficiency common to all approaches to behavioral management, developmental discipline includes the additional goal of fostering students’ social and moral competence. Developmental discipline engages students’ intrinsic motivation to do what is right for their own reasons. Developmental discipline de-emphasizes the use of external rewards and punishments to shape behavior. Conflicts and misbehavior are addressed primarily through social problem solving. Teacher discourse provides suggestions and scaffolding to support students’ efforts to resolve disputes and arrive at fair solutions.
Teacher feedback in support of positive behavior avoids the use of external rewards such as gold stars or certificates of recognition for good conduct or character because such external rewards reduce intrinsic moral motivation. Moral action and compliance with school conventions is aided by teachers’ judicious use of positive feedback in the form of validations that use moderate language referring to specific behavior and not the characteristics of the student. Responses to misbehavior should minimize the use of consequences when alternative problem-solving methods are available. When consequences are to be employed they should be “light” and in the form of logical consequences that are connected in a meaningful way to the nature of the transgression.
Negative reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
Taking away recess
Certificates of recognition
Teacher calling out model behavior
Cheating
Cheating is a violation of social norms (Kline, 2017). Williams (2012) categorized cheating into five dimensions: total cheating, serious cheating, social cheating, plagiarism, and student identified serious cheating. Academic Dishonesty (n.d.) breaks cheating into two dimensions: individual characteristics, such as gender and GPA, and institutional environment. To cheat or not, on the surface, it would seem that a student’s level of moral development would be the central factor for deciding whether or not to cheat (Kline, 2017). According to Thoma and Dong (2014) moral reasoning generally increases as the level of education increases. According to Kohlberg’s theory, higher stages of moral development would result in clearer moral thinking and thus produce better moral actions and behaviors.
However, in the case of cheating in the classroom, it is found that moral behavior is situation specific regardless of moral development levels or stages (Harthshorne & May, 1928-1930; Kline, 2017; Leming, 2008) Honesty or dishonesty in one situation does not predict the behavior of a child in another situation; no significant difference was found on cheating between students who used religious or moral focused programs and those who did not (Clouse, 2001; Harthshorne & May, 1930; Leming, 1993). Research has shown low levels of significance for factors such as level of education, GPA, a little or no significance for grade level, and cheating is equally prevalent across academic levels and demographic variables such as ethnicity or gender, but it does decrease with age at the college level (Geddes, 2011; Kline, 2017; McCabe & Trevino, 1993; Williams, 2012).
Cheating has always been a concern for educators and it is more prevalent than ever despite all of the focus and efforts on moral education (Kline, 2017; Schab, 1991). There is a disconnect between perceptions of cheating and cheating behaviors (Honz, Kiewra, & Yang, 2010; Williams, 2012). Giving answers or homework to another student is viewed more lightly than receiving or stealing answers or homework from another student; cheating within the classroom was viewed as a greater offense than cheating outside the classroom (Honz, Kiewra, & Yang, 2010). A significant relationship between cheating incidences and perceptions of cheating was also found that the less serious the cheating was perceived to be, the greater the number of cheating incidences was, meaning that the more seriously the behavior was perceived, the less frequently it occurred (Kline, 2017; Williams 2012). Remarkably, there was no large discrepancy in cheating perceptions across grade level and academic level (Kline, 2017).
What does this all mean for teachers? In responding to cheating, preventive measures are among the first strategies in the classroom (Santrock, 2018). It is the teachers’ responsibility to help students understand the purpose of learning and goals of education. Teachers should foster intrinsic motivation for learning in the classroom. Learning is not to get a high grade. To improve students’ self-efficacy for tests, teachers can help students understand the learning materials, and provide help for students. Study guides and additional assistance can help better prepare students not to cheat. Woolfolk (2015) also suggested the use of a variety of assessment measures in testing students’ learning, in order to reduce testing pressure and cheating and to promote intrinsic learning, such as the use of untimed tests, group projects, research projects, open-book exams, and take-home tests, to name a few. Teachers can emphasize the importance of moral behavior and character integrity in the classroom. To help shape students’ perceptions on cheating, parents, peers, and others can also help influence students as to what behavior is acceptable and what is not in terms of cheating (Thoma & Dong, 2014). It is important to teach students to be responsible, disciplined, moral individuals (Sandtrock, 2018).
In addition to clarifying goals and purpose of education for intrinsic motivation for learning, providing assistance for testing preparation, instilling character traits, and shaping perceptions on cheating, and the use of a variety of forms of testing learning as mentioned above, it is necessary to help students form proper expectations of testing and cheating culture. Rules of testing and consequences of cheating must be clearly announced to students in the classroom. Students’ questions related to testing procedures need to be addressed before testing. During testing, teachers need to closely monitor students’ progress so that no opportunities are created for students to cheat. Cheating incidents should be handled immediately to stop continuous violations. To reduce cheating incidences, testing pressure, and cheating temptations during testing, teachers can help create a low-pressure testing atmosphere, for example, classical music may be used as background music. Cheating should be dealt promptly, properly, and consistently according to the established rules and policies to reduce and stop cheating offenses. This again helps create a culture of not cheating, form an intrinsically motivated learning atmosphere, and shape students’ perceptions of what is acceptable and what is not in terms of cheating behaviors.
Kohlberg purported that women were often at a lower stage of moral development than men, but psychologist Carol Gilligan questioned his findings. Gilligan claims that women place a stronger emphasis on caring and empathy, rather than justice. She developed an alternative scale, heavily influenced by Kohlberg’s scale, which showed that both men and women could reach advanced stages of moral development. It is important to understand that at Gilligan’s time, women’s views and voices were not as prominent. While her work focuses on women, her seminal work was titled “In Another Voice” emphasizing another voice that was essentially not a male voice, which at that time was the status quo per Kohlberg’s work.
Chapter Discussion Questions:
Image 5.1: “Morals Picture” by RM Media Ltd is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Image 5.2: “Choices” by Dan Moyle is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Image 5.3: “Woman Teacher Cartoon” by K Whiteford is licensed under CC BY 1.0
Video 5.1: “Heinz Dilemma Edited” by Marissa Hanks
