Critiques of Kohlberg's model of moral development: a summary

Abstract

This article presents a critical evaluation of the most influential research-based model of moral development in academic psychology and in schools of education. The model is that of Lawrence Kohlberg (197la, 1981, 1984) who proposed a developmental series of cognitive stages, or levels, in human moral development. More specifically, Kohlberg posited a series of six universal stages of moral development through which all people go, though most people stop at sorne level before reaching Stage 6. The rate of passage between stages varies from individual to individual, as it can be affected to sorne degree by external factors. Kohlberg's basic research strategy was to present hypo­ thetical moral dilemmas to children and young adults, and then to analyze the reasons they gave for believing that one course of action, rather than another, should be followed. He claimed to have observed six distinct patterns of moral reasoning. Kohlberg was interested in the person's dominant pattem of moral reasoning: he was concerned with the form and process of the thought used, not with the actual moral decision made. Two people might disagree about what is to be done but use the same kind of reasoning, or they might come to the same decision but for very different reasons. Like so many modern psychological thinkers, Kohlberg was primarily concerned with structure and changes in structure (process), not in particular content. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23765133