Personal portrait

Personal Portrait

Introduction

Kohlberg's model of moral development has three stages, namely pre-conventional morality, conventional morality, and post-conventional morality. All the three stages in the context of my own life will be discussed in this paper. The purpose of our paper is to evaluate that moral development takes place in the early stages of life as opposite to Kohlberg's research.

Thesis Statement

Moral development in humans starts in the early life, at the ages of zero to 2 years.

Discussion

Pre-conventional Morality

In this section, I am going to analyze the developmental stages I myself have gone through so far in my life. Kohlberg's pre-conventional morality is further divided into two parts, part one is in regards to obedience and punishment orientation, part two is in regards to instrumental purpose and exchange. Obedience and Punishment Orientation means that I viewed rules as imposed and external to myself. The decision about what's right is explained in terms of rewards and punishments and the exchange of favors. When I was a kid, I tended to avoid punishment at all costs, just like every other kid. I thought ahead of time about what the consequences might be. For instance, I used to think in childhood that I should share my toy with my younger brother because if I don't, mom will yell at me. The second part of level one is, instrumental purpose and exchange, meaning a strong concern for personal reward/satisfaction (Trevino, 2007, Pp. 136).

Conventional Morality

Kohlberg's second level within the hierarchy of personal ethical development called Conventional Morality consists of stage three and stage four.

Stage three focuses on an individual's approval from others on what to think, say, and do. This is known as looking around for ethical guidance. An individual is not following an internal compass, but he or she is looking around to see what superiors and peers are doing and saying to decide what is right. This stage is called Good boy-Nice Girl Orientation. A person earns approval by being “nice”. An individual wants to please and impress others, and sometimes it involves self-sacrifice. For an example, I used to take my toys at my friends' places even without seeking permission from my mom just to please my friends. I believe I was doing the right thing by taking care of my friends even sometimes it resulted in break/lost of my toys. Most people are likely to do what is expected of them as a result of the reward system, role expectations, authority figure demands, and group norms (Wong, 2000, Pp. 62).

Stage four focuses on obeying the laws of society. A person wants to respect authority and to follow rules or laws designed to promote the common good. This stage is known as Law and Order Orientation, in which no one or group is above the law. For instance, my brother used to steal money from my mom's purse to buy and smoke weed. I once saw him doing that and decided to tell my mom about it even though he loved me so ...