Remembered by students of education for his theory which posits six stages of moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg was born October 25, 1927, in Bronxville, New York. He earned a BA at the University of Chicago and in 1958 completed his Ph.D. at that institution as well. After teaching at Yale and the University of Chicago, Kohlberg moved to Harvard in 1968 as professor of education and social psychology. The following year, he published an article titled “Stage and Sequence: The Cognitive Developmental Approach to Socialization.” This article, which appeared in the Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research, is considered a seminal work in the field of developmental psychology.
Influenced by Jean Piaget, Kohlberg offers six stages of moral development to explain the evolution of the development of “principled conscience.” The first stage, when a child understands only punishment and reward, gives way to higher levels of moral development as the individual matures. The early stages of development are labeled “re-conventional” under this theory. The next grouping of stages are labeled “conventional,” and the highest levels of moral reasoning are labeled “postconventional” and include understanding of universal principles.
Bibliography:
- Power, F. C., Higgins, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1989). Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to moral education. New York: Columbia University Press.
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