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Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory Of Moral Development

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Entry #1: Lifespan Development - Personal Reflection
A - Theory and Stage
Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages. This includes three distinct levels of moral reasoning, each with two sub-stages. Stage one (1) is called Obedience and Punishment, of which this section will be based on. At this stage, children believe that authorities in their lives such as teachers and parents lay down a set of rules that they must indisputably follow. This obedience is compelled by the threat or application of punishment (Kohlberg, 1958). The stage is especially common in young children particularly at the infancy level but adults too can be guilty …show more content…

I was always aware that my mother’s rules were there but it did not matter to me if I broke these rules once I got pleasure from what I was engaged in and in the end successfully avoiding the typical beating I normally get as punishment. I felt that once I made myself happy without getting trouble, then what I was doing wasn’t necessarily wrong. This happened because I did not understand the true meaning of morals, in fact, I did not even know the word, my thoughts were either be punished or avoid punishment at all cost. As I grew, I tried harder to find ways to avoid punishment so I tried to stick to the rules my mother laid out just so I could avoid being punished more often but I still found myself drifting at times to …show more content…

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: Stages of Moral Development. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com.
Kohlberg, L. (1958). The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago.
McLeod, S. A. (2013). Kohlberg. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html Entry #2: Social Psychology - Gender Identity
A – Overview of Concept
Social psychology is a branch of psychology that studies individuals in the social context (Kong 1996). It deals with the origins and effects of social interactions, influences, and perceptions of an individual. Gender Identity, one concept of social psychology, refers to one’s sense of oneself as male, female or transgender (American Psychological Association, 2006). In other words, gender identity is how one categorizes the gender of which they perceive themselves to belong. Those who identify with the gender that corresponds with the sex assigned at birth (male or female) are referred to as cisgender while those who identify with the gender that is different from the sex assigned at birth are transgender (Boundless, 2016). It is often manifested in the early stages of development and is either deemed acceptable or unacceptable, based on the association to a particular gender category ("Development of Gender Identity", n.d). According to Dr. Shuvo Ghosh, the concept is cohesively linked to the concept of gender role, where behaviors are dictated based

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Easier said than done when the rules were unclear and ever changing. What was very clean and never changing were the consequences to broken rules or disobeying. The consequence to disobeying or breaking rules was my dad’s anger; the way he dealt with his anger is a whole other story. The punishments ranged from being grounded for a week to dodging a hammer as it wizzes past my head to a backhand slap to my face. I never knew what kind of day it would be

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“Young children are just beginning to learn how to discriminate between right and wrong; in other words, they are developing a sense of morality” (Levine, 2016). They simply are developing the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong form themselves, but what the moral development helps them to know the difference in right and wrong and the best interest for others rather than themselves. “So, what is understood about morality as a child in middle childhood, is generally the level of reasoning most individuals will use in moral dilemmas or judging the morality of situations” (S. Tulane, personal communication, April 18, 2017). This development has an influence on everything that happens around them and the behaviors around

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People believe behavior is based off symbolical things such as laws, age, and social status as represented by characters such as Nurse Greta, the Juvey Cop, and a symbol such as the Bill of Life, in the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman; however, I believe it depends on the person whether their behavior can change or not. In this dystopia, symbolical behavior characteristics are exaggerated into major issues. These symbols can be a major issue today, especially the ideas of laws changing people’s behavior. Symbols do not change people; the only way someone can be changed is by either influence or self-awareness. Parents must do their best to instill good behavior and morals in their children; if parents do not do that to their kids, then the parents are at just as much as

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Theoretical Background This study is anchored on Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory. This theory proposed that moral reasoning of human beings is associated with the stages of development in solving moral issues that an individual encounters (Bjorklund & Blasi, 2010). Kohlberg’s moral development sees moral reasoning as progressing through three levels to support his claims. First, pre-conventional moral reasoning, it is characterized by apparent and physical events.

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Introduction I will be explaining briefly the four major developmental theories by four different sources. Also I will be explaining that how I am going to practically apply the four major developmental theories in my teaching field. Firstly I will be explaining about the Psychosocial Developmental theories Of Erik Erikson’s. Secondly I will explain the Cognitive theories of Jean Piaget. Thirdly I will explain the Moral Developmental theories of Lawrence Kohlberg.

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1); as well as aspects of categorizing concepts with reference to factors in social psychology. For example, the article titled, ‘Prototype Theory: An Alternative Concept Theory for Categorizing Sex and Gender?’ seek to explore the prototype theory to determine whether it captures the fluidity of gender and is able to accommodate transgender and queer identities. The article clearly defined the features of the category labelled ‘woman’ on the basis of sex and gender and applied the prototype theory to these concepts as it relates to the hierarchal levels of categorization. According to Fox (2011), utilizing the prototype theory as a theoretical framework for the concepts of sex and gender provides structural flexibility and inclusiveness (Fox, 2011).

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Unlike my father, my mother is very strict. When I was a teenager, my mother would punish me for simple mistakes. I remember her spanking my brothers and me for not cleaning the dishes well. One the other hand my father do not believe in spanking children. As a child, I loved going to my father’s house for the weekend; he would let me get away with being disobedient.

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