Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory Analysis

Morals play a strong role in human decision making. Levitt and Aligo (2013) state that “Morals are foundation to professional and ethical counseling practice.” Lawrence Kohlberg was a Harvard psychologist that developed a theory on how people develop morality. This model of moral development are deemed to be “transcultural—that is, they are found in every culture in the world,” (Boss, 2015, p. 274). Kohlberg’s theory began to gain the attention of his peers in the 1970’s and is still considered a standard today. Because people are unique individually, their total level of advancement achieved differs, yet the rate at which they experience the lower stages, generally, is the same (Moroney, 2006). Kohlberg’s theory was based on a theory developed

In this phase, people are aware of laws and uphold them to avoid guilt. People consider society as a whole when making decisions and focus is directed on civic duty and respect of authority. Law and order is maintained because the rules are followed, (Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development, n.d.). An example of this is following the speed limit because speeding is against the law and not because of fear of getting a ticket. The third and final level in the post-conventional orientation. Many people never reach this level (less than 10%) and few are capable of thinking at this level, (Boss, 2015). People who reach this phase live by their own principles of morality. Their perspective overtakes what society views as right and wrong. The two stages of post-conventional orientation are social contract and universal ethics orientation. In social contract orientation, it is recognized that issues are not always black and white. There needs to be a balance between ourselves and others. Sometimes the rules need to be disobeyed for the greater good or if they have become out dated. If someone were stealing to feed their starving family is an example. I feel that I base much of my decision making from this level of thought. I try to see that issues can be complex and that sometimes the decision can be quite