Kohlberg's Moral Stages Research Paper

Kohlberg's Moral Stages
Through understanding the stages of moral development, it is possible to develop or improve an individual's morals or values. Kohlberg's stages of moral development are based on a psychological theory that was originally conceived by Jean Piaget. Kohlberg's theory reviews moral reasoning from the perspective of six developmental stages, where each higher stage responded to moral dilemmas more adequately in comparison to its predecessor. In other words, Kohlberg's theory states that people progress in their moral reasoning moving through six stages that were classified into three levels. This paper aims at explaining Kohlberg's theory of moral stages and reviewing most common critique of his work. Kohlberg based his theory on the findings

In accordance with Bee (1994), in addition to moral behavior, it is also important to review individual's habits that were developed over time, such as an individual's perception of situation and necessity for participation, potential costs and benefits for acting in specific way, and competing motive including peer pressure, self interest and other factors. Robisnson (1981) argued that Kohlberg's theory failed to take into account such issues as property rights and the common good of society (as cited in Watson & Skinner, 2012, p. 194). Wade and Travis (2002) criticized Kohlberg's theory for ignorance of three limitations, including discounting of influence of education and culture on moral reasoning (as cited in Watson & Skinner, 2012, p. 194). Moreover, similarly to Bee (1994) scientists identified ignorance of situational aspect of moral reasoning (as cited in Watson & Skinner, 2012, p. 194). The last, third limitation of Kohlberg's theory is related to the inconsistency between moral reasoning and behavior that was not accounted in his