Moral Development
Resources
- Website icon PSYC Discussion Participation Scoring Guide.
- Website icon APA Citing and Referencing.
Lawrence Kohlberg identified six stages of moral development that he later modified to five. He assessed people's stage of development based on an ethical dilemma in a fictitious scenario that he calls "the Heinz dilemma."
In your studies, read Coon and Mitterer's discussion on the stages of development (pages 111-113). You also read the article on the Heinz dilemma and viewed the video Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development on the Simply Psychology Web site.
For the discussion, either search the Internet for another Heinz dilemma interview or conduct an interview of your own with a family member, friend, or co-worker. Then complete the following:
- Describe the person's response to the dilemma Heinz faced.
- Identify the stage from Kohlberg's theory of moral development that best fits with the interviewee's responses.
- Justify your decision by being specific about what aspects of the interviewee's description fit with the stage as defined by Kohlberg.
- Describe strengths of and challenges to Kohlberg's theory by writing in your own words and paraphrasing and citing sources. Avoid copying and pasting from sources.
- Use both in-text citations and full references to cite your sources with APA (6th edition) style and formatting.