Moral Development

Another significant development in humans takes place through the evolving ethical thoughts that a person is capable of considering. As a small child, what made you choose not to eat a cookie before dinner? Was it the thought of your parent punishing you for your actions? Today, what might make you avoid a cookie before dinner? It's probably not the same reason.

In order to determine how humans consider morality, a psychologist named Lawrence Kohlberg asked people of various ages to listen to a scenario and then explain what they thought was the right thing to do in that situation. The situation he used, The Heinz Dilemma, had no obvious solution. Consider it below.

Heinz Steals the Drug

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? (Kohlberg, 1963)

Saying yes to stealing or no to stealing didn't matter to Kohlberg. His interest was in people's reasoning behind their answers. Why did a person think it was better to steal? Or why did someone think it was better to let the wife die instead of stealing?

Types of morality infographic, full text available below image

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Preconventional Morality: Up to about age nine; morality determined by rewards and punishments (ex: Heniz should not steal because he will probably go to jail; ex: Heinz should steal because otherwise he loses his wife)

Conventional Morality: Most adolescents and adults; morality determined by what is normal or how other people will view you (ex: Heinz shouldn't steal because people will see him as a criminal; ex: Heinz should steal because everyone will see him as a hero and everyone steals sometimes).

Postconventional Morality: 10-15% of adults; morality determined by universal ethical standards (ex: Heinz should not steal because it is wrong to take from others; ex: Heinz should steal because a human life is more important than personal property).

Although Kohlberg's research offered a useful explanation of evolving morality, Kohlberg's stages have not been validated by other research. His research was limited to less than 100 people. When considering a hypothetical situation, it's impossible to estimate what a person would do in a real-life situation that involves real people. One important criticism of Kohlberg came from a psychologist named Carol Gilligan. She pointed out that Kohlberg only used males in his research, and she suggested that women make different ethical decisions at the highest levels, considering relationships and compassion over abstract principles of justice.

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