Lawrence Kohlberg

Biography

• Born in Bronxville, New York on October 25th, 1927
• Married Lucy Stigberg in 1955
• Had two sons with his wife
• Committed suicide in 1987
• Suffered from depression in addition to contracting a tropical parasite

Education

• Enrolled in the University of Chicago in 1947
• Completed his Bachelors in one year-1948
• Attained his Doctoral Degree in Psychology in 1958
• Was a staff member at Yale as an assistant professor in psychology-1959
• 1962 returned to the University of Chicago as an assistant professor

Education Continued

• Worked as an associate professor and director of child psychology
• Worked at Harvard University between 1968-1987
• At Harvard he worked as a professor of education and social psychology

Kolhberg's Inspirations

• Theory was based off of:
• Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget
• American philosopher John Dewey
• In adition to James Mark Bladwin

Kolhberg's Theory

• Theory broken up into 3 levels and 6 stages
• Idea that a person's morality can ONLY be shown through progression
• Level 1-Pre-Conventional Morality
• Level 2- Conventional Morality
• Level 3-Post Conventional Morality

Level 1-Pre-Conventional

• Stage 1:
• Obedience and Punishment Orientation
• Observed in the Infancy stage
• Idea that the child will be good in order not to get puni
• If punished the child will know they have done something wrong

Level 1: Pre-Conventional

• Stage 2:
• Individualism and Exch
• Seen in early childhood 
• Recognizing more then one right or wrong
• More then one point of view

Level 2- Conventional Morality

• Stage 3:
• Good interpersonal relationships
• Seen in adolescents 
• Looking for approval from others
• Wanting to be seen as a "good girl/boy"

Level 2: Conventional Morality

• Stage 4:
• Maintaining order
• Also seen in adolescents
• A child becomes aware of the rules of society
• Feeling a need to abide by the rules

Level 3- Post-Conventional

• Stage 5: 
• Social Contract
• Seen in teenage years
• Becoming aware of the reasoning rules
• Not always benefiting the individual but rather the masses

Level 3- Post-Convetional

• Stage 6:
• Universal principles
• Occurs in adulthood 
• Developing one's own set of principles based off of themselves
• The following 

Information on Kohlberg's Theory

• His theory was created in 1958 
• Was created during studies of the University of