Pillars in the Making - May 2012

Do you know which development level is your moral ability up to? 

I want to share with you a story about morality this month, and see how you will decide to do.

“A man is standing outside a pharmacy shop, and thinking whether to go in or not. He wants to have a particular medicine, because his wife is suffering from a serious type of cancer, which the medicine can help improving her symptoms and will make her feel better. But this type of medicine is very expensive, and they cannot afford buying it. Now the man is standing right in front of the shop, he can see the position of pills in the shop, and struggling what should he do, he has only got two choices; first, break into the shop and steal the pills for his wife, second, go back home and wait for miracles to happen.”

Try to imagine that if you are the man and you know deeply from your heart that stealing is against the law, but your wife really needs those pills for her sickness, what will you do?

After you make your decision, you can find out which moral development stages you are on at the table below. 

Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6
Punishment Orientation	Naïve reward orientation	Good boy/girl orientation	Authority Orientation	Social Contact Orientation	Individual principles and conscience orientation
Right or Wrong is determined by what is punished.	Right or wrong is determined by what is rewarded.	Right or wrong is determined close other approve or disapprove	Right or wrong is determined by society’s rules and laws, which should be obey rigidly.	Right or wrong is determined by society’s rules which are viewed as flexible rather than absolute.	Right or wrong is determined by abstract ethical views that emphasize equity and justice.

Stage theory of moral development- Lawrence Kohlberg

Vicky Wong

References:

Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children's orientations toward a moral order: I. Sequence in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33.

Killen, M., Margie, N. G., & Sinno, S. (2006). Morality in the context of intergroup relationships. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 155-183). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.