Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

1. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

2. Heinz Steals the DrugIn 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. 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?

3. Kohlberg's 6 Stages of Moral Development • Obedience and Punishment Orientation • Individualism and Exchange • Good Interpersonal Relationships • Maintaining the Social Order • Social Contract and Individual Rights • Universal Principles

4. Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation • The concern is with what authorities permit and punish So a child operating at this stage might say, “Heinz should NOT have stolen the drug because it is against the law.”

5. Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange • The concern is with what meets your own self-interests. So a child might say, “Heinz should steal the drug if he loves his wife but he shouldn’t if he wants her to out of the way so he can marry someone younger and better looking.”

6. Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships • The concern is for good motives and interpersonal feelings such as love, empathy, trust, and caring for others So a child might say, “Heinz should steal the drug because he just wants to help his wife and the druggist is being unfair by charging too much money for the drug.”

7. Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order • The concern is for society as a whole So a child might say, “Heinz should not steal the drug because if we all stole and broke the law society would turn into chaos and wouldn’t function.”

8. Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights • The concern is with what society ought to be like; when one values what is “right” or “moral” over particular laws So a child might say, “Heinz should steal the drug because it will save his wife’s life and the value of her life is greater than the value of anything else, like the druggists’ property.”

9. Stage 6: Universal Principles • The concern is with what is just; justice (and other universal principles) is valued above everything else • Kohlberg believes that in order to truly operate from this stage we must look at the situation from the eyes of others, or under a “veil of ignorance.”

10. So what does this have to do with our short stories? • After learning about Kohlberg’s take on the psychological development of moral choice, let’s talk. • Think about the characters at work in our short stories: • Brother in “The Scarlet Ibis” • George, Hazel, and Harrison in “Harrison Bergeron” • Walter and Mrs. Mitty in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” • Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” • Pick THREE characters and make an argument for which particular stage these characters are operating. Your argument needs to, of course, have specific textual support! Jot down notes and prepare to discuss.

11. Essay Prompt: In a well-written essay, using evidence from the text, argue the moral development of a character from a short story of choice.

12. 5 Paragraph Essay Structure • 1st Paragraph • Introduce your topic • Thesis statement • 2nd to 4th Paragraphs • One paragraph per character • 5th Paragraph • Conclusion • Sum everything up