Moral Development

Kohlberg advocated that an individual goes through 3 distinct levels of moral development whichare as follows: premoral/preconvetional, conventional and postconventional. This theory as a whole,believes that moral development ivolves respect for other humans and that relationships are based onmutual trust.

At preconventional level, children are only interested in securing their own benefit. This is theidea of morality They begin by avoiding punishment, and quickly learn that they may cure otherbenefits by pleasing others.

Make moral decisions strictly on the basis of self-interests. Disobey rules if can do sowithout getting caught.

Interest shifts to rewards rather than punishment-effort is made to secure greatestbenefit for oneself.. Recognize that others have needs, but makes satisfaction of own needs a higher priority.

The stage at which children learn about rules and authority. They learn that there are certain"conventions" that govern how they should and should not behave, and learn to obey them.

Effort is made to secure approval and maintain interpersonal relations.

Lookto iety as a whole for guidelines about behavior. Think of rules as inflexible.unchangeable.

Moraly conststs of standards beyond specific group or authortyfigures, Pecple make the efiortto define valid values and principles without regard to outside authority or to the expectations of others.

Mutual benefit, reciprocity. Morally right and legally right are not always the same.Utilitarian rules that make life better for everyone.ecognize that rules are social agreements that can be changed whern necessary.

Morality is based on principles that transcend mutual benefit.; Respect for life, rights, and dignity of all.Willing to forfeit one's life for the sake of one's belief and other's.Adhere to a small number of abstract princples that transcend specific, concrete rules.Answer to an inner conscience.

He proposed a framework for spiritual development that he suggest parallels the fameworks forother aspects of human development. In doing this, he uggests that spirituality is a basic aspect ofhuman existence that develops in predictable ways, just s cognition or social behavior or motar skils rthe ability to feed oneself. He proposes seven stages of development

Avery small child learns to rely on the goodness (or badness, or inconsistency) of the world basedon how that child is treated by their parents.. This is very similar to Erik Erickson's initial stage of human psychosocial development, Basic Trustvs. Mistrust.

Children are beginning to be able to use symbols and their imaginations. Fantasy and reality oftenget mixed together. Children in this stage are very self-focused and inclined to take very literally (and self-referentially) ideas about evi,the devil or other negative aspects of religion.During this stage, our most basic ideas about God are usually picked up from our parents and/orsociety.

Information is organized into stories. These stories, along with moral rules, are understoodliteraly and concretely.There islittle ability to step back from the story and formulate an overarching meaning.Justice and fairness are seen as reciprocal. [A few people remain in this stage throughout theirlives.]

Most people move on to this stage as teenagers. At this point, their life has grown to includeperson usually adopts some sort of all-encompassing belief system.

People in this stage place a large amount of trust in external authority figures and tend not torecognize that they are within a belief system box" as thelir beliefs ae imternalized but have notbeen examined.Some people remain permanently in this stage.

Stage in which a person begins to see outside the "box"' and realize that there are other "boxes"People in this stage ask questions and see the contradictions or problems in their beliefs. Thiscan be a very painful stage as old ideas are now modified and sometimes rejected altogether.Some people give up on faith altogether at this point but faith can be strengthened in tis stageas beliefs become explicitly.personally held. There is a strong rellance on the logic, rational mindand the self.lronicaly people in stage 3 think that stage 4 people have become"backsliders" when in realitythey have actually moved forward.

A person who has gone through the deconstruction of the Individuative-Reflective stage beginsto let go of some of the reliance on their own rational mind and recognize that some experiencesare not logical or easily understood at all.The move here is from either/or to both/and; complexity and paradox are embraced. People inthis stage are more willing to dialogue with people of other faiths, seeking further informationand correction to their own beliefs, and are able to do this without letting go, They begin to see life as a mystery and often return to sacred stories and symbols but this timewithout being stuck in a theological box.

Very few people reach this stage. s characterized by seeing all f humanity as one brotherhood and taking profound,selfsacrificing action to care for al humanity because of this view.. Those who do live their ives to the full in service of others without any real wories or doubts.

Westerhoff presents a theory of faíth developmentin four stages in his original writing and thesare: Experienced Fath, Afflative Falih, Searching Falt, & Owned Faih According to Nesterhoff:Faith grows like the rings of a tree, with each ring adding to and changing the tree somewhat, yet buildingon that which has grown before.

At the core is the faith which we experience from our earliest years either in life or, if onehas a major reorientation in his or her beliefs, in a new faith system. We receive the faiththat is important to those who nurture us. The way it molds and influences their lives makes an indelible impression on us, creating the core of our faith..this level of faith isUsually associated with the impressionable periods of life when a person is dependent onothers, such as during early childhood.

As one person gradually displays beliefs, values, and practices of one's family, group, orchurch, there is another ring formed. The individual takes on the characteristics of thenu ırturing persons and becomes identified as an accepted partner, one who is part of theor confirmation, or may simply be understood, as might be the case with regularparticipants who do not join a church. This phase of a person's growth is recognized as atime of testing. It is a matching of the person with peer expectations. Where traditions,values, and practices are similar, there usually is a good match and the individual mergeshis or her identity with that of the body. There is little room for personal differences dudto a strong emphasis on unity and conformity in belief and practice...The concerns forbelonging, for security, and for sense of power land identity) that come from groupmembership are the key drives in forming one's faith concept during this period. Thislevel of faith is expressed, at the earliest, during adolescent years.

Faith development reaches a crucial junction when one becomes aware that personalbeliefs or experience may no longer be exactly the same as those of the group, or when aperson begins to question some of the commonly held beliefs or practices. This occurs asone naturally recognizes that his or her faith is formed more by others (Parents, peers,congregations, etc.) than by personal conviction. The decision must be faced whether ornot to develop, express, and accept responsibility for a personal interpretation of one'sreligion as over against accepting that which may be viewed as a group's interpretation.of ten there is experimentation in which persons try out alternatives or committhemselves to persons or causes which promise help in establishing personal convictionand active practice of one's faith.

The culmination of the faith development process finds expression in a personal, ownedfaith. This best could be described as conversion experience, in which a person hasreoriented his or herlife and now claims personal ownership of and responsibility forbeliefs and practices..characteristics of this phase include close attention to practicingone's faith as well as believing it...t level of faith, according to Westerhoff,is God'sintention for everyone; we are all called to reach our highest potential.Later REVISED to have 3 STAGES: Affiliative, Searching, & Mature.