Moral Development
- Temperament refers to those aspects of an individual's personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned.
- Socialization refers to the lifelong process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, and ideologies, providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within their own society.
- Self-control is the ability to control one's emotions, behavior, and desires in the face of external demands, to function in society.
- Lawrence Kohlberg was an American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development.
- In Kolhlberg's thoery of moral development, pre-conventional morality represents a phase of development in which the morality of an action is judged by its direct consequences. Morality is punishment driven or self-interest driven.
- According to Kohlberg the stage following the punishment and obedience orientation of pre-conventional morality is the instrumental relativist orientation. Right action consists of what satisfies your own needs, and reciprocity, though present, is interpreted pragmatically.
- In Kolberg's thoery, conventional morality is characterized by an acceptance of society's conventions concerning right and wrong. At this level an individual obeys rules and follows society's norms even when there are no consequences for obedience or disobedience.
- Post-conventional morality, in Kohlberg's theory, is marked by a growing realization that individuals are separate entities from society, and that the individual's own perspective may take precedence. The person lives by principles typically including such basic human rights as liberty and justice.
- A universal code of ethics is a system of ethics that can apply to every sentient being.
Lawrence Kohlberg.
