Fall 2026 SOWK 430 Week 11 - States of Moral Development

In Week 11, we will continue applying ethical reasoning strategies to case studies, reflect on how we personally connect with social work values, and plan our groups for next week’s group assignment. Students will start reading Paul and Elder (2006) and consider critical thinking as a strategy. They will watch a lecture video discussing moral development.

Week 11 Objectives:

  • Discuss the role the value Integrity has in our lives.
  • Expand knowledge of ethical reasoning strategies.
  • Apply the Essential Steps model to more case studies.

Stage of Moral Development - Overview

In one of the forums this week we are talking about integrity, so I thought it would be helpful to introduce you all to Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. You may also be learning about it in HSBE. It gives us a framework for understanding how people reason through moral decisions. This slide is the overview, and on the slides after this we will go through each stage one at a time.

Kohlberg (1971) describes six stages grouped into three levels.

  • Preconventional level (Stages 1 and 2): right and wrong are judged by what happens to me: avoiding punishment (Stage 1) and getting a fair trade or what I need (Stage 2).
  • Conventional level (Stages 3 and 4): right and wrong are judged by the expectations of the people and groups around us: being seen as a good person (Stage 3) and keeping law and social order (Stage 4).
  • Post-conventional, autonomous, or principled level (Stages 5 and 6): right and wrong are judged by principles that go beyond any one group: agreed-upon rights and social contracts (Stage 5) and universal ethical principles a person chooses for themself (Stage 6).

What about ages? Kohlberg presented the stages as an invariant sequence, not as age ranges. Each person moves through them one step at a time and in order, but at different speeds, and can stop at any level (Kohlberg, 1971, p. 36). As a rough guide, preconventional thinking is most common in childhood, conventional thinking in adolescence and most of adulthood, and post-conventional thinking only in some adults. Stage 6 is rare. People don’t necessarily make it through all of the stages in their lives.

(Kohlberg, 1971)

Reorient Graphics (1 of 2)

Slide reorients the graphics.

Punishment and obedience orientation

Level I Preconventional

  • At the preconventional level, rules come from outside the person. “Good” and “bad” are labels other people use, and the child makes sense of them by what happens to them: punishment, reward, or a trade of favors.
  • The question being asked is “What happens to me?”

At this level the child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right or wrong, but interprets these labels in terms of either the physical or the hedonistic consequences of action (punishment, reward, exchange of favours) or in terms of the physical power of those who enunciate the rules and labels (p. 86)

The first stage is Punishment and obedience orientation

  • Something is wrong because you get punished for it. If no one gets punished, it isn’t seen as wrong.
  • Whoever has the power to punish is right, simply because they have that power. Obedience isn’t about respecting the reason behind a rule.

The physical consequences of action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value of these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning deference to power are valued in their own right (p. 87)

Instrumental relativist orientation

  • Quid pro quo
  • Still focused on the self, but now there is room for deals. What’s right is whatever meets my needs, and sometimes yours too, if it’s a fair trade.
  • Fairness exists here, but only as an exchange. “I’ll help you if you help me” is not loyalty or gratitude.

Right action consists of that which instrumentally satisfies one’s own needs and occasionally the needs of others. Human relations are viewed in terms similar to those of the marketplace. Elements of fairness, of reciprocity, and equal sharing are present, but they are always interpreted in a physical, pragmatic way. Reciprocity is a matter of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” not of loyalty, gratitude, or justice. (p. 87)

Interpersonal concordance or “good boy - nice girl” orientation

II Conventional Level

  • We move away from just ourselves and start looking to conformity
  • Meeting the expectations of family, group, or nation matters for its own sake, even when there is no reward or punishment involved.
  • It goes beyond going along: people are loyal to the group and its order and actively defend it.

At this level, maintaining the expectations of the individual’s family, group, or nation is perceived as valuable in its own right, regardless of immediate and obvious consequences. The attitude is one not only of conformity to personal expectations and social order, but of loyalty to it, of actively maintaining, supporting, and justifying the order and of identifying with the persons or group involved in it. This level comprises the following two (p. 87)

Interpersonal concordance or “good boy - nice girl” orientation

  • Being good means being seen as good by the people around you: helping, pleasing, and earning their approval.
  • Intentions start to count for the first time. “They meant well” makes a difference.
  • Where this shows up in social work: wanting to be liked by clients or coworkers, or going along with the team to keep the peace.

Good behavior is that which pleases or helps others and is approved by them. There is much conformity to stereotypical images of what is the majority or “natural” behavior. Behavior is frequently judged by intention: “he means well” becomes important for the first time. One earns approval by being “nice.” (p. 87)

“Law and order” orientation

II Conventional Level, continued

  • The second stage of the conventional level. The focus widens from the people around us to the rules and authority that hold the larger group together.
  • What matters is doing your duty and keeping the system working, whether or not anyone is watching or approving.

“Law and order” orientation

There is orientation toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order. Right behaviour consists of doing one’s duty, showing respect for authority, and maintaining the given social order for its own sake. (p. 87)

Social-contract legalistic orientation

III Post-Conventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level

  • Now a person can step outside their own group and ask whether its rules are right. Principles hold up on their own, not because an authority or a group says so.

At this level, there is a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups or persons holding these principles and apart from the individual’s own identification with these groups. This level again has two stages: (p. 87)

Social-contract legalistic orientation

  • Right means respecting individual rights and the rules a society has examined and agreed to together.
  • People know that values and opinions differ, so fair processes for reaching agreement matter.
  • Unlike Stage 4, laws aren’t fixed. They can be changed when they stop serving people, through the proper process.
  • Where this shows up in social work: advocating to change a policy instead of either ignoring it or following it no matter what.

Generally, this stage has utilitarian overtones. Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and in terms of standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. There is a clear awareness of the relativism of personal values and opinions and a corresponding emphasis on procedural rules for reaching consensus. (pp. 87-88)

Universal ethical-principle orientation

  • Right is decided by conscience, following ethical principles a person has chosen for themself and applies consistently to everyone.
  • These are broad principles (the Golden Rule), not concrete rules (the Ten Commandments): justice, equal human rights, and the dignity of every person.
  • When a law conflicts with these principles, the principle comes first. This stage is generally considered rare.
  • Where this shows up in social work: dignity and worth of the person and social justice are core values in the NASW Code of Ethics.

Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles appealing to logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency. These principles are abstract and ethical (the Golden Rule, the categorical imperative); they are not concrete moral rules like the Ten Commandments. At heart, these are universal principles of justice, of the reciprocity and equality of human rights and of respect for the dignity of human beings as individual persons. (p. 88)

Reorient Graphics (2 of 2)

Slide reorients the graphics.

Reading this week

Paul and Elders A Thinker’s Guide to Ethical Reasoning

The Function of Ethics and The Problem of Pseudo-Ethics (pp. 1-16)

Case Studies

Essential Steps for Ethical Problem-Solving

Whistle Blowing Bartering for Services Managing Client Fraud

Forum on core values and reflecting on the reading.

References

Reference

Kohlberg, L. (1971). Chapter 1 - Stages of moral development as a basis for moral education. In C. Beck, B. Crittenden, & E. Sullivan (Eds.), Moral education: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 23-92). University of Toronto Press. 

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). The thinker’s guide to understanding the foundations of ethical reasoning: Based on critical thinking concepts & tools (2nd ed.). Foundation for Critical Thinking.