Discuss Kohlberg's theory and methods. What methods have been developed to complement

Kohlberg's?

What will be an ideal response?

Kohlberg theorized that moral development progressed through a series of orderly,
invariant stages. Early moral reasoning, according to this theorist, is based primarily on
personal needs or the consequences or outcomes of moral actions. During childhood,
thinking is more logical, yet guided by external authority. During adolescence and
adulthood, moral thinking is more internalized, and guided by individual principles
(hence the term, value autonomy). When using Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview,
the rater considers the level of reasoning behind the participant's responses, which are
then used to assign the individual a stage score. Because it takes considerable time to
score these responses, there have been other measures developed, such as the Defining
Issues Test, that require the participant to simply evaluate potential responses to moral
dilemmas.