DETERMINATION OF KOHLBERG’S MORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE
DETERMINATION OF KOHLBERG’S MORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this study is to verify the correlation between the developmental stages of Kohlberg’s moral attitudes and chronological age, through non-experimental methodology in a general sample of 167 subjects included in the study. In the theory of stages addressed in this study, there are three levels (six stages in total) in the hierarchical structure of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. In the first level, the judgments of the individual derive from obedience and punishment, respectively personal interests, in the second level, interpersonal interests such as authority are involved, while in the third level, the individual refers to a set of universal principles such as justice and fairness. The results presented through correlation analysis show that there is no statistically significant relationship between the first, second and third stage and the chronological age, while the relationship resulted as average with a positive direction, but statistically significant between the fourth, fifth and sixth stage. The data of the difference resulted as statistically significant, showing a higher mean rank in moral judgments at all stages of development in female subjects versus male subjects. Whereas, the analysis of the difference of moral judgments according to Kohlberg’s developmental stages, the findings show that doctors had the most developed judgment in the first and fifth developmental stage, as opposed to students and teachers, while teachers, as opposed to doctors and students, resulted with the most developed second, third, fourth and the sixth stage.

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