Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development • Topic 4 of 5

The Heinz Dilemma & Kohlberg’s Method

Kohlberg studied moral development by presenting moral dilemmas and analysing the reasoning. In the Heinz dilemma, a woman is dying; a druggist has the only cure but charges ten times what it costs to make, and Heinz, unable to afford it or raise the money, must decide whether to steal it. Kohlberg did not care whether participants said Heinz should or should not steal — the same answer can come from different stages. What revealed the stage was why: 'don't steal, he'll be jailed' (Stage 1) versus 'don't steal, stealing breaks the law that holds society together' (Stage 4) versus 'steal, life outranks property as a universal principle' (Stage 6). This is the single most tested idea in the chapter: moral maturity is judged by the structure of the reasoning, not the content of the decision. Stages are sequential and invariant — people move up one at a time and do not skip.

✅ Solved examples

1. In Kohlberg’s method, a person’s moral stage is determined by:
The reasoning/justification they give — not by whether they choose the “moral” action. The same decision can reflect different stages.
2. The Heinz dilemma was used by Kohlberg to study:
How people reason about right and wrong (moral judgement), by analysing their justifications for a hard moral choice.
3. Two students both say 'Heinz should not steal', but for different reasons. Kohlberg would conclude they may be at:
Different moral stages — because stage depends on the reasoning, not the conclusion.
4. Kohlberg held that his stages are:
Sequential and invariant — passed through in a fixed order, one at a time, without skipping (though not everyone reaches the highest stages).

✏️ Practice — try these, take hints as needed

1. What did Kohlberg analyse to assign a moral stage?
Not the choice itself.
The “why”.
The reasoning / justification
2. The famous moral dilemma about a stolen drug is the:
Named after the man.
Heinz dilemma
3. Kohlberg’s stages are passed through in what manner?
Fixed order, no skipping.
Sequential and invariant order
4. Whose earlier work on moral judgement did Kohlberg build upon?
The stages theorist.
Jean Piaget

📝 Topic test — 8 questions

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