Appendix A
Analysis of Research on Moral Development

Jean Piaget described the decision-making process in terms of morality of constraint and morality of cooperation (Rice 1999, 296). Constraint is where a teenager would decide to do something because of external control. Cooperation is where a teenager would decide to do something because of internal control. The move from value judgments based on external control to internal control is a natural and necessary part of spiritual development in adolescents.

Let me illustrate. Right now I am bigger than my 11-going-on-12 preteen son. I can make him do what I want him to do as long as I am close by. OK, I am just kidding about the being bigger part. It has more to do with the fact that he is close to home when he is not in school. He doesn't have to weigh for himself whether the action is right or wrong—at this point in his life. His mother and I "help" him with the appropriate viewpoint because we are nearby (external control). As he moves through his teenage years, he will spend increasing amounts of time away from home. He will have to judge the rightness or wrongness of the situations and decisions that he will face based on the resources at his disposal. What we have taught him and what he knows of God's Word will be the measures he will use to make his decisions. The control has moved from external to internal. The adolescent who would be regarded as advanced in his or her moral development recognizes the perspective of other persons involved in a situation, acknowledges their rights and needs, and responds appropriately (Rice 1999, 298).

Another writer, Lawrence Kohlberg, saw moral decision making in light of a "justice-orientation" or via the individual's ability to weigh the rightness or wrongness of a situation by comparing the outcomes with cultural expectations. He is famous for using stories with moral dilemmas to diagnose a particular level in moral development.

The most famous of his stories is the Heinz dilemma, a story of a poor man whose wife was sick. A druggist who invented the cure had placed a high price on the medicine, one the poor man could not pay. After trying to beg and borrow to get the drug, the poor man broke into the druggist's store and stole it. Was he right or wrong?

Kohlberg, building on some of Piaget's initial work, was the first to begin to investigate the ethical aspect of developmental psychology. Until his research this moral dimension was a missing ingredient in the field. Kohlberg proposed three "levels" of moral development, labeled preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.  The word convention refers to the normally accepted view of the morality of an issue by the larger society. He discovered that most adolescents are in level two of three levels in moral development known as the conventional level.

In his three-level, six-stage model of moral development, the first level, the preconventional level, relates mostly to children. Within the conventional level, which has two stages as do the other two levels, younger teenagers become interested in how they should behave. This first stage is known as the good boy, good girl orientation. Teenagers at this stage are concerned about winning the approval of their peers and certain significant adults. Doing what pleases others is the core of their moral reasoning. As these teenagers become middle and late adolescents, they are generally found at the second stage of the conventional level. Kohlberg identified this stage as a law and order orientation. Youth at this stage recognize the need for social order, and they accept some responsibility for doing their part in keeping such order. They recognize that all rules have limitations but to have no rules leads to chaos. They may even attempt to change what they feel are unjust rules (Kohlberg 1981, 15-98).

It is possible that some teenagers in late adolescence reach the first stage of the third level, the principled level, of moral reasoning. This first stage is called the social contract orientation and defines morality as respect for the rights of others and the honoring of agreements and contracts between people. Behavior is more than something that is motivated because everyone feels good as a result. Behavior at this level is centered on principle whether or not one receives personal gain. In Kohlberg's opinion, few older youth (or adults) go beyond the social contract orientation. Those doing so would reach the universal ethical principle orientation. This level would be the goal of most Christians—Christlikeness. At its essence this stage defines morality on the basis of behavior that is centered on an abstract principle such as the Golden Rule. The whole process is based on a justice orientation (Rowley 1990, 52-53).

Criticism of Kohlberg's theory has come particularly from the perspective of his hierarchy of moral development. A closer investigation of the levels of moral development reveals some holes in the logic. Rice notes that "it is not true or fair to say that the higher the stage, the greater the level of morality (Callahan and Callahan 1981). Stage 6 reflects liberal and radical political reasoning. Does this mean that liberals are more advanced morally than conservatives? There is little basis in empirical fact to conclude that this is so" (Rice 1999, 302).

Carol Gilligan also reacted to the justice-centered orientation of Kohlberg's ideas. Gilligan suggested that males and females develop with different orientations toward moral issues. She said that only males develop from a justice (fair) orientation while females adjust from a caring (meeting needs) orientation (Dusek 1995, 124). She proposed that women may be more concerned with care for others and sensitivity to feelings. While men focus on preserving rights and rules, women may emphasize responsibility to human beings (Rice 1999, 303; Cobb 1998, 491). Critique of Gilligan's "ethic of care" also questioned whether females were universally different from males or if the differences noted were more due to situation (Cobb 1998, 495-97).

Following in the research of Piaget, David Elkind suggested that the adolescent's enhanced cognitive capability sets the stage for a profound change in personal religious development. These capabilities enable them to generate theories, establish a personal worldview and a personal theology, and comprehend underlying reasons for their faith (Ratcliff and Davies 1991, 89). Many youth still maintain an image of Christian faith as a belief in abstract doctrines irrelevant to daily lives. But in actuality they are beginning to understand that it is much richer; it is relational. Faith is a gift from God that requires a choice on each person's part to engage in a relationship with Christ (Boran 1996, 19-20). From a pragmatic standpoint, it is my belief that this new ability to deal with abstract thought that leads to a number of "rededication" decisions at youth camps and retreats. A preteen who has accepted Christ as Savior may not begin to question the validity of that decision until adolescence. With the ability to think in possibilities, the emerging adult may wonder if the earlier decision was genuine.

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Although Christian education benefits from viewing secular perspectives, these must always be intentioned with biblical perspectives.