how to write an essay on moral development

Presentations made painless

• Get Premium

115 Moral Development Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Moral development is a crucial aspect of a person's growth and character. It shapes how we perceive right and wrong and influences our actions and decisions. Writing an essay on moral development can help us reflect on our own values and beliefs and understand the factors that contribute to our moral compass.

To help you get started on your moral development essay, here are 115 topic ideas and examples:

• The role of family in shaping moral values
• How cultural background influences moral development
• The impact of religion on moral beliefs
• The importance of education in fostering moral development
• Peer influence and its effects on moral decision-making
• Moral dilemmas in the workplace
• The relationship between empathy and moral development
• The influence of media on moral values
• How personal experiences shape moral character
• The role of punishment in moral development
• The connection between moral development and emotional intelligence
• Moral relativism vs. moral absolutism
• The role of ethics in moral decision-making
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development
• Gilligan's theory of moral development
• The impact of social media on moral values
• The concept of moral courage
• Moral development in children
• The role of parents in teaching moral values
• The relationship between moral development and character education
• The impact of societal norms on moral behavior
• The role of peer pressure in moral decision-making
• The influence of role models on moral development
• The connection between moral development and self-esteem
• The role of forgiveness in moral development
• The impact of trauma on moral character
• The relationship between moral development and cognitive development
• The influence of gender on moral decision-making
• The connection between moral development and social justice
• The role of empathy in moral reasoning
• The impact of poverty on moral development
• The relationship between moral development and mental health
• The role of moral development in conflict resolution
• The connection between moral values and political beliefs
• The impact of peer relationships on moral character
• The role of moral development in building trust
• The relationship between moral development and decision-making
• The influence of technology on moral values
• The connection between moral development and leadership
• The impact of environmental factors on moral development
• The role of storytelling in teaching moral values
• The relationship between moral development and resilience
• The connection between moral values and personal identity
• The impact of discrimination on moral character
• The role of social norms in shaping moral behavior
• The relationship between moral development and social change
• The influence of emotional intelligence on moral decision-making
• The connection between moral values and ethical principles
• The impact of trauma on moral reasoning
• The role of empathy in moral development
• The relationship between moral development and social responsibility
• The connection between moral values and cultural diversity
• The impact of globalization on moral character
• The role of moral development in promoting social justice
• The relationship between moral values and human rights
• The influence of power dynamics on moral decision-making
• The connection between moral development and environmental ethics
• The impact of social inequality on moral character
• The role of moral development in fostering empathy
• The relationship between moral values and social change
• The connection between moral development and ethical leadership
• The impact of trauma on moral behavior
• The relationship between moral development and conflict resolution
• The influence of peer relationships on moral character
• The connection between moral values and political ideology
• The impact of social media on moral development
• The role of moral development in building community
• The relationship between moral values and civic engagement
• The connection between moral development and social activism
• The role of empathy in promoting moral behavior
• The relationship between moral development and cultural diversity
• The impact of social inequality on moral reasoning
• The connection between moral values and human rights
• The relationship between moral values and environmental ethics
• The influence of power dynamics on moral behavior
• The connection between moral development and social change
• The role of empathy in moral decision-making
• The relationship between moral values and ethical leadership
• The influence of peer relationships on moral development
• The connection between moral development and conflict resolution
• The impact of cultural diversity on moral character
• The role of empathy in promoting social change
• The impact of globalization on moral behavior
• The relationship between moral values and political ideology
• The connection between moral development and ethical principles
• The impact of social media on moral reasoning
• The relationship between moral values and social responsibility
• The connection between moral development and human rights
• The role of empathy in promoting social justice

These essay topic ideas and examples can serve as a starting point for your exploration of moral development. Whether you choose to focus on a specific aspect of moral development or examine it from a broader perspective, there are countless ways to approach this important topic. By delving into the complexities of moral development, you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you.

Want to create a presentation now?

Instantly Create A Deck

Let PitchGrade do this for me

Hassle Free

We will create your text and designs for you. Sit back and relax while we do the work.

Explore More Content

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service

© 2023 Pitchgrade

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Best Family Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2024 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Verywell / Bailey Mariner

• Applications
• Other Theories

Take This Pop Quiz

Kohlberg's theory of moral development is a theory that focuses on how children develop morality and moral reasoning. Kohlberg's theory suggests that moral development occurs in a series of six stages and that moral logic is primarily focused on seeking and maintaining justice.

Here we discuss how Kohlberg developed his theory of moral development and the six stages he identified as part of this process. We also share some critiques of Kohlberg's theory, many of which suggest that it may be biased based on the limited demographics of the subjects studied.

Test Your Knowledge

At the end of this article, take a fast and free pop quiz to see how much you've learned about Kohlberg's theory.

What Is Moral Development?

Moral development is the process by which people develop the distinction between right and wrong (morality) and engage in reasoning between the two (moral reasoning).

How do people develop morality? This question has fascinated parents, religious leaders, and philosophers for ages, but moral development has also become a hot-button issue in psychology and education. Do parental or societal influences play a greater role in moral development? Do all kids develop morality in similar ways?

American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg developed one of the best-known theories exploring some of these basic questions. His work modified and expanded upon Jean Piaget's previous work but was more centered on explaining how children develop moral reasoning.

Kohlberg extended Piaget's theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. Kohlberg's theory outlines six stages of moral development within three different levels.

In recent years, Kohlberg's theory has been criticized as being Western-centric with a bias toward men (he primarily used male research subjects) and for having a narrow worldview based on upper-middle-class value systems and perspectives.

How Kohlberg Developed His Theory

Kohlberg based his theory on a series of moral dilemmas presented to his study subjects. Participants were also interviewed to determine the reasoning behind their judgments in each scenario.

One example was "Heinz Steals the Drug." In this scenario, a woman has cancer and her doctors believe only one drug might save her. This drug had been discovered by a local pharmacist and he was able to make it for $200 per dose and sell it for $2,000 per dose. The woman's husband, Heinz, could only raise $1,000 to buy the drug.

He tried to negotiate with the pharmacist for a lower price or to be extended credit to pay for it over time. But the pharmacist refused to sell it for any less or to accept partial payments. Rebuffed, Heinz instead broke into the pharmacy and stole the drug to save his wife. Kohlberg asked, "Should the husband have done that?"

Kohlberg was not interested so much in the answer to whether Heinz was wrong or right but in the reasoning for each participant's decision. He then classified their reasoning into the stages of his theory of moral development.

Stages of Moral Development

Kohlberg's theory is broken down into three primary levels. At each level of moral development, there are two stages. Similar to how Piaget believed that not all people reach the highest levels of cognitive development, Kohlberg believed not everyone progresses to the highest stages of moral development.

Level 1. Preconventional Morality

Preconventional morality is the earliest period of moral development. It lasts until around the age of 9. At this age, children's decisions are primarily shaped by the expectations of adults and the consequences of breaking the rules. There are two stages within this level:

• Stage 1 (Obedience and Punishment) : The earliest stages of moral development, obedience and punishment are especially common in young children, but adults are also capable of expressing this type of reasoning. According to Kohlberg, people at this stage see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a way to avoid punishment.
• Stage 2 (Individualism and Exchange) : At the individualism and exchange stage of moral development, children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs. In the Heinz dilemma, children argued that the best course of action was the choice that best served Heinz’s needs. Reciprocity is possible at this point in moral development, but only if it serves one's own interests.

Level 2. Conventional Morality

The next period of moral development is marked by the acceptance of social rules regarding what is good and moral. During this time, adolescents and adults internalize the moral standards they have learned from their role models and from society.

This period also focuses on the acceptance of authority and conforming to the norms of the group. There are two stages at this level of morality:

• Stage 3 (Developing Good Interpersonal Relationships) : Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of the interpersonal relationship of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles . There is an emphasis on conformity , being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships.
• Stage 4 (Maintaining Social Order) : This stage is focused on ensuring that social order is maintained. At this stage of moral development, people begin to consider society as a whole when making judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the rules, doing one’s duty, and respecting authority.

Level 3. Postconventional Morality

At this level of moral development, people develop an understanding of abstract principles of morality. The two stages at this level are:

• Stage 5 (Social Contract and Individual Rights ): The ideas of a social contract and individual rights cause people in the next stage to begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but members of the society should agree upon these standards.
• Stage 6 (Universal Principles) : Kohlberg’s final level of moral reasoning is based on universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. At this stage, people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.

Kohlberg believed that only a relatively small percentage of people ever reach the post-conventional stages (around 10 to 15%). One analysis found that while stages one to four could be seen as universal in populations throughout the world, the fifth and sixth stages were extremely rare in all populations.

Applications for Kohlberg's Theory

Understanding Kohlberg's theory of moral development is important in that it can help parents guide their children as they develop their moral character. Parents with younger children might work on rule obeyance, for instance, whereas they might teach older children about social expectations.

Teachers and other educators can also apply Kohlberg's theory in the classroom, providing additional moral guidance. A kindergarten teacher could help enhance moral development by setting clear rules for the classroom, and the consequences for violating them. This helps kids at stage one of moral development.

A teacher in high school might focus more on the development that occurs in stage three (developing good interpersonal relationships) and stage four (maintaining social order). This could be accomplished by having the students take part in setting the rules to be followed in the classroom, giving them a better idea of the reasoning behind these rules.

Criticisms for Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg's theory played an important role in the development of moral psychology. While the theory has been highly influential, aspects of the theory have been critiqued for a number of reasons:

• Moral reasoning does not equal moral behavior : Kohlberg's theory is concerned with moral thinking, but there is a big difference between knowing what we ought to do versus our actual actions. Moral reasoning, therefore, may not lead to moral behavior.
• Overemphasizes justice : Critics have pointed out that Kohlberg's theory of moral development overemphasizes the concept of justice when making moral choices. Factors such as compassion, caring, and other interpersonal feelings may play an important part in moral reasoning.
• Cultural bias : Individualist cultures emphasize personal rights, while collectivist cultures stress the importance of society and community. Eastern, collectivist cultures may have different moral outlooks that Kohlberg's theory does not take into account.
• Age bias : Most of his subjects were children under the age of 16 who obviously had no experience with marriage. The Heinz dilemma may have been too abstract for these children to understand, and a scenario more applicable to their everyday concerns might have led to different results.
• Gender bias : Kohlberg's critics, including Carol Gilligan, have suggested that Kohlberg's theory was gender-biased since all of the subjects in his sample were male. Kohlberg believed that women tended to remain at the third level of moral development because they place a stronger emphasis on things such as social relationships and the welfare of others.

Gilligan instead suggested that Kohlberg's theory overemphasizes concepts such as justice and does not adequately address moral reasoning founded on the principles and ethics of caring and concern for others.

Other Theories of Moral Development

Kohlberg isn't the only psychologist to theorize how we develop morally. There are several other theories of moral development.

Piaget's Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg's theory is an expansion of Piaget's theory of moral development. Piaget described a three-stage process of moral development:

• Stage 1 : The child is more concerned with developing and mastering their motor and social skills, with no general concern about morality.
• Stage 2 : The child develops unconditional respect both for authority figures and the rules in existence.
• Stage 3 : The child starts to see rules as being arbitrary, also considering an actor's intentions when judging whether an act or behavior is moral or immoral.

Kohlberg expanded on this theory to include more stages in the process. Additionally, Kohlberg believed that the final stage is rarely achieved by individuals whereas Piaget's stages of moral development are common to all.

Moral Foundations Theory

Proposed by Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph, and Jesse Graham, the moral foundations theory is based on three morality principles:

• Intuition develops before strategic reasoning . Put another way, our reaction comes first, which is then followed by rationalization.
• Morality involves more than harm and fairness . Contained within this second principle are a variety of considerations related to morality. It includes: care vs. harm, liberty vs. oppression, fairness vs. cheating, loyalty vs. betrayal , authority vs. subversion, and sanctity vs. degradation.
• Morality can both bind groups and blind individuals . When people are part of a group, they will tend to adopt that group's same value systems. They may also sacrifice their own morals for the group's benefit.

While Kohlberg's theory is primarily focused on help vs. harm, moral foundations theory encompasses several more dimensions of morality. However, this theory also fails to explain the "rules" people use when determining what is best for society.

Normative Theories of Moral Behavior

Several other theories exist that attempt to explain the development of morality , specifically in relation to social justice. Some fall into the category of transcendental institutionalist, which involves trying to create "perfect justice." Others are realization-focused, concentrating more on removing injustices.

One theory falling into the second category is social choice theory. Social choice theory is a collection of models that seek to explain how individuals can use their input (their preferences) to impact society as a whole. An example of this is voting, which allows the majority to decide what is "right" and "wrong."

See how much you've learned (or maybe already knew!) about Kohlberg's theory of moral development with this quick, free pop quiz.

While Kohlberg's theory of moral development has been criticized, the theory played an important role in the emergence of the field of moral psychology. Researchers continue to explore how moral reasoning develops and changes through life as well as the universality of these stages. Understanding these stages offers helpful insights into the ways that both children and adults make moral choices and how moral thinking may influence decisions and behaviors.

Lapsley D. Moral agency, identity and narrative in moral development .  Hum Dev . 2010;53(2):87-97. doi:10.1159/000288210

Elorrieta-Grimalt M. A critical analysis of moral education according to Lawrence Kohlberg .  Educación y Educadores . 2012;15(3):497-512. doi:10.5294/edu.2012.15.3.9

Govrin A. From ethics of care to psychology of care: Reconnecting ethics of care to contemporary moral psychology .  Front Psychol . 2014;5:1135. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01135

American Psychological Association. Heinz dilemma .

American Psychological Association. Kohlberg's theory of moral development .

Kohlberg L, Essays On Moral Development . Harper & Row; 1985.

Ma HK. The moral development of the child: An integrated model .  Front Public Health . 2013;1:57. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2013.00057

Gibbs J.  Moral Development And Reality . 4th ed. Oxford University Press; 2019.

Gilligan C.  In A Different Voice . Harvard University Press; 2016.

Patanella D. Piaget's theory of moral development . Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development . 2011. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2167

Dubas KM, Dubas SM, Mehta R. Theories of justice and moral behavior . J Legal Ethical Regulatory Issues . 2014;17(2):17-35.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Essay on Moral Development

Students are often asked to write an essay on Moral Development in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Moral Development

What is moral development.

Moral development is the way we learn to decide what is right and wrong as we grow up. Think of it like learning to play a sport. Just as you get better at soccer by practicing, you learn about morals by watching others and making choices.

Stages of Growth

As kids, we first do things to avoid punishment. Later, we act nicely to be liked. As we grow older, we start to think about rules and fairness. Finally, we reach a point where we care about values and the good of everyone.

Why It Matters

Understanding right from wrong is important. It helps us live together peacefully. When we know what is good, we can make better choices, like sharing with a friend or helping someone in need.

Influences on Morals

Our family, friends, and teachers all help shape our morals. Stories, songs, and games can also teach us about being kind and fair. It’s like getting advice from many coaches to play better in a team.

250 Words Essay on Moral Development

Moral development means how people learn what is right and wrong as they grow up. Like learning to walk or talk, understanding morals is a big part of becoming an adult. It’s about knowing the difference between good and bad actions and being able to make good choices.

Stages of Growing Morals

Scientists think there are stages to moral growth. Young kids often follow rules because they fear punishment. As they get older, they start to see rules as necessary for getting along with others. Finally, adults reach a point where they think about what is fair and just, and they make choices based on these ideas, even when no one is watching.

Learning from Others

People around us, like parents, teachers, and friends, help us learn morals. They teach us by setting examples and telling us stories about heroes who do the right thing. We watch and listen to them to understand how we should act.

Why Morals Matter

Good morals make sure we live together peacefully. They help us treat each other with respect and kindness. When we all agree on what is right, it’s easier to work together and help each other out.

In conclusion, moral development is a journey from childhood to adulthood where we learn to choose right over wrong. It’s important because it shapes how we treat others and helps us live together in harmony.

500 Words Essay on Moral Development

Understanding moral development.

Moral development is about how people learn what is right and wrong as they grow up. Like learning to walk or talk, understanding morals is a big part of becoming an adult. It starts when we are very young and continues as we grow older. This learning helps us make good choices and live in peace with others.

Stages of Moral Growth

Think of moral development as a ladder with different steps. Each step is a stage where we learn new things about what is good or bad. In the first few years of life, kids mostly learn by watching their parents or older people. They start to see that some actions make others happy or sad. As children get older, they learn rules like sharing toys and saying “please” and “thank you.”

When kids go to school, they begin to understand that rules are important for everyone. They learn to wait for their turn and that hurting others is wrong. At this stage, they follow rules because they want to be seen as good by their friends and teachers.

As teenagers, people start thinking more deeply about right and wrong. They ask questions and might not agree with all the rules. They learn to think about how their actions affect others and the world. This is when they begin to develop their own sense of what is morally right.

Why Moral Development Matters

Good moral development is important because it helps us live together without fighting. When people understand and respect rules, they can work together and help each other. It also makes sure that everyone is treated fairly, which is important for a happy community.

Family and Moral Growth

Families play a big role in moral development. Parents teach their children by setting examples and explaining why some things are right or wrong. When parents praise good behavior or correct bad actions, they guide their children’s moral growth.

Education and Morals

Schools also help with moral development. Teachers show students how to behave in class and with friends. They talk about famous stories and events that teach lessons about bravery, honesty, and kindness. This helps students understand why morals are important in life.

Challenges in Moral Development

Sometimes, learning about morals can be hard. People might see others breaking rules or being unfair and wonder why they should be good. There are also many different ideas about what is right and wrong. This can be confusing, but it is a normal part of growing up. Asking questions and talking about these things helps people learn and make better decisions.

In conclusion, moral development is a journey that starts when we are very young and continues throughout our lives. It helps us know the difference between right and wrong, and it guides us to be good people. Families, schools, and our own questions shape our morals. Understanding this can help us all live better and more happily with others.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Money Management
• Essay on Money And Happiness
• Essay on Modesty

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development (6 Stages + Examples)

Have you ever wondered why little kids think sharing toys is a rule because "it's nice," while older students might believe it's right because "it's fair"? As we grow up, how we think about right and wrong changes greatly. This isn't just random; there's a pattern to it. A smart guy named Lawrence Kohlberg devised a way to explain this change, calling it the "Stages of Moral Development."

Imagine climbing a set of stairs. At the bottom, we might do things to avoid getting in trouble or to get a reward. As we go higher, we start to think about what others expect from us and what's generally accepted as right in society. And for some, at the very top, they might start to question and think deeply about these rules themselves.

This article will dive into these stages, helping you understand how our thinking evolves at different ages. It's like a roadmap to our moral growth , showing us how and why our views on right and wrong shift as we age. Let's take a journey together and explore these stages!

What Are Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development? 

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development is a theory proposed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987), which outlines the different levels and stages of moral reasoning that individuals go through as they develop their understanding of right and wrong. There are 6 stages of development, divided into 3 levels.

Lawrence Kohlberg expanded on and revised the ideas of cognitive theorist Jean Piaget . Piaget’s work suggested that children’s morality changes over time as they move through stages of mental development.

In his interviews, Kohlberg employed Piaget’s method of questioning participants about moral dilemmas. He would tell stories with conflicting ideas representing two moral values and ask children whether these were right or wrong. Kohlberg was less interested in the answers themselves than in understanding the thinking process behind them. 

Based on the children’s responses, Kohlberg classified their moral reasoning into three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. He further divided each level into two distinct stages.

Stages of Moral Development and Ages

Like Piaget's theory of moral development , Kohlberg believes that moral development occurs in stages, but he argues that it is a continuous process throughout a person's life. 

Let’s look at the characteristics of each of Kohlberg’s stages.

Pre-conventional Level

At the lowest level of moral development, children under nine have not yet internalized society’s conventions as to right or wrong. Adults fully determine the moral standards of young children. For example, they accept the rules made by authority figures, parents, or teachers. They base their moral reasoning on the external consequences of their actions, such as punishment. 

Heinz's dilemma is often used in the study of moral development, particularly in Kohlberg's theory of moral development. The dilemma goes something like this:

Heinz's wife is dying from a rare cancer; the only medication that can save her is extremely expensive. Heinz cannot afford the medication, so he breaks into a pharmacy to steal it. He is caught by the police and brought to court. The judge must decide what to do with Heinz.

At this level, a child faced with Heinz’s dilemma would say that the man shouldn't steal the drug because stealing is wrong, and he will end up in prison.

Stage 1) Obedience and punishment

The obedience and punishment stage is based on children’s desire to follow the rules created by authority figures. Their motivation is simply to avoid being punished. If an action is perceived as morally wrong, it is because punishment is possible. Morality is, at this stage, external to the self. Children suppose that rules are fixed and must be respected.

At this stage, individuals make moral decisions based on avoiding punishment or seeking reward. They follow rules to avoid physical punishment or loss of privileges but don't understand that rules are based on social norms or the need for social order.

Individuals at this stage may also have a limited perspective, unable to see things from another's point of view, and they may not consider the intentions or circumstances behind someone's actions. For example, a child at this stage might think that stealing a toy from a store is always wrong, regardless of the reason why the person did it or the consequences that might follow.

To identify Stage 1, look for individuals mainly focused on avoiding punishment or seeking rewards who may not yet fully understand the concept of social norms or the importance of considering other people's perspectives. They may also display a rigid and inflexible approach to moral decision-making.

Stage 2) Self-interest

As children mature, their motivation for displaying certain behaviors shifts from seeking external rewards to considering what they personally believe is in their best interest. This stage of moral reasoning is self-centered and shows little or no consideration of the needs of others. Children start realizing that rules are not absolute. People can have different perspectives, and there is more than one correct point of view.

At this stage, individuals make moral decisions based on their own self-interest and the exchange of favors. They begin to understand that others have their needs and wants and may be willing to negotiate to meet them.

Individuals at this stage may also display a more flexible approach to moral decision-making, recognizing that there are different perspectives and that the rules can be changed if they benefit everyone. For example, a child at this stage might think it's okay to take someone else's toy if they offer something else in exchange or convince the other person that it's a fair trade.

To identify Stage 2, look for individuals who are mainly focused on their own self-interest but also aware of others' needs and wants. They may display a more flexible approach to rules and be willing to negotiate to achieve their goals. They may also be more aware of the social exchange of favors and obligations.

Conventional Level

The conventional level of morality is typical of adolescents and adults who internalize moral standards. An individual’s sense of morality is increasingly based on interpersonal relationships. At this level, children continue to conform to the rules of authority figures. But although they understand that there are conventions dictating how they should behave, following the rules is not necessarily related to the prospective punishment. Above all, they wish to ensure good relationships with others.

When presented with Heinz's dilemma, some older children at the conventional level of moral development might argue that while stealing the drug can be justified to save his wife's life, Heinz should still face the consequences and go to prison for his actions.

Stage 3) Conformity

During the conformity stage, children’s actions are motivated by the approval of others. Morality arises from living up to the standards of a group, such as family or community. Older children will often do their best to be good group members. Their moral decisions are based on whether they would win the approval of individuals whose opinions matter to them. The intentions of their actions are important regardless of the outcomes. 

At this stage, individuals make moral decisions based on the expectations and approval of others, particularly those who are important to them. They begin to understand that good behavior is seen as what pleases others, and they want to be seen as a good person in the eyes of those who are important to them.

Individuals at this stage are also more likely to take into account the feelings and perspectives of others and may seek to maintain positive relationships. For example, a child at this stage might think it's important to share toys with others so they will like them and want to play with them.

To identify Stage 3, look for individuals mainly focused on pleasing others and maintaining positive relationships. They may be more aware of social norms and expectations and may be more likely to take the perspective of others into account. They may also seek approval from authority figures and conform to social norms to gain approval.

Stage 4) Law and order

This stage is characterized by accepting rules because they are important in maintaining a functional society. Rules are the same for everyone, and it is essential that all members of society obey them. Moral reasoning goes beyond the need for individual approval of the conformity stage. Instead, morality is determined by what is best for most people. Individuals who obey law and authority and don’t challenge the established social order are perceived as good. 

At this stage, individuals make moral decisions based on a sense of duty to uphold social order and respect for authority. They begin to understand that social order depends on the rule of law and that laws must be respected to maintain social order.

Individuals at this stage are also more likely to consider the broader social context and the greater good rather than just their own personal relationships or interests. For example, a person at this stage might think it's important to follow traffic laws, not just to avoid a ticket or to please others, but because it's necessary for public safety and the greater good.

To identify Stage 4, look for individuals mainly focused on upholding social order and respect for authority. They may have a strong sense of duty and obligation to follow the rules and maintain social order. They may also be more likely to consider the broader social context and the greater good when making moral decisions.

Kohlberg believes that most individuals don’t develop their reasoning beyond this stage of moral development, in which morality is still predominantly dictated from the outside.

Postconventional Level

According to Kohlberg , only 10-15% of the population can achieve the post-conventional level of moral development because abstract principles and values define the sense of morality. 

Those individuals who attain the highest level of moral development question whether what they see around them is good. There is an increasing sense of individuals being separate entities from society. Morality on this level comes from self-defined principles. Laws that are seen as unjust should be removed or changed. Disobeying rules is not necessarily wrong when they are incompatible with personal principles. 

Participants in Kohlberg’s experiment who have reached the post-conventional level would believe that stealing the drug from the chemist’s office was not wrong. For them, saving a life is more important than the law itself.

Stage 5) Social Contract 

Individuals at this stage of moral development understand that society is full of contrasting opinions and values that should be respected. Laws are regarded as flexible social contracts. Laws that don't serve the greater common good should be changed to better align with the collective interests of society. In this context, morality and individual rights take precedence over established laws.

At this stage, individuals make moral decisions based on justice, democracy, and individual rights. They begin to understand that laws and social norms are not set in stone and can be changed if they do not promote the greater good or protect individual rights.

Individuals at this stage are also more likely to consider different groups' perspectives and recognize the need for compromise and negotiation. For example, a person at this stage might think it's important to advocate for policies promoting equality and individual rights, even if it means challenging existing laws or social norms.

To identify Stage 5, look for individuals mainly focused on justice and rights. They may be more likely to challenge authority and advocate for change if they see laws or social norms as unjust or unfair. They may also be more aware of the perspectives of different groups and the need for compromise and negotiation to achieve the greater good.

Stage 6) Universal Ethical Principles

In the final stage of moral development, individuals construct their own moral principles, which might sometimes deviate from societal laws. Their moral reasoning becomes more abstract, rooted in universal ethical principles, as described by Kohlberg. These principles embrace notions such as equality (valuing everyone equally, irrespective of status or background), dignity (recognizing the inherent worth of every person), and respect (upholding others' rights and sentiments).

At this stage, individuals believe that laws should align with these universal principles. If laws are perceived as unjust based on these principles, they feel such laws can and should be challenged or disobeyed. However, Kohlberg believed that very few people consistently operate at this advanced stage.

Individuals at this stage are also more likely to take a principled, ethical approach to decision-making and may see themselves as part of a larger moral community. For example, a person at this stage might think it's important to fight against social injustices such as discrimination or environmental destruction, even if it means going against established laws or social norms.

To identify Stage 6, look for individuals mainly focused on universal ethical principles and willing to take personal risks to uphold them. They may be more likely to challenge established laws or social norms if they see them as unjust or harmful. They may also see themselves as part of a larger moral community and be motivated by a sense of responsibility to uphold ethical principles. It's worth noting that Kohlberg believed that few people actually reached this stage, which he saw as the highest stage of moral development.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development's Heinz Dilemma

Consider the following moral dilemma. A man named Heinz has a wife dying of a rare cancer. Heinz learns that a local chemist has invented a new drug that might save his wife's life. But he can’t afford the drug. Although he tries to borrow money from his friends and family, the amount is still insufficient. The chemist is not ready to lower the price either. After trying everything he could think of without success, Heinz breaks into the chemist’s office and steals the drug. Was this the right thing to do? 

Here is an example of how an individual may behave at each stage in Kohlberg's Stages:

Obedience and Punishment Stage 1 : An individual may say that Heinz should not steal the drug because stealing is wrong, and he could get arrested.

Self-Interest Stage 2 : An individual may say that Heinz should steal the drug to save his wife because he is important to him, and he would want others to do the same for him if he were in a similar situation.

Conformity Stage 3 : An individual may say that Heinz should steal the drug because he will be viewed as a good husband and respected by others for doing whatever he can to save his wife.

Law and Order Stage 4 : An individual may say that Heinz should not steal the drug because it's against the law, and breaking the law would undermine social order and respect for authority.

Social Contract Stage 5 : An individual may say that Heinz should steal the drug because the right to life and the principle of fairness outweigh the property rights of the pharmacist who owns the drug.

Universal Ethical Principles Stage 6 : An individual may say that Heinz should steal the drug because it's the right thing to do, even if it means breaking the law and risking punishment. They may also argue that the ethical principle of valuing human life is more important than any legal or social norm.

Heinz’s dilemma is a famous example used by Lawrence Kohlberg to assess moral developmental levels. 

Is Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Theory Still Relevant Today?

Today, people reference Kohlberg's moral development stages when discussing communication, debate, and relating to others. But it's not always accepted in these discussions. 

Take this one Reddit user's take on the Jordan Peterson subreddit : 

"This is one psychologist's take on morality. It uses mortality, ethics and justice interchangeably, and hence lacks cohesion. Which is to be expected as morality is a deeply philosophical topic. It makes sense that a psychologist would have this sort of approach (which everyone acknowledges is just a reformatting of Jean Piaget's stages of childhood development).

I think Maslow's heiarchy of needs would have been a better map, looking at the general requirements in becoming moral, rather than treating morality as an ultimate ontological fact.

To put it more simplistically; knowing what people need to become moral - has more value, than judging others by their current stage of moral development as this chart seems to do.

Either way, systematizing morality may not be the smartest idea. Better to pursue ethics."

With its detailed delineation of children’s moral development, Kohlberg's theory has significantly impacted psychology and education. However, like many pioneering theories, aspects of Kohlberg's framework have been critiqued. Notably, Carol Gilligan , an ethicist and once Kohlberg’s research assistant, presented a key critique. She argued that Kohlberg's stages of moral development were male-centric and might not adequately represent moral reasoning in women.

Gilligan proposed that while men tend to have a justice-based perspective rooted in fairness, women more often adopt a care-based perspective, emphasizing interconnectedness and relationships. In her view, moral development should be understood with these different orientations, suggesting that morality isn't a one-size-fits-all concept but is influenced by gendered socialization and perspectives.

Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg’s theory has been largely criticized for its gender bias toward the white male American population. For his experiment, Kohlberg interviewed 72 boys in suburban Chicago between 10 and 16 years old. His research was, therefore, inevitably influenced by upper-middle-class male values and perspectives. 

What’s more, Kohlberg’s theory does not consider the role cultural differences might play in the development of moral reasoning. For example, Western cultures may have different moral philosophies than societies that give more importance to the community than personal rights. 

Questions about Age

Some researchers have had doubts about Kohlberg’s general conclusions after he questioned whether older children and adolescents could attain the latest stages of moral reasoning. Some recent studies have shown that children as young as six can already understand vague concepts of universal ethical principles. 

Kohlberg did not always tailor his experiments to present dilemmas relevant to the participant's experiences. The Heinz story might not be relatable to individuals who have never been married. As a result, Kohlberg’s findings might have been different if the situations the participants were asked to analyze were more age-appropriate. 

Lastly, Kohlberg’s theory suggests that certain types of moral reasoning are superior to others. Kohlberg supposes that justice is the most fundamental moral principle. He has been reproached for emphasizing justice while overlooking other values, such as compassion and care for others.

Related posts:

• Lawrence Kohlberg (Psychologist Biography)
• Piaget's Theory of Moral Development (4 Stages + Examples)
• Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
• 40+ Famous Psychologists (Images + Biographies)
• 53+ Deviance Examples in Sociology (Definition + Theories)

Reference this article:

About The Author

Developmental Psychology:

Developmental Psychology

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Trust vs Mistrust

Autonomy vs Shame

Initiative vs Guilt

Industry vs inferiority

Identity vs Confusion

Intimacy vs Isolation

Generativity vs Stagnation

Integrity vs Despair

Attachment Styles

Avoidant Attachment

Anxious Attachment

Secure Attachment

Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

Piaget's Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage

Object Permanence

Preoperational Stage

Concrete Operational Stage

Formal Operational Stage

Unconditional Positive Regard

Birth Order

Zone of Proximal Development

PracticalPie.com is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow Us On:

Youtube Facebook Instagram X/Twitter

Psychology Resources

Developmental

Personality

Relationships

Psychologists

Serial Killers

Psychology Tests

Personality Quiz

Memory Test

Depression test

Type A/B Personality Test

© PracticalPsychology. All rights reserved

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Access your Commentary account.

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

The monthly magazine of opinion.

Essays on Moral Development, by Lawrence Kohlberg

Essays on Moral Development, Volume One: The Philosophy of Moral Development. by Lawrence Kohlberg. Harper & Row. 441 pp. $21.95.

Lawrence Kohlberg is a Harvard psychologist who has been insisting for two decades that the study of children’s moral reasoning can guide society in distinguishing right from wrong. His work has been influential—it has supplied much of the impetus behind “moral education” courses that are appearing even in elementary schools. The present collection of essays is concerned with the moral and pedagogical consequences Kohlberg draws from his empirical findings about children, from cross-cultural studies, and from “longitudinal” studies of given subjects at different ages.

Kohlberg discerns six “stages of moral development.” The first four are uncontroversial, extending from the child’s obedience out of fear of punishment to the “my station and its duties” mentality attributed to J. Edgar Hoover. Stage 5, the “official morality of the U.S. Constitution,” recognizes obligations based on contract, plus basic rights like life and liberty. Stage 6—to which this book is a sustained hosannah—adds “justice,” interpreted as “rationally demonstrable universal ethical principles” based on “respect for the dignity of human beings as individuals.”

What distinguishes stage 6 from stage 5 is, in effect, the willingness to disobey laws that conflict with these principles. Kohlberg estimates the number of stage 6’s to be 5 percent of the American population, but his only sustained example of a 6 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Socrates sometimes rates a 6, but is elsewhere demoted to a “5B,” apparently for taking the laws of Athens too seriously. (Kohlberg repeatedly compares King with Socrates as a “moral teacher” executed by the society he made uncomfortable, as if James Earl Ray were a legally appointed executioner.) Lincoln and Gandhi are accorded 6’s in passing.

_____________

What makes a later stage a higher stage? Part of Kohlberg’s answer is the irreversibility of the sequence of stages: while most people become “fixed” at a stage lower than 6, no one ever retreats from a later stage to an earlier one. Ultimately, however, Kohlberg equates later with better because, he says, each stage resolves conflicts that remain unresolved at earlier stages. Thus, Kohlberg reports that his stage-5 respondents disagreed among themselves about whether a man may steal an expensive drug to save his wife’s life, whereas his stage-6 respondents unanimously approved of stealing the drug. Stage 6 is hence the summit of morality because it is the most “formally adequate,” “integrated” level of morality. Not only does it address every moral dilemma, but all who reach it will agree in their answers.

Kohlberg defends this patent absurdity—Socrates, King, Lincoln, and Gandhi would hardly have seen eye-to-eye about, say, homosexuality—by referring to John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice , “the newest great book of the liberal tradition,” which “systematically justifies” stage 6. In resting his own case on Rawls’s, Kohlberg is virtually asking the non-philosophical reader to accept his claims about stage 6 on faith. Still, the basic outlines of Kohlberg’s position are clear.

According to Rawls, when you truly apply the Golden Rule to a problem, you are not distracted by your own preferences or the natural human tendency to put your own interests first. The principles you come up with will be genuinely fair, or just, principles. Rawls’s basic idea is to devise a model situation in which people are really thinking along golden-rule lines. He has us picture rational egoists who have temporarily forgotten their actual places in society. In deliberating about principles that will govern their society, such self-regarding amnesiacs would imagine a principle’s impact on people of every status, and so not slight any person or position, however humble. And Rawls adds an extra twist: his egoists pay most heed to how the worst off will fare, since (for reasons Rawls never quite clarifies) each is obsessively afraid that he will turn out to be the worst off when the “veil of ignorance” lifts.

Kohlberg illustrates the supposedly computer-like operation of this “method of musical chairs” with the issue of capital punishment. Rawls’s model people would reject it, he says, because, while each recognizes the deterrent advantages of capital punishment, each thinks, “what if I were a murderer?” Each then realizes that the murderer would not want to be executed, and hence renounces capital punishment. Lest the reader accuse me of imputing to Kohlberg a position too preposterous for anyone to maintain, here are his own words: If we “assess the death penalty from the point of view of someone who takes into account the possibility of being a capital offender himself [we see that] the capital offender, obviously, would claim that he should be allowed to remain alive. . . . In short, at stage 6 the rational capital offender’s claim to life would be given priority over the claim of maximal protection from crime asserted by the representative ordinary citizen.”

Something has gone wrong. Kohlberg’s magical argument against capital punishment really works against any punishment; presumably he would repudiate parking tickets for according double-parkers insufficient respect. Kohlberg has apparently confused what one would want in a difficult situation with what one would claim he should be allowed to have. Were I a murderer in the electric chair I would hope for a pardon, a power failure, or anything else that would save me, but I would hardly suppose I had a “rational claim” to a right to live that offset the claims of innocents saved by my execution.

This confusion between what people would be willing to do and what they would claim a right to do skews Kohlberg’s understanding of the drug-stealing case, which he sees as a collision between “capitalist morality” and the “sacredness of life.” While it is true that I would stick at almost nothing to save my wife’s life, I would never claim a right on my part or my wife’s to do what I would do. Nor would I do those things to save a stranger, even though, on Kohlberg’s view, the issue involves a generalized right to life the stranger shares with my wife. (I think my attitude makes me a 3.)

Actually, far from resolving every hard problem, “equal respect under universal principles of justice” is an empty truism. Should Churchill warn Coventry about the planned Nazi bombing or remain silent to protect the secret that the British had cracked the Enigma code? Can British counterespionage frame an honorable U-boat captain to damage German morale? Any choice dooms someone, and avoiding the problem (“I don’t want anybody’s blood on my hands”) amounts to choosing to spare the captain and risk extra Allied lives. Whatever the solutions to such dilemmas, the incantation of “equal respect for everyone” will not reveal them.

Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that Kohlberg is just making up stage 6 as he goes along. He scales the peak of arbitrariness when he counsels a stage-6 wife dying of cancer to concur in her own mercy killing: “If the wife puts herself in the husband’s place, the grief she anticipates about her own death is more than matched by the grief a husband should feel at her pain.” Kohlberg does not disclose how to determine the pain the wife will feel, the pain the husband “should” feel, or, indeed, what has become of the “sacredness of life.”

In fact, there is no stage 6. Kohlberg fudges this by combining stages 5 and 6 in his statistics. Astonishingly, he admits in a candid paragraph that

our empirical findings do not clearly delineate a sixth stage. . . . None of our longitudinal subjects have reached the highest stage. Our examples of stage 6 come either from historical figures [conveniently unavailable for answering questionnaires] or from interviews with people who have extensive philosophic training. . . . Stage 6 is perhaps less a statement of an attained psychological reality than the specification of a direction in which, our theory claims, ethical development is moving.

This trumpery shows Kohlberg’s program of “moral education” for the instrument of propaganda it really is. Kohlberg’s proposal begins modestly enough, with Dewey’s insight that children learn best when challenged by problems that strain their current concepts. To this Kohlberg adds Piaget’s discovery that certain key concepts are learned only in a definite order of maturation. What results is a general educational strategy of helping children through natural cognitive stages by posing stimulating problems. Kohlberg now applies this to morals: since a child is disposed to pass through the levels of morality anyway, the teacher should boost him along with provocative tales about theft and murder.

Kohlberg dismisses the idea that schools, especially public schools, should leave ethics to others with the admonition that a “hidden moral curriculum”—of conformity—always lurks behind official postures of neutrality. But Kohlberg’s own pedagogy is anything but the Socratic midwife to a child’s autonomy. Those tales of mercy killings and the like, a “hidden moral curriculum” if there ever was one, are designed to push children along a specific policy agenda that has nothing to do with any natural bents, let alone with “rationally demonstrable universal ethical principles.”

Beneath the platitudes and the jargon, Kohlberg’s morality comes to a specious egalitarianism. It is hard to believe Kohlberg really thinks that any desire, however base or outrageous, deserves as much “respect”—i.e., satisfaction—as any other. But whatever “stage-6 morality” is, it is not synonymous with respect for persons as understood in the Kantian moral tradition Kohl-berg claims to be following. Kantian respect means allowing each person to choose his actions freely and to accept the consequences of his choices. Such respect has nothing to do with satisfying the desires of the autonomous beings who are said to deserve it.

After interviewing a captured Nazi, the hero of Nicholas Monsarrat’s autobiographical novel The Cruel Sea thinks to himself, “These people are not curable. We’ll just have to shoot them and hope for a better crop next time.” Hardly stage-6 thinking—which is why today I am alive to write this and you to read it.

Joan Didion From the Couch

Brush Off Your Shakespeare

Joseph Epstein’s Brief for the Novel

Scroll Down For the Next Article

Type and press enter

• More Networks

Moral Development in Early Childhood Essay

The theme of moral development in early childhood is commonly discussed in many educational fields because of a variety of factors affecting vital processes. In this discussion, attention is paid to morality and its application in the idea of moral changes within children. Socialization of humans explains why certain behaviors are chosen, and some steps are better to avoid. However, I think that the recognition of such factors as family, religion, culture, education, and community cannot be ignored. Teachers, parents, and friends contribute to people’s moral perceptions and understanding such ethical issues as what is right and what is wrong (Durmuş, 2019). At the same time, in addition to the impact of interpersonal relationships, such external factors as culture or religion matter because they introduce the norms of how to behave, make decisions, and respond.

Choosing positive moral reasoning as the goal of early childhood education and care (ECEC) to improve decision-making and cooperation is a sound approach. It should help understand the nature of choices and the possibility to learn from mistakes. Social integration of values and norms is a permanent process that allows individuals to refer to past experiences and improve current situations (Durmuş, 2019). The only point to be poorly addressed in this discussion is the options for assessing values in young children and the worth of this task. It is not always possible to identify all meaningful values in early childhood, but teachers have to evaluate the already made achievements and future implications. Children need to evaluate their behaviors, compare outcomes, and share opinions on how not to repeat the same mistakes. It is easier for teachers and parents to implement policies and explain what living ethically and morally correctly at a young age means.

Durmuş, Y. T. (2019). Early childhood education teachers’ experiences on moral dilemmas and suggestions for morality and ethics in education course in faculty of education. International Journal of Progressive Education, 15 (5), 301-314. Web.

• Moran’s View on Teaching Morally and Teaching Morality
• Dealing with a Repeat Child Sex Molester
• Socialization as a Lifelong Process
• Chapter 3 of Essentials of Life-Span Development by Santrock
• Chapter 2 of Essentials of Life-Span Development by Santrock
• The "Human Development and Faith" Book by Kelcourse
• Understanding Child Developmental Milestones
• Human Development in Evidence-Based Psychotherapy
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, March 3). Moral Development in Early Childhood. https://ivypanda.com/essays/moral-development-in-early-childhood/

"Moral Development in Early Childhood." IvyPanda , 3 Mar. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/moral-development-in-early-childhood/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Moral Development in Early Childhood'. 3 March.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Moral Development in Early Childhood." March 3, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/moral-development-in-early-childhood/.

1. IvyPanda . "Moral Development in Early Childhood." March 3, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/moral-development-in-early-childhood/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Moral Development in Early Childhood." March 3, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/moral-development-in-early-childhood/.

Essays About Development: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Would you like to develop your writing skills? Our essays about development plus enriching prompts can help with this goal. 

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “constant development is the law of life.” Hence, the best way to succeed in life is to conform to this law. Once we do, we embrace the vast opportunities and surprises in the never-ending development cycle. Development, whether within ourselves, in a certain field, or the greater world we live in, requires allocating various resources in the form of time, action, and even financial capital. 

5 Essay Examples

1. why intersectional feminism matters for development by aviva stein, 2. how video games are made: the game development process by nadia stefyn, 3. why industrial development matters now more than ever before by li yong, 4. bangladesh really is a climate success story by joyashree roy, 5. what role does culture play in development by augusto lopez-claros, 1. my personal development goals, 2. importance of socialization in childhood development, 3. effects of the digital age on intellectual development, 4. economic growth vs. economic development, 5. united nations’ sustainable development goals, 6. urban development, 7. keeping pace with technological development, 8. winning strategies for career development, 9. challenges and perks of a business development manager, 10. education in development.

“Using an intersectional feminist lens to dig deeper into the factors that affect and hinder efforts for equality also allows us as development professionals to design programs, interventions, and support systems that aim to dismantle systems of inequality.”

This essay looks into intersectional feminism and the importance of inclusion. “Intersectional” means recognizing how different people live different experiences. Integrating an intersectional lens in feminist development work enables experts to design and implement programs that address inequality effectively. You might also be interested in these essays about bad habits .

“Much like a production line, the game development pipeline helps organize the flow of work so that everyone knows what they need to deliver and when. The pipeline also helps manage the game development timeline and budget, reducing inefficiencies and bottlenecks.”

This essay walks readers through the video game development process while also introducing the different critical players of the ecosystem. Overall, the piece provides budding game developers with a comprehensive resource on the basics of the industry. 

“Economists of the 20th century noted that a thriving industrial sector was crucial to the development of a modern economy, and in 2010, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang observed that development without industrialization is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.”

Creating a narrative out of data, this essay underscores the need to push for industrialization to further economies’ development. It sheds light on the myriad benefits of manufacturing on social development but also confronts the environmental challenges of the sector. 

Looking for more? Check out these essays about empathy and essays about gratitude .

“In the 50 years since the Bhola cyclone, the nation has carved out a path to development thanks to natural gas. Turning away from that path precipitously would strand the nation’s fossil-fuel assets and undermine its hard-won sovereignty and development gains.”

The essay demonstrates the determination of Bangladesh to bounce back from one of the deadliest cyclones in history. Now the fastest-growing economy in South Asia, Bangladesh marks a unique development journey that runs against the popular belief of patterning development strategies after those of more developed countries in the West. You might also like these essays about your mom .

“Development is not only about reducing poverty and expanding opportunities against the background of rising incomes. It is also in a very fundamental way about adopting a set of values that are compatible with humanity’s moral development.”

Integrating culture in discussions about development has been a longstanding challenge. But this essay points out that we might have been misled to categorize some development factors as cultural and, as a result, missed out on the proper way to resolve problems at their roots.

10 Unique Writing Prompts On Essays About Development

Whether it be acquiring a second language or graduating college with flying colors, use this essay to discuss your personal development goals and proudly share your progress in putting them into action. And then, write a commitment to keep sight of your personal development goals and what you think you should do more to achieve them in the most efficient way you can.

Socialization helps kids learn how to take turns and manage conflicts that arise from their play and interactions with other kids. Look for the latest research studies that show how the development of social skills relates to a child’s overall physical, intellectual, and emotional development.

Then, list the challenges in helping kids socialize more, given how gadgets are becoming a kid’s best friend for entertainment. Finally, include solutions and consider how society can encourage kids to have positive socialization experiences.

Digital technologies have certainly enabled wide-scale access to information and data that can expand our horizons. However, they also discourage the exercise of cognitive and analytical skills because the information is served on a silver platter. 

For this writing prompt, list the pros and cons of digital technologies in improving thinking skills and take the time to assess how each affects our intellectual development, including relevant studies to support your arguments. 

In this essay, aim to find out whether economic growth and economic development are independent or inextricably linked, such that economic development is not possible without economic growth and vice versa. 

For this, you can turn to the innovative insights of economists Simon Kuznets and Joseph Schumpeter. The creation of the Human Development Index is also worth delving into as it is one of the most ambitious metrics that emerged to measure the economy beyond the national income accounting framework . 

The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 and targeted to be attained by 2030 to end global poverty while addressing issues such as inequality and climate change. 

In your essay, explain these goals, their origins, and their relevance to today’s challenges. Then find out whether it is on track through the latest SDG report . You can also pick just one SDG close to your personal and get updates on the world’s progress in realizing this goal. Dive into politics in this essay and determine if the UN is on track and adhering to its promises.

True urban development can happen only if security, sanitation, and climate resilience are part of the equation. In this essay, outline the challenges of balancing rapid urbanization with the need to provide people with a decent environment for living. 

Expound on the importance of urban development in reducing poverty. Finally, underscores the enormous role city governments have in steering urban development through a human-centric approach. 

We hear about incredible technological advancements every day, but there has been little development in the regulatory sphere. Elaborate on policy and lawmakers’ challenges in coping with nimble tech companies. 

Some primary challenges include the extraordinary complexity of technologies and the long period it takes to pass a law. In your writing, offer insights into how the government and private sector can join hands and balance strict regulations and self-regulation. 

Career development is the journey of finding your place in the professional world. Flesh out the importance of having a career development game plan and how to implement them. Then take a glimpse at the sea shift in career development amid our present VUCA world. Specifically, analyze how younger professionals are carving out their careers and how companies design professional development plans within a VUCA environment. 

With the fierce competition in today’s markets, how should business development managers think and act to drive their company’s sales growth? Strive to answer this by researching business journals and news articles to discover today’s most pressing challenges business development managers face. But also look on the bright side to flesh out the job’s pros, such as gaining new experiences and expanding your connections. 

This writing prompt highlights the critical role of schools in a child’s overall development and what teaching techniques are proven to be most effective in training a child. To expand your essay, add COVID-19’s long-term debilitating impact on human capital development and how this translates to economic losses. Then, write about the lessons teachers and parents can learn from the pandemic to arrest future global disruptions from affecting the accessibility, delivery, and quality of education.

Tip: When editing for grammar, we also recommend improving the readability score of a piece before publishing or submitting it. If you’d like more help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

View all posts

• Narrative essay topics
• Writing a paper about freedom
• An argumentative essay synopsis
• Analytical essay writing hints
• Pro-written custom papers
• Paper topic ideas for 7th graders
• Philosophy paper writing tips
• A brilliant paper writing tutorial
• Diversity paper samples
• Analytical paper topic ideas
• Good custom writing services
• Argumentative essay ideas
• Discursive essay writing tips
• Writing a paper introducing parts
• 5-paragraph paper synopsis
• Writing a good paper conclusion
• How-to essay samples
• Sample illustration essay outlines
• Selecting persuasive essay prompts
• Sample third person descriptive essays
• Crafting a 7-paragraph comparative paper
• Getting sample free essays
• Expository essay writing: use of samples
• A guide to essay writer selection
• Crafting an essay about dogs as pets
• Creating a school visual analysis essay
• Expository essay writing hints
• AP World History essay samples
• Finding an outstanding writer
• Seeking help with homework papers
• Writing agencies specializing in Psychology
• Traits of qualified writers
• Self help groups: essay hints
• Selecting a writing company
• Hiring an essay writer
• Tips on essay about yourself
• Gun controls paper sample
• False memories essay sample
• Booker T. Washington paper sample
• A chorus line paper sample
• 12 Years A Slave essay
• Obamacare paper sample
• Manifest Destiny essay sample
• Graphic novel essay sample
• Mass murders essay example
• Drunk driving paper sample
• Rustom essay example
• Markets in Spanish America essay sample
• Death and dying practices essay sample
• Hate crimes paper example
• Gay marriage essay sample
• Abusive relationships paper template
• John Keats essay template
• Sample essay on family ecology theory
• How to manage environmental problems
• Woman suffrage
• Children and inequality
• An essay sample on autism
• A Good Man Is Hard To Find
• The choice of adoption
• The life of Davy Crockett
• Atomic theory
• Critical thinking's role
• Bilingual education
• Climate change
• Is the progress real?
• Immigration reform in the USA
• Risky aspects of communication
• Personal moral values
• Flu vaccine
• Types of papers

efficient ideas for academic essay writing

My Moral Values

Introduction.

In the context of personal character, values are intangible qualities that are regarded as worth possessing due to their usefulness, importance or desirability. Virtually all values are morally relative in the sense that a particular value may seem good and beneficial to one person and yet be outright bad or inimical to others. So, values can be moral or otherwise depending on who is making the judgment. Moral values refer to a set of positive standards and principles that tend to guide or determine how a person distinguishes right from wrong, thus regulating his behaviours and choices. Great moral values have one thing in common – they dignify, enhance and protect life for the good of all.

What determines a person’s moral values?

There are three major sources from which we derive our moral values. One of these is from society and government. The customs, cultures and traditions of society as well as the laws enacted by governments all together shape and define the moral values of individuals within the community, whether we are looking at a small town, state, nation or the global community. Events as well as cultural and legal changes inevitably result in changes in the general moral value. Another source of moral value is religion, ideology or creed. The belief system or philosophical leanings of individuals leave in them a set of codes and list of dos and don’ts which shape and concretize their sense of good and evil, right and wrong. In spite of some of its variants with contradictory showings, Christianity rises well above all other religions and philosophies in going beyond a system of dos and don’ts, emphasizing a vital relationship with God through His Son and setting moral values that clearly transcend society’s mores and man’s selfish instincts. A final source from which moral value is derived is from within one’s own self. There is an innate, instinctive tendency to, from within one’s self, distinguish right from wrong. Evidence of this is ably demonstrated by toddlers who watch their parent before going for or against an instruction. As knowledge increases and an individual grows from childhood to adulthood, he strengthens his ability to make choices between the forbidden and acceptable, kind or cruel, generous or selfish, from within his own self. This ability, though untaught, is usually modified or tamed by the earlier two sources of moral values.

My moral values have been largely influenced by my family upbringing, that is, what my parents taught me while growing up and my strong Christian faith. In addition to this, however, there is considerable contribution from my education, personal experience, my appreciation of how government works and cultural integration in our global village of diverse but same humanity. It may not be possible to list them all but the core of my moral values are represented by these few: integrity, love, courage, respect, obedience, responsibility, kindness, fairness, humility, politeness and modesty.

Moral values are only truly valuable when put into action. The essence of knowing and cultivating fine moral values is not to hold them deep within but to put them into action whenever and wherever they are required.

Essay Writing Tips

• Bad paper writing agencies
• Sociology process analysis paper ideas
• US history of religion essay template
• Italian traditions essay
• Professional paper writing help
• Opera & ballet essay example
• Choosing a good paper writer
• Volunteering essay sample
• Environment paper writing rules

Essay Topics

• Illustration paper topics
• Process paper topic ideas
• Argument essay prompts
• Arts comparative essay topics

Popular Posts

• Cheap custom paper writing agencies
• Child obesity essay example
• What makes a 5-paragraph essay
• Finding sample essay on study skills

Contribute to us as a writer. As a successful student. As our user. Leave your feedback, ideas and tips on [email protected]

© RaintreeWriting.com. All rights reserved. | 2024

EssayEmpire

Moral development essay.

In trying to describe the stages through which children achieve cognitive development, a number of theorists have recognized that, since not all reasoning involves the sort of school-derived tasks that frequently drive research on child cognition, they should attempt to describe the development of reasoning about moral dilemmas as well. The best known of these theorists is Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg based his theory on the work of Jean Piaget, and like Piaget, he believed that a person’s level of moral reasoning depended on that person’s level of cognitive development. To study the processes of moral reasoning, Kohlberg presented his research participants with a series of moral dilemmas. One of the most famous is below:

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a rare form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. (Kohlberg and Elfenbein, 1975)

Participants would then be asked whether or not Heinz should have stolen the drug, followed by a series of additional probing questions. Kohlberg was less interested in whether the answer was “yes” or “no” than he was in the reasoning the subject followed to arrive at an answer.

Based on the responses his subjects gave to the dilemmas, Kohlberg concluded that people progress through three broad levels of moral reasoning, each of which he further subdivided into two specific stages (see table on following page). A convention is a standard rule or practice agreed to by a society. Kohlberg’s levels are distinguished from each other in terms of the role of conventionality in moral reasoning. The preconventional child has not yet internalized conventions as the source of right and wrong, whereas the conventional child (or adult) bases decisions on what is or isn’t expected, either by legal authorities (Stage 4) or by friends and family (Stage 3). In the postconventional level, the person has moved beyond social conventions as a source of morality, basing decisions on personal conscience rather than the expectations of others. In Kohlberg’s theory, these stages are universal and invariant, meaning that all children should move through the same stages in the same order. The timing of the stages is not invariant, however: people move through them at a different pace, and the final stage achieved will differ from person to person as well.

Table 4. Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages of Moral Development

A major criticism of Kohlberg’s theory has been that his data, based on male subjects, produced a theory that focuses on and rewards a traditionally male perspective on morality. There may be some truth to this, as his original research was conducted using a sample of upper-class males, and so Carol Gilligan is correct in pointing out that female perspectives were missing from his theory. In 1982 Gilligan proposed that Kohlberg’s higher stages at the conventional and post conventional levels reward a justice ethic, which she saw as primarily masculine, whereas a care ethic emphasizing concern for others and the maintenance of relationships, which Gilligan considered the source of women’s moral reasoning, was regarded in Kohlberg’s theory as less moral. Gilligan went so far as to propose a separate sequence of stages for women, based on a test that considered actual behavior in real-world moral dilemmas rather than hypothetical Kohlberg-style dilemmas that didn’t resemble anything the participants had actually been through.

The problem with Gilligan’s approach is that it may be unnecessary. Largescale tests of Kohlberg’s stage theory mostly fail to find any consistent gender differences, because both men and women can and do follow both the care orientation and the justice orientation, and neither approach is consistently scored at a lower level.

A bigger problem with the universal applicability of Kohlberg’s stages involves cultural differences rather than gender differences. Cross-cultural studies have found that people in more rural, less technological cultures progress through the stages more slowly, and achieve a lower end-stage, than the American samples on which the theory was based. Kohlberg rewards reasoning based on justice and autonomy, but in some societies community and duty are considered more important.

Within the United States, however, data have provided remarkably consistent support for Kohlberg’s sequence of stages and their universality, though the usual rate of progress through the stages is slower than Kohlberg envisioned. In a twenty-year follow-up of Kohlberg’s original research participants, Stage 1 reasoning wasn’t found in anyone after age sixteen, but some subjects remained at Stage 2 well into adulthood. Stage 3 and Stage 4 reasoning were frequently used in adulthood, but only 10 percent of subjects in their early thirties used Stage 5 reasoning, and not a single one of Kohlberg’s original participants ever reached Stage 6. While this last fact has been the basis of some criticism of Kohlberg, it can also be seen as evidence that his theory provides a reasonably accurate description of human morality. A cursory glance at human history, and at the present state of the world, will suffice to demonstrate that the highest levels of moral development probably should be regarded as fairly rare.

Bibliography:

• Gilligan, C. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982;
• Kohlberg, L., and Elfenbein, D. “The Development of Moral Judgments Concerning Capital Punishment.” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45 (1975): 614–639.

This example Moral Development Essay  is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.

• How to Write a Psychology Essay
• Psychology Essay Topics
• Psychology Essay Examples

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

Special offer!

GET 10% OFF WITH  24START  DISCOUNT CODE

Related posts.

Huck’s Moral Development in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

• Categories: Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

About this sample

Words: 547 |

Published: May 19, 2020

Words: 547 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited

• Arnett, J. J., & Jensen, L. A. (2002). A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 17(5), 451-467.
• Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall.
• Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497-529.
• Côté, J. E., & Levine, C. G. (2002). Identity formation, agency, and culture: A social psychological synthesis. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Foster, T. C. (2003). How to read literature like a professor: A lively and entertaining guide to reading between the lines. HarperCollins.
• Kohlberg, L. (1971). From is to ought: How to commit the naturalistic fallacy and get away with it in the study of moral development. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Cognitive development and epistemology (pp. 151-235). Academic Press.
• Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego identity status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3(5), 551-558.
• Piaget, J. (1932). The moral judgment of the child. Free Press.
• Twain, M. (1884). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Charles L. Webster & Company.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 1038 words

2 pages / 1124 words

4 pages / 1905 words

4 pages / 1725 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Mark Twain

Mark Twain's "Advice to Youth" is a masterful example of rhetorical persuasion. Through his skillful use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Twain establishes credibility, elicits emotions, and presents logical arguments. His [...]

Mark Twain's novel is a classic of American literature that offers a unique perspective on the Southern civilization of the mid-19th century. Through the eyes of the protagonist, Huck Finn, Twain provides a critical portrayal of [...]

Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a classic American novel that is known for its use of figurative language. Throughout the novel, Twain employs various literary devices to convey the themes and emotions of [...]

Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of all time. His classic works, such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," have captured the [...]

Is adventures of Huckleberry Finn book more focused on the humor, or violence? All authors create their book with purpose. Considering that Huck Finn lived in such a crucial time, the amount of knowledge that future readers [...]

In the following essay I am going to analyze the figurative language used by Mark Twain in his “Two Views of the Mississippi”.Mark Twain was many things in his life. A writer, a miner, a newspaper shop’s apprentice – but also a [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Essays on moral development

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

743 Previews

19 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

No suitable files to display here.

PDF access not available for this item.

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station41.cebu on May 5, 2022

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

• Dissertation Help Custom Writing Service
• Essay Writing: How to Write an Essay
• Application Paper
• Coursework Writing Service that You Will Like
• Research Proposal Writing Service
• How it Works

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

• Social Sciences

Kohlberg was born in Bronxville, New York in 1927. For his high school education, he attended Andover Academy in Massachusetts. Kohlberg did not initially go to college but opted to help the Israeli cause where he acted as a second engineer on a freighter that used to carry refugees from various regions in Europe to Israel. In 1948, he joined the University of Chicago where he earned his bachelor’s degree, which he did within one year as a result of several exemptions (Taylor and Francis, 3). He stayed in the University for Graduate Work in psychology, which made him think that he had the prospect of becoming a clinical psychologist. Later on, he became interested with interviewing adolescents and children on moral issues. Later on, he was a professor at Harvard University for several years. Kohlberg became popular during the 1970s. This was more on his field of moral education. He was popular as a result of his theory of moral development (Taylor and Francis, 9).

History of the Kohlberg’s Theory

The theory of moral development presents an exciting subject that stems from Piaget’s theory of moral reasoning. The theory has made people understand that morality commences from early childhood and has the ability to be affected by various factors. It can be developed either positively or negatively. This is dependent on how an individual executes a task presented to him or her on each stage of moral development. Kohlberg came up with the theory based on the ideas generated while he was researching children and adolescents. He found out that they tend to face different moral issues, and their judgment based on whether they will act negatively or positively is influenced by several factors (Cardwell and Cara, 117). Various situations created by Kohlberg were not meant to prove whether his subjects were morally wrong or right. He wanted to find out why the children thought that it was morally right or wrong.

Precisely how do children attain morality? It is a question that has fascinated religious leaders, philosophers and parents for ages. It has also become a thorny issue in both education and psychology. Do societal or parental influences play a significant role towards moral development? Do all children develop in similar ways with regards to morality? These are among the questions that people tend to ask. Lawrence Kohlberg developed the theory to help answer such questions.

Kohlberg’s Theory

The theory asserts that moral reasoning encompasses six developmental stages. Each stage has more ability of responding to moral dilemmas than the identified predecessor. The stages involved are classified into three levels. The levels include conventional morality, pre-conventional morality and post-conventional morality. Kohlberg relied upon several dilemmas in order to see how people would justify their actions if they were presented in similar circumstances. He did not analyze the conclusion, but the moral reasoning displayed.

Level 1: Pre-conventional Morality

This level of reasoning is more prevalent to children; 9 years and below though not entirely. Here, they do not have a personal code of reasoning with regards to morality. Their morals are shaped by the standards set by the adults around them. On other occasions, they are determined by the consequences likely to accrue as a result of behaving in a certain way. Children at this level are yet to internalize and adopt the society’s convention about what is wrong or right. This makes them focus on the external consequences likely to accrue if they behave in a certain way (Taylor and Francis, 19). This level encompasses the first two stages of moral development.

Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation

Here, the reasoning that children have is that they will only be punished if they do the wrong thing. This means that they will always strive to do the right thing at all times. No one likes being punished so acting in the right way is not an option here, but a must. The child will always recall that the last time they did so and so, they got punished. That will mean that the action was not morally right. As a result, the child involved will take utmost care not to repeat that action due to the expected consequences (Ashford and Craig144). Children do have to be punished directly to view the action as being morally wrong, but a punishment handed to their colleagues will also trigger them to refrain from the act in future. This case also applies to adults to a certain extent. They tend to follow the law so that they do not find themselves in jail.

Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange

In this stage, people tend to judge morality based on how it helps satisfy their needs. As a result, different people tend to have different viewpoints. This stage tries to showcase a limited interest for other people’s interests. As a result, the concern for others is not rooted in intrinsic respect or loyalty. It is more of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours in return” kind of mentality (Taylor and Francis, 21). This is where children tend to ask “what is in it for me” if I act in a certain way? The Heinz dilemma by Kohlberg presented a favorable example of this stage. The children involved argued that the best course of action was the one that suited Heinz. If he had not stolen the drugs, his wife would have died. This is the same scenario like arguing that it is morally right for someone to steal money in order to buy food for his/her hungry children. Children tend to believe that these actions are morally right due to severe need of the people that execute them.

  Level 2: Conventional Morality

At this level, people start to internalize moral standards of the adult role models that they value. On most occasions, the authority is internalized but it is not questioned. Reasoning with regards to morality is mostly determined by the norms of the group that people belong to. This level is typical of both adults and adolescents. Morality is judged based on the society’s expectations and views. People just accept what the society has termed as either right or wrong. An individual is expected to obey the rules set forward regardless of whether there is going to be consequences or not. The level entails stage 3 and 4 of the moral development theory.

Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships

At this stage, people are good in order to be perceived as good individuals by others. Children strive to be “good kids” in order to live to the society’s expectations. They tend to understand that being regarded as good plays to the advantage of oneself. “Good kids” tend to get favors now and then. On most occasions they have their way on the things that they want. Children feel that the idea of not being naughty would help them be in favorable terms with people in the society. This usually helps even in times when such children have undertaken undesirable acts that people are not quite sure who did them. It is certain that the kids used to behaving in a certain way will get the benefit of doubt compared to their counterparts. A good example how children try to show morality is by giving food to street peasants. This is because they think that doing so makes them ‘nice’.

Stage 4: Maintaining Social order

Stage four goes beyond the need for people being approved like in stage 3. People tend to understand the need for obeying dictums, social conventions and laws due to the significance that they have towards enhancing a functioning society. Here, children/individuals become aware of the rules governing the society. There are central ideals that dictate what is wrong or right. It is everyone’s duty or obligation to ensure that these ideals have been upheld at all times regardless of the circumstances (Cardwell and Cara 113). People are considered to be morally wrong when they violate the law. In this stage, culpability is the main factor that separates the good and bad deeds. Most people in the society tend to remain at this stage, where morality is usually determined by outside forces. A good example is how policemen refuse bribes handed to them by individuals breaking the law in one way or another. They owe a duty of care and protection to the society so they must ensure that law and order is maintained at all times.

Level 3: Post-conventional Morality

This level is actualized by an inherent realization that people are separate entities from the society. This means that their perspectives have the ability to take precedence over the society’s views. Here, people have the ability to disobey rules that contravene their principles. It is usually a small percentage of people in the society that are able to operate at this level. Kohlberg asserts that around 10-15% enhance this form of abstract thinking (Ashford and Craig 162). This is to mean that most people develop their morality based on external forces and their ethical principles. Post-conventional moralists tend to live by their own principles. This includes ethical principles such as the right of liberty, life, and justice. The level encompasses stage 5 and 6 of the moral development theory.

Stage 5: Individual Rights and Social Contract

Stage 5 asserts that people should consider values and opinions of others before deciding on the morality of other people’s actions. In the society, people hold different rights, values and opinions. These perspectives ought to be respected as they are unique to each community or individual. People understand that while rules are meant for the good of the public, there are occasions when they might go against the interests of some people. The laws that do not promulgate the welfare of the general public should be altered when necessary (Cardwell and Cara 116).   Some of the issues are not clear-cut. A good example is in the Heinz’s dilemma. The act of saving someone’s life can be considered to be more important compared to the act of stealing; which is against the law.

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

At this stage, people tend to develop their own moral guidelines. These guidelines may or may not fit within the context of the law. These are guidelines such as human rights and equality. People envisaged in this stage are usually prepared to defend what they believe in regardless of the perceived outcomes. They are not afraid to go against the entire society or to face the consequences of being disapproved or imprisoned while pursuing their principles Shaffer (38). Kohlberg postulates that very few people have the ability of actualizing this stage.

Theoretical Assumptions of this Theory

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is constructed around various assumptions. Among them is that human beings have the ability to reason, they are inherently communicative and possess the desire to understand the world and other people around them. The theory tends to consider the notion of justice as the main characteristic of moral reasoning. Kohlberg also portrays that an individual cannot skip any of these stages while progressing to higher stages of moral reasoning (Meyer 23).

Critical evaluation of the Theory

Problems Associated with the Methods used by Kohlberg

Sample used is Biased 

(Cardwell and Cara, 133) assert that Kohlberg’s theory used only male participants as the sample while conducting these researches. This is to mean that the stages define the morality of the male species. This brings about some questions since men and women tend to differ in some aspects with regards to morality. Women’s morality is based on the principles of care and compassion. Men’s morality on the other hand, is based on abstract principles of justice and law. If the gender aspect is ignored in this theory, it can have a significant impact on results derived through psychological research.

Dilemmas used Lack Ecological Validity

Most of these dilemmas are not familiar to most people (Ashford and Craig 197). In the Heinz dilemma, the subjects are asked whether he should steal the drug to save his wife’s life. Participants to Kohlberg’s research were aged between 10 and 16 years. A high probability is that such individuals have never been married in their lives. As a result, they have not been subjected to a situation that is close to the one being subjected upon them. How are such people expected to know whether Heinz should steal the drug or not?

The Research Design is not Very Appropriate

The research design used by Kohlberg seems to be poor. The way that he constructed the theory may not have been best suited in testing whether children adhere to similar sequence of moral progression. The research was cross-sectional. Children of different ages were interviewed in order to identify the level of moral development they belonged to. The best way to approach the study would be to conduct a longitudinal research that encompassed the same children (Meyer 31).

Dilemmas Involved are Hypothetical

In real situations, the course of actions that people take tends to have real consequences for themselves or others. On some occasions, these consequences tend to be unpleasant. Would the subjects involved in this research reason in a similar way if they were placed in the real situation? It is not essay to tell. The fact that this theory is dependent on people’s response with regards to artificial dilemma triggers the question of validity of the results derived. People might react differently if they found themselves in real life situations as opposed to when they are asked to respond in a hypothetical nature (Meyer 27). This is due to the comfort provided by the research environment.

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

Among the criticisms of this theory is the emphasis of justice as opposed to other values. This means that it does not address arguments purported by those that value other moral actions adequately. Ashford and Craig (209) assert that this theory is overly androcentric. They postulated that the aspect of caring for other people is equally important as is justice. Also, the claim that males’ moral reasoning is advanced compared to that of women might be based on the rationale being observed or tested at that moment. According to Kohlberg, most girls tend to occupy stage 3, while boys dominate stage 4. This shows that the same traits of care and sensitivity with regards to other people’s needs are the same ones that categorize women as being deficient in moral development. In short, Ashford and Craig (209) claim that Kohlberg’s theory has some elements of bias. This is because it neglects feminine’s love, voice of compassion and non-violence that are normally associated with girls’ socialization. Kohlberg did not consider the fact that women tend to approach morality issues based on the “ethics of care” as opposed to men who are more inclined to the “ethics of justice” perspective. This tends to challenge the fundamental assumptions that coin the theory.

Another criticism lies on the doubt of whether distinct stages of moral development really exist. This is because evidence derived does not always support that conclusion. Cardwell and Cara (118) assert that reasoning about wrong and right is more dependent on the situation rather than general rules.

Ashford and Craig (211) also assert that the stages involved in the theory are not culturally neutral. This has been demonstrated by the way it is applied to different cultures. People in different cultures might progress through the stages in similar order, but they will do it at different rates. This is because there are other underlying factors that envisage people of certain culture like beliefs.

Shaffer (43) questions the postulation that moral actions mainly result due to formal reasoning. He argues that many people tend to make moral judgments without considering certain aspects such as abstract ethical values, fairness, law and human rights. In short, Shaffer (43) asserts that moral reasoning might be less relevant with regards to moral action compared to what the theory suggests.

Works Cited

Ashford, Jose, and Craig W. LeCroy. Human Behavior in the Social Environment: A        Multidimensional Perspective. 4th ed. Australia: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2010.         Print.

Cardwell, Mike, and Cara Flanagan. Psychology A2: The Complete Companion. Cheltenham:      Nelson Thornes, 2004. Print.

Meyer, John. Reflections on Values Education. Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier U, 2010. Print.

Shaffer, David R. Social and Personality Development. 6th ed. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage    Learning, 2009. Print.

Taylor, and Francis. Lawrence Kohlberg. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.

  Do you need an Original High Quality Academic Custom Essay ?

• About Project
• Testimonials

Business Management Ideas

Essay on Moral Values

List of essays on moral values, essay on moral values – short essay for kids and children (essay 1 – 150 words), essay on moral values – written in english (essay 2 – 250 words), essay on moral values – for school students (class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 standard) (essay 3 – 300 words), essay on moral values (essay 4 – 400 words), essay on moral values –  importance in society and challenges (essay 5 – 500 words), essay on moral values – how to cultivate and inculcate it in human beings (essay 6 – 600 words), essay on moral values (essay 7 – 750 words), essay on moral values – long essay (essay 8 – 1000 words).

Moral values are the key essence of life and it is these values that come along with us through the journey of life. Moral values are basically the principles that guide our life in the righteous path and do not allow us to do any harm to others.

Audience: The below given essays are especially written for kids, children and school students (Class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Standard).

Moral values define the humankind. Moral values empower us to stand as the most unique creatures in the whole animal kingdom. These values are the basis to almost every religion. Thousands of years ago, Buddha described the essence of moral values in his sermons and spread it all over the world.

Since our childhood, we are taught about the good habits and their powers by the elders at home and school. Some of the most significant moral values are kindness, honesty, truthfulness, selflessness, compassion, and love.

The things we learn as a child mould us as an adult. That is why it is crucial to inculcate the pious values in the children. For the younger generation to be transformed into citizens with mighty characters, they must possess strong ethical and moral values. Only then, we can dream of making India great and emerge as an ethical leader in the world.

So, from where do we get these moral values?

Moral values are the first thing that every child learns from their homes . What is right and what is wrong is something that we see and learn from our parents as well as from our own experiences. Many religions preach moral values are part of their belief systems.

Importance of Moral Values

Moral values are very important to each and everyone because it is these values that transform us into better human beings.

i. Without knowing and learning moral values, we will not be able to differentiate between good and bad.

ii. Moral values define us and help us to be surrounded by good people.

iii. One who practices moral values will have courage to handle any situation in life.

Role of Parents

Parents of today think that providing all luxuries to their children is their only responsibility. But they miss to offer them the most important wealth – moral values. When parents deny this, they fail in their duty to give a good human being to the society.

Honesty, kindness, truthfulness, forgiveness, respect for others, helping others etc., are some of the moral values that every parent must teach their children.

“It is not what you do for your children , but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings” – Ann Landers.

Moral Values are the practices followed by human beings to be good and to live in a society. Moral values or ethics, are taught to us by our parents and teachers. These include being honest, kind, respecting others, helping those in need, being faithful and cooperating with others, to name a few, are good moral values.

What are Moral Values?

The norms of what is right or good and what is wrong or bad, define the moral values which are based on many factors like region, society, religious beliefs, culture etc. These defined norms tell the people how they must act or behave in different situations and expect similar behaviours form others.

Importance of Moral Values:

Moral values give an aim to life. Knowing difference between right and wrong is the foundation to imbibe moral values, which are taught from the birth, and bring out the best in individuals.

Moral Values in Workplace:

In every workplace, people look for individuals with good moral values. For a job interview, the interviewer looks for a candidate with good moral values. Every organization has a defined ethical code of conduct that the people in the organization are expected to follow, in addition to basic societal moral values. Organizations with people having good moral values runs more systematically and efficiently.

Moral Value in coming Generations:

People are not aware or conscious about moral values and have different outlook towards life. Parents and teachers are too busy to inculcate moral values in younger generations.

Conclusion:

Moral values are a type of law defined by the culture, society or other factors, to guide individuals on how to or not to behave in daily life. Sometimes, one may have different views and feel the moral guidelines too harsh or wrong. Such guidelines should be advocated for the good of the society.

Moral values are those characters or values seeded in a person’s mind and behavior towards oneself, others and on the whole. It can be the way a person consider other person’s life and space or the way they value each other’s feelings. The basic moral values like honesty, kindness, respect towards others, helpful mannerism, etc., will be the keys to be noted to judge a person’s character.

Moral values are the main characteristics that define the goodness in a person. These should be taught by the parents and teachers to the kids from their childhood. Moral values will help everyone in taking better decisions in life and attain the heights in an ethical way.

Instead of just thinking about our success and goals, moral values will give us the courage to take into account other’s happiness too. A person with better moral values is motivated and finds all possible ways to spread good vibes in and around them as well. Suppressing the people around you for attaining the goals you desire is the most dangerous violation of moral values.

Importance:

A person without moral values is considered to possess a bad character and the society will start to judge the person due to this behavior. This competitive world of ours has made every moral value in a person to die for their own development and growth. Such inhuman and unethical activities like dishonesty, telling lies for your own benefit, hurting others and even worst things, should be avoided.

Inculcating the importance of moral values in a kid from their growing age will help them in sticking to those values forever. It is a necessity of our society to bear such responsible youths and younger generations with good moral values so that they will help our nation to attain better heights.

This society of ours is filled with immoral people who find every scope to deceive others through their activities. The young ones learn more things by observing their elders and they mimic the way their elders behave. It is the responsibility of elders like parents, teachers, etc., to grow a future generation with more moral values seeded in them by improving their own behavior.

Moral values can be taught to students by making them listen and understand more moral stories and the rewards they will get if they show it to others as well. Such way of teaching will help them grab the importance easily rather than taking mere lectures on moral values.

Introduction:

The society helps individuals to grow in culture and learn through experiences of all aspects of life. Societies instill culture, religion, economy and politics in individual because as people grow up, they tend to pick something from dynamics of life and the societal opinions on certain aspects of life. Moral values are also instilled by a society. The values that a person grows up with are the values that will be displayed in his or her character. Society plays a big role in influencing moral values of individuals. Moral values are a set of principles that enable an individual to distinguish between the proper and improper things or right versus wrong. The moral values that are highly valued in the society are integrity, honesty, loyalty, respect and hard work.

Importance of Moral Values in the Society:

In a society, there is interactions among people and the possession of moral values is important in those interactions. Establishment of good relationships is reliant on good moral values. Values like honesty, trust, faithfulness and loyalty are essential in establishment and sustainability of good relationships. Lack of those values causes strained relationships and misunderstanding among members of the society.

Moral values are important in building the economy. Through determination and hard work, people are able to conduct activities that contribute largely to the economic growth of a society. Also through establishment of good relationships, trade is conducted smoothly and there is teamwork in trade and performance of business transactions. The growth of the economy is important in the life quality in the society.

Moral values also play a role in prevention of conflict and ease in conflict resolution. Good relationships seldom end in conflict and whenever conflict arises, it is minimum and can be resolved easily. In a society that peace thrives, there is growth and development which results in an improved quality of life.

Challenges:

The society is required to thrive in good moral values. Development of moral values is challenged by migration and interactions between different cultures and societies. The interactions dilute the morals of one society through adaption and assimilation of a different culture e.g., westernization in Africa.

Poverty is a challenge to the moral values because it creates vices like theft and deceit among members of the society. In poor economic status, everyone struggles to keep up with the hard times and moral values become a thing of the past due to strive for survival.

Education is both a challenge and promoter for development of moral values. Depending on the environment of education, students pick either good or bad morals. In modern education, students tend to pick immorality because of peer pressure.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, it is evident that moral value are an important consideration in the development of the society. Moral values go a long way in impacting the lives of an individual and the entire society. The development of moral values varies with the environmental exposure in societies. Each society should strive to uphold good moral values.

Moral values cultivated by human beings dignify the worth of human life. The morality existed from time immemorial and sustained among the communities. It amalgamated into the cultures which made the life of human beings secure and advanced. We can observe the ethical integrity in all the aspects of the individual as well as societal discourses. The moral values have been evolving with the inter-personal relationships between human beings as well as intra-personal relationships.

What are the moral values cultivated among us?

Religions have played a vital role in formulating and promoting moral values. The fundamental human values of love, respect, trust, tolerance, compassion, kindness are commonly practiced among people. Love and respect are significant in family relationships.

Love and respects are the cornerstones for the relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, elders and children. The sharing and caring qualities should be encouraged among children to make them compassionate personalities in the future.

The integrity and trust plays a prominent role in maintaining professional relationships. Similarly, kindness and empathy are the two powerful units to measure the gravity of human values. Patience and forgiveness are the right symbols of a human being’s dignity.

The Relevance of Moral Values:

Nowadays, humans tend to be more focused into self-centered life. Whatever happens outside the family roof is least mattered to the modern people. The social commitment of humans towards their community gets ignored for their personal conveniences.

The compassion, brotherhood, and love are hardly found. We do not have time to spend with our parents or even have time to look after our old and sick parents. Husbands leaving their wives and vice versa have become common these days. The increased number of divorces, old age homes, and orphanages clearly show where our compassion and love stay.

The social values like secularism, religious tolerance, and universal fraternity are the most threatened moral values these days. Religious fanatics have made the lives of ordinary people terrible in many places. The violence by the fanatics are the denial of the fundamental rights of people. People do not identify the fellow beings as brothers and sisters instead they seem to recognize others on racial, economic, gender, caste, and religious terms. It affects the balance of our social system.

The increasing terrorism, revolts, violence against children and gender inequalities are the instances of the denial of fundamental rights. The refugees who wander from nations to nations, the war for food and water, robbery, child labor are still prevalent in today’s civilized society. The civilization and culture acquired through education have made our lives more primitive considering the aspect of moral values.

How to inculcate the values among the children?

Although we acquired many information and knowledge, skills and technical knowledge through our education, our curriculum gives less importance to teach human values and moral values to our children. Nowadays, children become addicted to electronic gadgets, social media, and other entertainment modes.

It is our responsibility to teach our children and students human values within our family as well as through the education system. We should help grow moral values like sharing, helping, caring, and being considerate and tolerance in our children and encourage them to practice those at an early age.

Though various cultures have different perspectives towards moral values, the fundamental human values remain the same in every culture. It is relevant to project the human values and cultivate them in our daily lives.

Moral values demand to have conviction, integrity and rational sense to dissect between right and wrong. It is not just a technical understanding of right and wrong. It is more than that. In life, even if things happen against the morale of our best belief, we tend to manage the situation which may be the right decision of the occasion. We can say morally is wrong but it is morally right too, because a concession in the moral standard might have saved a situation here.

Moral values are relative. Standing firm to the moral values should be the motto in everyone’s life. It should satisfy your conscious even if it is disadvantageous. Moral values are subject to change, and it should continue to change upon the progression of society. It should reflect on what we are standing and the kind of impact it can create on others.

Moral values can be said to simply mean the values that are good that our teachers and parents taught us. Some very important moral values include being kind and honest, always trying to help those who are in need, show respect to other people, working with others when there is a need to and faithfulness to a partner or friend. When we imbibe moral values that are good, we are building ourselves to become very good humans. A very good character is synonymous to moral values that are good. Moral values can be basically defined as values that are defined by our society so that they can help in guiding people to live a life that is disciplined. Moral values that are basic like cooperative behaviour, kindness and honesty are most times constant, some other values can change or get modified over time. Other habits that portray good moral values include integrity, helpfulness, love respectfulness, compassion and hard work.

The importance of good moral values in our lives:

Life is full of many different challenges. Each day we live, morals are very necessary in helping us differentiate between things that are wrong and things that are right. Our morals and moral values affect both us and the society around us. Good moral values can help us improve our decision making in life.

Aspects of moral values:

Moral values cut across every area of our lives and even the society at large. For us to be able to have a good society and environment, it is important for each and every one of us to have solid and good moral values. It is important that we respect each other irrespective of the age or social status of the individual we are relating to. This can help in gaining good relations in every aspects and area of life whether it is in the workplace, family or the society. Good moral values can also help us in discovering our true purpose in life.

If it is true that moral values and habits are extremely important and beneficial to us humans, why then do we have a lot of people that do not have any of the moral values and do not follow the rules of morality in this world. Why do we have a lot of crimes happening all around us in the world today? Why is there so much disbelief and distrust among all of us?

The world we live in is an extremely tempting place and there are quick fixes for all of the problems facing us and this eventually turns our attention back to the main problem. Abiding to moral values in this life requires a lot of patience and also sacrifice but eventually, it helps one in analysing the difficulties and problems one faces and help in getting a solution to them.

Overall, someone who is ready and very determined to do their best in following a life that is meaningful in a patient way ends up following moral values without any fear of the person getting judged and such person ends up standing out from among the crowd.

Imbibing and inculcating good moral values:

The best time to imbibe good moral values into a person is when the person is still young and can still learn new characters and habits. Therefore, teachers and parents should endeavour to put in their best efforts into helping students and their children imbibe very solid moral values. Most children are very observant and they copy and learn habits and behaviours of their elder siblings, parents and teachers.

Children are bound to pay solid attention to the manner of action and behaviour of people older than them and they simply do the things they do. Children tend to speak only the truth if they have noticed that the elders around them are always truthful no matter the situation.

Likewise, it is important as elders to not be engaged in any form of bad behaviour as the children tend to assume they can also do these things and that they are not wrong because the elders around them are doing it. We should try to always demonstrate good and solid moral values to children around us. The best way to teach children good and solid moral values is through our own actions and habits.

It is very important for us as human beings to bear good and solid moral values like helping others, honesty , righteousness, decency, and even self-decency. People that have great moral values are very indispensable asset to others and even the society at large.

Moral values are the models of good and bad, which direct a person’s conduct and decisions. A person may adopt moral values from society and government, religion, or self. They are also inherited from the family as well.

In past ages, it was uncommon to see couples who lived respectively without the advantage of legal marriage rules. Of late, couples that set up a family without marriage are about as common as conventional wedded couples. There has been a shift in the moral values from time to time. For instance, in earlier times, the laws and ethics essentially originated from the cultures of a family and society as a whole. As society moved into the advanced time, these have largely disintegrated and people today tend to sue their own morals they want to follow.

Definition:

Moral values, as the name says, implies the significance of the moral qualities in the conduct of the kids, the youth and everyone one in life. Primarily the moral values are the qualities which one gains from life through the journey of life. They also depict the standards of what is right and what is wrong for us which we learn in the schools and in the workplace and from our surroundings as well. The beliefs which we gain from the family and the society that directs us how we lead our lives is what moral values are all about.

Moral Values in India:

India is a country which has been known for its values since the ancient times. We start to learn moral values from our family. In India, children are taught to respect their elders, greet them properly whenever they meet them. This a way of showing respect towards the elders. A child knows that he is supposed to obey whatever is asked by the elders. Such a moral value inculcates obedience in the mind of a child. Moral values are important for all of us in order to make us live a life of a good human being.

Important Moral Values in Life:

Although there are numerous moral values which one should follow in life, there are some of them which should be followed by almost everyone in the world. Firstly, always speaking the truth is one such moral value. We should never speak lies no matter what the circumstance is. Also, we should respect our elders. Our elders have seen and experienced the world better than us. It is always good for their blessings and advice in our important decisions. Loyalty towards our work and integrity are other such moral values which should be practised by one and all.

Examples from History:

There have been many examples from history which have depicted the importance and rightful following of moral values in life. One such example which we all are familiar with is from our epic Ramayana. Lord Ram was asked to go to fourteen years in exile just because his father King Dasaratha had granted a wish to the queen Kaikeyi. He could have refused it as well as it was not he who had granted the wish. But just to keep his father’s words he accepted the exile graciously and went into exile. Not only this, his wife Sita and his younger brother Laxman also followed his footsteps as they believed that it was their prime duty to follow him.

The Scenario Today:

Such was the moral value depicted during that period. But, now things are so different. People seem to have forgotten their moral values and are more focused on modern life. There are a number of instances every day where parents are left alone by their children to live a lonely old life. Many of them even die in isolation and there is no one to look after them during the last years. Apart from this, there are frequent quarrels between families over petty matters which could have been avoided if the people remembered the moral values our ancestors stood for.

Nowadays, people smoking and drinking and that too in front of their parents and children is a common sight. This is so against our moral values. We should not teach our children the evils ,such habits can do harm them in later years of their life.

The Remedy Available:

Since there has been a strong drift in the moral values of the people, the government has initiated to make the students learn about moral values in life and their importance to us. In order to execute this, schools of today teach moral values to the children in a greater sense. This is important as the students are the future of tomorrow. If the schools and the families alike teach the children such values from childhood, they shall turn into good human beings when they grow up.

Moral values depict our character to the outer world. They are of extreme importance in our lives. In earlier times, people were so determined to follow these values inherited from our ancestors. Such was their determination that once committed they never went back on their words. But with modernisation and urbanisation, we have seemed to have lost our moral values somewhere. Children disrespecting their parents are a common sight nowadays.

But, we should not blame the children for this. It is perhaps our own upbringing which has led to such immoral practices all over. It is we who should inculcate the moral values in our life first. Children will follow what they observe around them. If they shall see people living in joint families together and respecting each other, even they shall do so when they grow up. If we speak lies to our children even they shall do so. For the children imbibe the habits they see in their parents, teachers, peers at school and others around them.

So, it is we who have to take the first step forward. The children shall surely follow us. Moral values give us character and strength. If each one us practice some moral values in life, there would be peace and harmony all around. Moreover, we shall have a bright future for our next generations as well.

Moral Science , Moral Values , Values

Get FREE Work-at-Home Job Leads Delivered Weekly!

Join more than 50,000 subscribers receiving regular updates! Plus, get a FREE copy of How to Make Money Blogging!

Message from Sophia!

Like this post? Don’t forget to share it!

Here are a few recommended articles for you to read next:

• Essay on Discipline
• Which is More Important in Life: Love or Money | Essay
• Essay on My School
• Essay on Solar Energy

No comments yet.

Leave a reply click here to cancel reply..

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Billionaires

• Donald Trump
• Warren Buffett
• Email Address
• Free Stock Photos
• Keyword Research Tools
• URL Shortener Tools
• WordPress Theme

Book Summaries

• How To Win Friends
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• The Code of the Extraordinary Mind
• The Luck Factor
• The Millionaire Fastlane
• The ONE Thing
• Think and Grow Rich
• 100 Million Dollar Business
• Business Ideas

Digital Marketing

• Mobile Addiction
• Social Media Addiction
• Computer Addiction
• Drug Addiction
• Internet Addiction
• TV Addiction
• Healthy Habits
• Morning Rituals
• Wake up Early
• Cholesterol
• Reducing Cholesterol
• Fat Loss Diet Plan
• Reducing Hair Fall
• Sleep Apnea
• Weight Loss

Internet Marketing

• Email Marketing

Law of Attraction

• Subconscious Mind
• Vision Board
• Visualization

Law of Vibration

• Professional Life

Motivational Speakers

• Bob Proctor
• Robert Kiyosaki
• Vivek Bindra
• Inner Peace

Productivity

• Not To-do List
• Project Management Software
• Negative Energies

Relationship

• Getting Back Your Ex

Self-help 21 and 14 Days Course

Self-improvement.

• Body Language
• Complainers
• Emotional Intelligence
• Personality

Social Media

• Project Management
• Anik Singal
• Baba Ramdev
• Dwayne Johnson
• Jackie Chan
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Narendra Modi
• Nikola Tesla
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Sandeep Maheshwari
• Shaqir Hussyin

Website Development

Wisdom post, worlds most.

• Expensive Cars

Our Portals: Gulf Canada USA Italy Gulf UK

Privacy Overview

Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway

Introduction.

The stories of Ernest Hemingway can rightly be called the valuable heritage of humanity, bearing in itself moral and spiritual purity. The work , Hills Like White Elephants, is no exception and is a complex work with deep meaning that covers various moral and ethical themes. The author talks about communication difficulties that periodically arise between people for multiple reasons, which makes it impossible for them to maintain complete contact. Hemingway considers abortion, power-sharing between men and women, and the importance of communication in human relationships, focusing on how misunderstanding can lead to confusion and frustration.

The first and one of the central themes of the story is abortion. When Hemingway wrote his novel, abortion was strictly forbidden by law in Spain, so the problem was particularly acute for women (Hemingway 1927). Throughout the woman’s life, the man, as the hero of the work, pushes the woman to take a dangerous step and have an abortion. At this time, the thoughts, and inner feelings of the girl, who is in a posthumous struggle, weigh the positive and negative sides. From the personal to the public, this conflict raises a broad global debate on this. The author’s approach to this problem is that the reader should reflect on the topic and make his conclusions about the problem and the right decisions.

The second problem is the division of the petticoat between a woman and a man, which at the time of writing was highly relevant. In those days, a man incredibly controlled his woman, forbidding him to do what he did not like. These prohibitions could be both verbal and physical. In the story, the man manipulates the woman, forcing her to think about abortion and forgetting her fears (Hemingway 1927). The problem of women is revealed in the uncertainty of claiming their rights, which indicates that men had a more significant influence on the partner in the relationship.

Finally, the third theme flows smoothly from the second and is the importance of communication in human relations. Throughout Hemingway’s story, the man and woman try to communicate actively but cannot talk about their feelings and experiences (Hemingway 1927). Abortion is almost the only topic of discussion, but even here, partners are confused and do not understand each other. This problem again emphasizes the importance of sincere and honest communication between people.

Speaking about the style of writing that Ernest Hemingway uses, it is necessary to note how the author skillfully pushes the reader to the development of the topic. The author is quite minimalist in his statements, but his prose is laconic and transparent. This technique creates even more tension during reading and an atmosphere in which the reader can feel the conflict between the characters. The work does not use poetic, descriptive language to create long sentences. Statements are often snarky, but these short phrases convey a massive palette of emotions. This technique is also interesting in that the reader can come up with several moves of events based on what has been read. For the most part, because of the fragmentation of sentences, a person will have to draw his conclusions about what is involved in the story, but this allows him to develop his script of the work.

In conclusion, Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants raises essential moral and ethical themes that are always relevant. This applies both to the issue of abortion and general communication and respect in the loving couple. Describing the interaction of women and men, the author focuses the reader’s attention on what can lead to backsliding and secrecy during communication. Although the narrative is scarce, Hemingway manages to create a tense environment and make a man think about the meaning of the work and his or her life.

Hemingway, E. (1927). Hills Like White Elephants . The Forum, 82(3), 210–218. Web.

Cite this paper

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2024, May 25). Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway. https://studycorgi.com/exploring-moral-and-ethical-themes-in-hills-like-white-elephants-by-hemingway/

"Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway." StudyCorgi , 25 May 2024, studycorgi.com/exploring-moral-and-ethical-themes-in-hills-like-white-elephants-by-hemingway/.

StudyCorgi . (2024) 'Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway'. 25 May.

1. StudyCorgi . "Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway." May 25, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/exploring-moral-and-ethical-themes-in-hills-like-white-elephants-by-hemingway/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway." May 25, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/exploring-moral-and-ethical-themes-in-hills-like-white-elephants-by-hemingway/.

StudyCorgi . 2024. "Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway." May 25, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/exploring-moral-and-ethical-themes-in-hills-like-white-elephants-by-hemingway/.

This paper, “Exploring Moral and Ethical Themes in “Hills Like White Elephants” by Hemingway”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: May 25, 2024 .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal . Please use the “ Donate your paper ” form to submit an essay.

Are you seeking one-on-one college counseling and/or essay support? Limited spots are now available. Click here to learn more.

100 Tone Words to Express Mood in Your Writing

June 30, 2023

Have you ever struggled to find just the right word to describe an author’s attitude in a sentence or character in a scene? Or do you worry about repetitiveness in your word choice? Here is where exploring a wide range of tone or mood words will come in handy. Generating a robust inventory of tone or mood words will boost your writing’s analysis and accuracy. In addition, cultivating an arsenal of these terms will help you to more accurately assess the text that you aim to describe. Mastering this tone words list will help you become a better reader and demonstrate that in your writing.

What exactly is a tone word? Tone words help depict the mood or attitude of an author, speaker, or character in a certain context. In some instances, you yourself might use tone words not to describe the writing of another but in your own writing, to set the mood. Overall, tone words depict a kind of emotional quality or the attitude of a part of an argument. We can glean an author’s tone by analyzing their word choice, syntax, sentence structure, and perspective.

Tone vs. Voice

The tone differs from the overall style or voice of a piece. This is because tone can vary from situation to situation, moment to moment, and topic to topic so it’s important to deploy specific language to characterize it most accurately. The tone can be amused in one paragraph, defensive in the next, and lofty in yet another! (*The definition of all bolded terms can be found in the list below*).

Tone words demonstrate analysis and assessment of different kinds of texts. If you say “That op-ed was melodramatic ” that means you interpret the article as being excessively emotional and therefore not the most reliable source. On the other hand, if you describe a report as scholarly and incisive , that means that you found the article likely well-researched, accurate, and straight to the point. By effectively terming the tone and mood of a piece, you offer a kind of summary and evaluation for your reader.

What is Tone in Literature?

Using tone words to understand and interpret a text for your reader goes beyond assessing whether an article is a valid source or not. By naming the tone and its shifts across the moment, character, and text you begin to tease out the complexities, layers, and contrasts within a work of art.

As an example of how we match a tone to a tone word , let’s take a look at an excerpt from the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost ( a full analysis of the poem can be found here ). The poet writes “long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth.” Here, the words “long I stood” indicate an enduring examination, emphasized further by the next few lines where the poet strains to look and assess as much as possible. We might use the tone words “ philosophical ” and “ pensive ” to describe the tone here. But of course, the tone shifts in nuance and gradation throughout the poem. We end on a different tone, where in the last stanza the speaker reflects back on that day and says “I shall be telling this with a sigh.”

Tone Words List (Continued)

This reflection of looking back on the past could be seen as a bit nostalgic for the moments prior to making the choice of which road to travel and perhaps regretful  of the choice he ultimately made, due to the fact that he will tell it “with a sigh.” But digging even deeper, because the short poem does not directly describe feelings or reach a clearly articulated conclusion, we could describe the tone as restrained and even verging toward evasive . By tracking the different tone words we might use to describe each part of a piece of writing, we get a clear picture of the emotional and rhetorical arc.

As you can see, we can interpret tone (and find the appropriate tone word) by analyzing the mood of the descriptive words or plot in a passage. If you’re reading a novel by Dennis Cooper or Toni Morrison you will likely encounter descriptions of and contemplations on death, the dead, and gruesome violence. Based on the description or plot points, you might then say those passages as macabre .

We can also assess tone by interpreting the type of language used. If you’re reading the poem “ Having A Coke With You ” by Frank O’Hara or “ An American Poem ” by Eileen Myles, you will likely encounter lines with a lot of everyday and conversational terms and phrases. In accord, you might describe such moments in these poems as colloquial.

Tone and Analyzing Literature

Tone words also emerge from analyzing the formal aspects of a piece of writing. If you’re reading Ernest Hemmingway or Jackie Ess you might encounter passages with a lot of short, unadorned sentences, devoid of excessive language or description. The tone words terse and curt might effectively convey the mood of those sections.

Lastly, tone words are a useful tool for the analysis of any text and might prove immensely powerful to use in your papers for humanities courses. If you are a creative writer, tone words can bolster the force of your storytelling, character development, and world-building. They can also provide you with a range of ways to bring out thematics and emotionality in your poetry with intention.

Positive, Negative, & Neutral Tone Words

Typically, you can categorize tone words into the categories of positive, negative, and neutral. I’ve indicated such connotations, when relevant, with a + for positive, – for negative, and = for neutral. Some tone words might have multiple or all possible connotations, as their meaning might and mood might depend on their context.

100 Tone Words

Below are 100 Tone Words and their definitions to familiarize yourself with and help make you a better writer!

1) Absurd:  unreasonably, ridiculous, illogical (-)

2) Accusatory: suggesting that someone has done something wrong (-)

3) Acerbic: sharply critical or sarcastic (-)

4) Admonishing: firmly warn, reprimand, or urge (-)

5) Amused: entertained, humored, or delighted (+)

6) Apathetic: indifferent; having no emotion or response (=)

7) Bitter: angry, hostile, or resentful (-)

8) Blunt: straightforward, plainspoken, candid (=)

9) Brusque: blunt, abrupt, or impatient (-/=)

10) Callous: uncaring, harsh, or ruthless in indifference (-)

11) Candid: frank, straightforward, honest (=)

12) Colloquial: using everyday, familiar, conversational language (not formal) (=)

13) Commanding: expressing a position of authority; powerful (+/=)

14) Curt: short, terse, often rudely so (-)

15) Concerned: worried, anxious (=)

16) Conciliatory: intending to pacify or appease; peacemaking (=/+)

17) Contentious: argumentative, provocative, controversial (-)

18) Cynical: distrustful, doubtful of sincerity or motives (-)

19) Defensive: trying to defend or protect; anxious to avoid criticism (=)

20) Demeaning: speaking down to someone, disrespectful toward others (-)

21) Derisive: mocking or ridiculing (-)

22) Disdainful: disrespectful, scornful (-)

23) Dignified: speaking in a way worthy of respect; serious, formal (+)

24) Diplomatic: speaking tactfully and conciliatorily in stressful situations; at times to advance one’s own ends (+/-/=)

25) Disparaging: derogatory, speaking poorly about something (-)

26) Earnest: sincere, serious conviction (=/+)

27) Ebullient: cheerful, energetic, exuberant (+)

28) Egotistical: self-absorbed, self-centered, very conceited (-)

29) Effusive: unrestrained and heartful expression of approval or pleasure (+)

30) Empathetic: imagining, relating to, or feeling what another feels; demonstrating a high level of emotional understanding (+)

31) Evasive: intentionally ambiguous, vague, or avoidant; roundabout or not direct (-)

32) Facetious: intentionally joking in attitude and unserious in intent (=)

33) Farcical: absurd, ridiculous, or silly (=)

34) Flippant: glib, unserious, lacking proper respect, dismissive (-/=)

35) Formal: official, professional, academic; thorough and precise (+/=)

36) Grave: evoking of impending threat; serious or solemn (-)

37) Humble: not arrogant, haughty, or egotistical (+)

38) Hypercritical: excessively judgmental, overly critical (-)

39) Impartial: not taking sides, unbiased, neutral (=)

40) Impassioned: great intensity of feeling or zeal (+)

Tone Words List(Continued)

41) Imploring: to frame a request in an urgent manner; to beg (=)

42) ) Inane: unimportant, insubstantial, lacking significance (-)

43) Incensed: extremely angered by an injustice or wrongdoing, heated (-)

44) Incisive: clear and direct, trenchant (+)

45) Incredulous: skeptical, not wanting to or able to believe (=)

46) Indignant: upset at an injustice

47) Informative: providing clear information about a particular topic (+)

48) Intimate: warm, friendly, or personal (+)

49) Ironic: not being serious, saying something the author doesn’t mean cynically joking (=)

50) Irreverent: unserious, disrespectfully so; satirical (-)

51) Jaded: cynical or apathetic due to past experience or knowledge (-/=)

52) Jocund: lively, in high spirits, cheerful (+)

53) Judgmental: harsh and critical, at times without reason (-)

54) Laudatory: full of praise or admiration (+)

55) Light-hearted: easygoing, hopeful, cheerily optimistic (+)

56) Lofty: elevated style or sentiment; potentially condescending or arrogant (+/-/=)

57) Lugubrious: glum, mournful, or gloomy, especially exaggeratedly so (-)

58) Macabre: gruesome and horrifying; at times pertaining to grim death (-)

59) Malicious: intending to harm, embarrass, or upset a person or their reputation (-)

60) Melodramatic: overly emotional, sentimental, or sensationalizing (-)

Tone Words (Continued)

61) Mirthful: joyful, merry, full of cheer (+)

62) Mocking: making fun or someone or something, often by exaggeratedly mirroring them (-)

63) Naïve: unknowing, inexperienced, innocent (-/=)

64) Nonplussed (conventional use): perplexed, surprised, confused; (colloquial use) unimpressed, unfazed (-/=)

65) Nostalgic: affectionately thinking about or desiring the past; yearning to return to the past (=)

66) Objective: impartial, neutral, rational (+/=)

67) Obsequious: overeager to help or agree with someone, adoring and obedient attentiveness (-)

68) Optimistic: having a positive outlook on the future; hopeful about outcomes (+)

69) Outspoken: speaking without reservation; freely speaking; frank (+/=)

70) Patronizing: exhibiting an attitude of superiority toward others; condescending (-)

71) Pedantic: showy about one’s learnedness, concerned with small details, a tone of overly instructive (-)

72) Pensive: thoughtful, contemplative; at times tinged with sadness (-/+/=)

73) Pessimistic: having a negative outlook on the future; belief in a bad outcome (-)

74) Philosophical: calm, contemplative attitude toward possible disappointments or challenges (+)

75) Placid: peaceful, tranquil, serene (+)

76) Pragmatic: concerned with practical, rather than artistic, pleasurable, or decorative, matters; utilitarian (+/=)

77) Pretentious: exaggerated self-importance, particularly self-consciously attempting to appear smart or smarter than others (-)

78) Recalcitrant: Difficult to deal with, undisciplined, disobedient (-)

79) Regretful: sorrowful and apologetic because of what was done, lost, or gone (-)

80) Resentful: upset, bitter, or frustrated in response to mistreatment or wrongdoing by another to (-)

81) Resigned: accepting a negative fate or outcome that you cannot change (-)

82) Restrained: controlled, holding back, not saying the entirety of what might want to say (=)

83) Reticent: shy, reserved, or restrained in speech (-/=)

84) Reverent: demonstrated much respect, worshipful (+)

85) Righteous: strong belief in the correctness of one’s own actions (+/-/=)

86) Sanguine: hopeful, strongly optimistic (+)

87) Satirical: using irony, derision, and wit to make a critique; making fun of the powerful via parody (=)

88) Sarcastic: saying or doing the opposite of what one means in order to mock or insult (=)

89) Scathing: harsh and critical, severe, often unkind (-)

90) Scholarly: elevated, intellectual speech; formal, direct, and objective

91) Sensationalistic: intentionally shocking or exciting through style or content (=/-)

92) Sincere: serious, genuine, not deceitful (+)

93) Solemn: sober or grave (=)

94) Subjective: partial; describing feelings, judgements, or opinions; related to personal experience (=/-)

95) Terse: short, brief; potentially seeming rude or unfriendly (-/=)

96) Unassuming: modest, polite, lacking in arrogance  (+)

97) Virtuous: exemplifying moral excellence, uprightness; at times can mean someone who thinks themselves morally superior (+/-)

98) Whimsical: lightly fanciful, funny; at times motivated by whim or desire rather than reason or need (+/-/=)

99) World-weary: fatigued by or bored with the world (-)

100) Zealous: intense enthusiasm or passion (+)

Tone Words & Mood Words – Additional Resources for High School and College Students

In conclusion, we hope you found this list of 100 useful tone words to be useful. Additionally, you may find the following blogs to be of interest:

• Poetic Devices High School Students Must Know
• Literary Devices for High School Students
• Rhetorical Devices High Schoolers Must Know
• College Success
• High School Success

An experienced instructor, editor, and writer, Rebecca earned a BA in English from Columbia University and is presently pursuing a PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center in English. Her writing has been featured on The Millions , poets.org , The Poetry Project Newsletter , Nightboat Books blog, and more, and she received the Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize and Arthur E. Ford Prize for her poetry collections. 

• 2-Year Colleges
• Application Strategies
• Best Colleges by Major
• Best Colleges by State
• Big Picture
• Career & Personality Assessment
• College Essay
• College Search/Knowledge
• Costs & Financial Aid
• Data Visualizations
• Dental School Admissions
• Extracurricular Activities
• Graduate School Admissions
• High Schools
• Law School Admissions
• Medical School Admissions
• Navigating the Admissions Process
• Online Learning
• Private High School Spotlight
• Summer Program Spotlight
• Summer Programs
• Teacher Tools
• Test Prep Provider Spotlight

“Innovative and invaluable…use this book as your college lifeline.”

— Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Nationally Recognized College Expert

College Planning in Your Inbox

Join our information-packed monthly newsletter.

Quick Links

• Important Resources
• Newspaper Analysis
• Upsc Answer Writing Practice
• UPSC CSE SYLLABUS
• Weekend Batch
• Interview Guidance
• Previous Year Question Papers
• Franchise Application Form
• Form for Offline
• Form for Online

New Batches are going to start in Hybrid mode.... Admissions Open

• CSAT Course
• Weekly Quizzes

08 Apr UPSC

Upsc cse 2024 complete syllabus, civil services exam (ias exam), the most coveted exam of all, is conducted by upsc every year to recruit candidates to various services & posts in the government of india. it is a two stage exam consisting of:.

1. Civil Services Preliminary Examination (objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination.

2. Civil Services Main Examination (Written & Interview) for the selection of candidates for various services & posts as mentioned in official notification.

UPSC IAS Preliminary Exam Pattern & Syllabus

The first stage of the exam i.e., the Civil Services Preliminary Exam is only a screening test and is conducted to shortlist candidates for the Main Examination. Marks secured in Preliminary Exam are not taken into account while preparing the final merit. The Preliminary Exam consists of two papers of objective type carrying a maximum of 400 marks.

1. General Studies Paper-I Syllabus

It has 100 questions broadly covering the following topics carrying a maximum of 200 marks to be solved in 2 hours.

• Current events of National & International importance.
• History of India & Indian National Movement.
• Indian & World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India & the World.
• Indian Polity & Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic & Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Biodiversity & climate change – that do not require subject specialization.

2. General Studies Paper-II Syllabus

It comprises 80 questions from the following topics carrying a maximum of 200 marks to be solved in 2 hours.

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
• Logical reasoning & analytical ability.
• Decision making & problem solving.
• General mental ability.
• Basic numeracy (numbers & their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. – Class X level)

General Studies Paper-II of IAS Exam is a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%. It is mandatory for a candidate to appear in both the Papers of IAS Prelim Exam for the purpose of evaluation.

UPSC IAS Main Exam Pattern & Syllabus

Civil Services Main Examination consists of a written examination and interview (personality test). Civil Services Main Examination consists of following papers divided into 2 categories – qualifying & papers to be counted for merit.

No. of Papers2 compulsory papersType of QuestionsObjective (MCQ) typeTotal Maximum Marks400 (200 each paper)Type of QuestionsObjective (MCQ) typeDuration of Exam2 hrs. each (20 minutes per hour extra time for blind candidates & candidate with Locomotor Disability & Cerebral Palsy [minimum 40% impairment])Negative Marking1/3rd of the marks assigned to a questionMedium of ExamBilingual (Hindi & English)

Papers to be Counted for Merit

Important Points:

• The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of qualifying nature and the marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
• The papers on Indian languages and English (Paper A and paper B) will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard.
• The papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates will be taken cognizance who attain 25% marks in ‘Indian Language’ and 25% in ‘English’ as minimum qualifying standards in these qualifying papers.
• Marks obtained by the candidates for the Paper I-VII only will be counted for merit ranking.
• The question papers for the main examination will be of conventional (essay) type and each paper will be of 3 hour duration.
• Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying Language Papers, Paper-A and Paper-B, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India or in English.
• The question papers (other than the literature of language papers) will be set in Hindi and English only.
• Compensatory time of twenty minutes per hour shall be permitted for the Blind candidates and the candidates with locomotor disability and cerebral palsy where dominant (writing) extremity is affected to the extent of slowing the performance of function (minimum of 40% impairment) in both the Civil Services (Preliminary) as well as in the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

Syllabus of UPSC Main Examination Papers:

1. Qualifying Papers on Indian Languages and English The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows: English Language: (i) Comprehension of given passages. (ii) Precis Writing. (iii) Usage and Vocabulary. (iv) Short Essays. Indian Languages: (i) Comprehension of given passages. (ii) Precis Writing. (iii) Usage and Vocabulary. (iv) Short Essays. (v) Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa.

1. Paper-I: Essay Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

III. Paper-II: General Studies-I Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society. (i) Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times. (ii) Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues. (iii) The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country. (iv) Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country. (v) History of the world will include events from the 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society. (vi) Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. (vii) Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies. (viii) Effects of globalization on Indian society. (ix) Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism. (x) Salient features of the world’s physical geography. (xi) Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India). (xii) Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Paper-III: General Studies-II Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations. (i) Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure. (ii) Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein. (iii) Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions. (iv) Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries. (v) Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these. (vi) Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity. (vii) Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act. (viii) Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies. (ix) Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies. (x) Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. (xi) Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders. (xii) Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Center and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections. (xiii) Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources. (xiv) Issues relating to poverty and hunger. (xv) Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures. (xvi) Role of civil services in a democracy. (xvii) India and its neighborhood- relations. (xviii) Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. (xix) Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora. (xx) Important International institutions, agencies and fora – their structure, mandate.

Paper-IV: General Studies-III Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management (i) Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment. (ii) Inclusive growth and issues arising from it. (iii) Government Budgeting. (iv) Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers. (v) Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System-objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing. (vi) Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management. (vii) Land reforms in India. (viii) Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth. (ix) Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc. (x) Investment models. (xi) Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life. (xii) Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology. (xiii) Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights. (xiv) Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment. (xv) Disaster and disaster management. (xvi) Linkages between development and spread of extremism. (xvii) Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security. (xviii) Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention. (xix) Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism. (xx) Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Paper-V: General Studies-IV Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilize the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered: (i) Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family society and educational institutions in inculcating values. (ii) Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behavior; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion. (iii) Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections. (iv) Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance. (v) Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world. (vi) Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance. (vii) Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption. (viii) Case Studies on above issues.

VII. Paper – VI & VII

Optional Subject Papers I & II. A candidate may opt for any one Optional Subject from the following: (i) Agriculture (ii) Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science (iii) Anthropology (iv) Botany (v) Chemistry (vi) Civil Engineering (vii) Commerce and Accountancy (viii) Economics (ix) Electrical Engineering (x) Geography (xi) Geology (xii) History (xiii) Law (xiv) Management (xv) Mathematics (xvi) Mechanical Engineering (xvii) Medical Science (xviii) Philosophy (xix) Physics (xx) Political Science and International Relations (xxi) Psychology (xxii) Public Administration (xxiii) Sociology (xxiv) Statistics (xxv) Zoology (xxvi) Literature of any one of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English. Each Optional Subject has 2 compulsory papers.

No Comments

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.