Who proposed the theory of moral development focusing on three levels and six stages?

• A. Lawrence Kohlberg
• B. Jean Piaget
• C. Erik Erikson
• D. Carol Gilligan

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is identifying who created a stage-based view of moral development that includes three levels and six stages. Lawrence Kohlberg developed this theory, expanding on Piaget’s ideas about moral reasoning. Kohlberg described three levels—preconventional, conventional, and postconventional—each with two stages, totaling six. He studied how people justify what’s right or wrong by presenting moral dilemmas (like the Heinz dilemma) and examining the reasoning behind their judgments. This focus on reasoning processes, not just behavior, explains why his six-stage framework is the best match. Piaget contributed to understanding how thinking develops but did not lay out this three-level, six-stage moral scheme. Erik Erikson proposed eight psychosocial stages, not a moral-reasoning framework, and Carol Gilligan highlighted care ethics and critiqued Kohlberg’s approach rather than offering the same six-stage model.