This article on stages of moral development delves into the foundational theories and contemporary perspectives surrounding the evolution of moral reasoning in individuals. It begins by exploring Jean Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, elucidating the transition from heteronomous to autonomous morality in his two-stage model. Subsequently, it delves into Lawrence Kohlberg’s six-stage theory, delineating the progression
Social psychologists have long known that emotions influence many aspects of decision making, and a growing body of research demonstrates that this is especially true in the domain of morality. Because morality generally consists of rules guiding our treatment of other people, and because emotions are often (though not always) elicited in the context of
Moral Hypocrisy Definition Webster’s Desk Dictionary of the English Language (1990) defines moral as “1. of or concerned with principles of right or wrong conduct. 2. being in accordance with such principles” (p. 586); it defines hypocrisy as “a pretense of having desirable or publicly approved attitudes, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually