Editing Developmental psychology (section)

===Stages of moral development===
{{Main|Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development}}
Piaget claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages.<ref name="higheststage2">{{cite journal| vauthors = Kohlberg L |year=1973|title=The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Judgment|journal=Journal of Philosophy|publisher=The Journal of Philosophy |volume=70|issue=18|pages=630–646|doi=10.2307/2025030|jstor=2025030}}</ref> Expanding on Piaget's work, [[Lawrence Kohlberg]] determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime.<ref name="dissertation2">{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|301935075}} | vauthors = Kohlberg L |year=1958 |title=The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16 |degree = Ph.D. | publisher = University of Chicago }}{{pn|date=January 2025}}</ref>

He suggested three levels of moral reasoning; pre-conventional moral reasoning, conventional moral reasoning, and post-conventional moral reasoning. The pre-conventional moral reasoning is typical of children and is characterized by reasoning that is based on rewards and punishments associated with different courses of action. Conventional moral reason occurs during late childhood and early adolescence and is characterized by reasoning based on rules and conventions of society. Lastly, post-conventional moral reasoning is a stage during which the individual sees society's rules and conventions as relative and subjective, rather than as authoritative.<ref name="Adolescence3">{{cite book|title=Adolescence| vauthors = Steinberg L |publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education|year=2008|isbn=978-0-07-340548-3|edition=8th|location=Boston|pages=60–365|author-link=Laurence Steinberg}}</ref>

Kohlberg used the Heinz Dilemma to apply to his stages of moral development. The Heinz Dilemma involves Heinz's wife dying from cancer and Heinz having the dilemma to save his wife by stealing a drug. Preconventional morality, conventional morality, and post-conventional morality applies to Heinz's situation.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html |title=Kohlberg | journal=SimplyPsychology | vauthors = McLeod S |year=2013 }}</ref>