MORAL REASONING

ALASAN MORAL
 Pembahasan

• Definisi alasan moral/moral reasoning?

• Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi?

• Tahapan-tahapan?
DEFINISI
Pengertian Moral Reasoning
• Moral berasal dari bahasa Latin mores
berarti adat kebiasaan. Maksud moral
ialah sesuai dengan ide-ide yang
umum diterima tentang tindakan
manusia, mana yang baik dan wajar.
Di Indonesia ada beberapa makna
dan tujuan yang hampir sama dengan
moral ialah akhlaq (Arab) dan etika
(Yunani). Susila, kesusilaan, tata
susila, budi pekerti, sopan santun,
adab, perangai, tingkah laku, dan
kelakuan (Panuju & Umami, 1999 :
• Menurut Yusuf (2012 : 132) istilah moral
berasal dari kata Latin mos (moris), yang
berarti adat istiadat, kebiasaan, peraturan,
tatacara kehidupan.
• Sedangkan moralitas merupakan kemauan
untuk menerima dan melakukan
peraturan, nilali-nilai atau prinsip-prinsip
moral. Nilai-nilai moral itu; seperti seruan
untuk berbuat baik kepada orang lain,
memelihara ketertiban dan keamanan. Dll
• Seseorang dapat dikatakan bermoral,
apabila tingkah laku orang tersebut sesuai
dengan nilai-nilai moral yang dijunjung
• Menurut Kohlberg (1995 : 22) moral
reasoning ialah penilaian dan
perbuatan moral pada intinya bersifat
rasional. Keputusan moral bukanlah
soal perasaan atau “nilai”, melainkan
selalu mengandung suatu tafsiran
kognitif terhadap keadaan dilema
moral dan bersifat konstruktif kognitif
yang aktif terhadap titik pandangan
masing-masing partisipan dan
kelompok yang terlibat, sambil
mempertimbangkan segala macam
tuntutan, hak, kewajiban, dan
• Sarwono (2007 : 95) menambahkan
bahwa moral reasoning yaitu orang
yang mendasarkan tindakannya atas
penilaian baik atau buruknya sesuatu,
karena sifatnya yang merupakan
penalaran
• moral merupakan perbuatan baik dan
buruk yang berlaku secara umum.
Sedangkan moral reasoning yaitu
mengenai mengapa atau bagaimana
seseorang dapat mengatakan suatu
perbuatan itu baik dan buruk, atau
salah dan benar
FAKTOR-FAKTOR
 FAKTOR-FAKTOR
• 1. Konsisten dalam mendidik anak
• 2. Sikap orang tua dalam keluarga
• 3. Penghayatan dan pengalaman
agama yang dianut
• 4. Sikap konsisten orang tua dalam
menerapkan norma
TAHAPAN MORAL
 Stages of Moral Reasoning

• Level One: Preconventional (Personal

Impact)
• Stage 1: Punishment/Obedience
• It is wrong, if you are punished for it.
• Physical consequences
• A big punishment then means what to a
child?
• Stage 2: Personal Reward
• It is right if I benefit from it
• Personal needs are most important
• Magnitude of the benefit tells what about
the action?
 Stages of Moral Reasoning

• Level Two: Conventional (Personal

Approval)
• Stage 3: Good Boy/Good Girl
• If I do this, Mommy will think I’m a “good
boy/girl”
• Right & wrong reasoned based on other’s
approval
• Pre-pubescent- Approval of authority figures
• Post-pubescent- Approval of peers

• Stage 4: Law & Order

• Because it’s against the Law!
• Laws are absolute, no gray areas or chaos will
erupt
• Family obligations?
 Stages of Moral Reasoning

• Level Three: Post-Conventional

(Personal Interpretation)
• Stage 5: Social Contract
• Given my situation I had no other choice!
• Laws are attempts at morality but are still
contrived.
• Meant for most situations but not all situations
• Stage 6: Universal Ethic
• Always right?
• Always wrong?
• Selman (dalam Santrock, 2003 : 123)
mengemukakan terdapat lima tahap
moral reasoning, diantaranya :
• 1. Tahap pertama (usia 3-6 tahun, sudut
pandang egosentrisme)
• Anak menyadari adanya pembedaan
antara diri dari orang lain tetapi tidak
mampu membedakan antara perspektif
sosial (pikiran dan perasaan) dari diri
sendiri dan orang lain. Anak dapat
memberikan label pada perasaan orang
lain yang tampak tetapi tidak dapat
melihat hubungan sebat akibat dari
2. Tahap kedua (usia 6-8 tahun,
pengambilalihan cara pandang secara
sosial-informasional)
• Anak sadar bahwa orang lain memiliki
perspektif sosial yang didasari oleh
penalaran orang itu sendiri, yang bisa
sama ataupun tidak dengan penalaran
anak tersebut. Akan tetapi, anak
cenderung berfokus pada suatu
perspektif daripada
mengkoordinasikan beberapa sudut
pandang.
Tahap ketiga (usia 8-10 tahun,
pengambilalihan refleksi diri)
• Anak sangat menyadari bahwa setiap
orang sadar akan perspektif orang lain
dan kesadaran ini mempengaruhi
pandangan diri dan orang lain tentang
satu sama lain. Menempatkan diri pada
posisi orang lain adalah suatu cara untuk
menilai keinginan, tujuan, dan tindakan
orang lain. Anak dapat membentuk suatu
rangkaian perspektif yang terkoordinasi
tetapi tidak dapat melakukan abstraksi
dari tingkat ini untuk mencapai tahapan
• Tahap keempat (usia 10-12 tahun,
pengambilalihan perspektif secara
mutualis)
• Remaja menyadari bahwa baik diri
maupun orang lain dapat melihat
satu sama lain sebagai objek secara
bersamaan (mutualis) dan secara
simultan. Remaja dapat melangkah
keluar dari hubungan dua orang dan
melihat interaksi tersebut dengan
perspektif orang ketiga.
Tahap kelima (usia 12-15 tahun,
pengambilalihan perspektif tentang
sistem sosial dan konvensional)
• Remaja menyadari bahwa
pengambilalihan perspektif secara
mutual tidak selalu menghasilkan
pemahaman yang lengkap. Konvensi
sosial dilihat sebagai suatu persyaratan
mutlak karena konvensi dimengerti
semua anggota kelompok (orang lain
yang digeneralisasikan). Tanpa
mempedulikan posisi, peran, atau
pengalaman mereka.
Kohlberg’s Theory in Practice

• Classroom discipline
• How does it inform how to deal with
children?
• Preschool?
• Primary?
• Middle School?
• Secondary?
• Tertiary?
 Critiques of Kohlberg

• Limited research to boys

• Carol Gilligan
• Feminist Theorist
• Females develop differently than boys
• Harmony of the group
• Responsibility
• Caring for others
• See overhead
Moral Development,
Values and Religion
Chapter 13
 Think on your own…
What does it mean to have
morals?

What is moral development?

How do you know if you have
morals?
Moral development involves
changes in thoughts, feelings
and behaviors regarding
standards of right and wrong

This involves an interpersonal and

intrapersonal dimension
Moral development involves 4
questions:
1. How do individuals reason or think about
moral decisions?

1. How do individuals actually behave in

moral circumstances?

1. How do individuals feel about moral

matters?

1. What characterizes an individuals moral

personality?
 Piaget concluded that
children go through two
stages of how they think
about morality
Younger children (4-7) display
heteronomous morality
Older children (10 and older) display
autonomous morality
 Piaget’s Theory of Moral
Development
Justice and rules are conceived of as
Heteronymous unchangeable properties of the
morality world, removed from the control of
people (4-7 years)

Becomes aware that rules and laws

Autonomous are created by people; in judging an
morality action, one should consider actor’s
intentions as well as consequences
(10 years and older)

Immanent If a rule is broken, punishment will be

justice meted out immediately
 Piaget’s Theory of Moral Judgment
• Heteronomous thinking is typical of children
younger than 7- or 8-years-old

• These children regard rules and duties to others as

unchangeable “givens”
• Justice is whatever authorities say is right
• Authorities’ punishments are always justified

• Whether an action is good or bad is

determined by the consequence of the
action, not the motives or intentions behind it

• Acts that are not consistent with the rules are “bad”
• Acts that are consistent with the rules are “good”
 Piaget’s Theory of Moral Judgment
• Autonomous morality (Moral relativism) is
typical of children 12-years-old and older

• Children understand that rules are products of

social interaction and agreement and can be
changed if the majority of the group agrees to do so

• Punishments should fit the crime and punishments

delivered by adults is not necessarily fair

• They consider the motives and intentions when

evaluating whether an action is good or bad
On your own activity…

Consider the following Story, who is

right or wrong?

WHY?
 If you are 6: Which girl do you think was more
bad, Olivia or Melissa?
If you are 10: Which girl do you think was more
bad, Olivia or Melissa?
• One day, a girl named Olivia was playing with her
mommy. Olivia decided that it would be fun to have a
tea party with her mommy and her dolls. So, Olivia
went into the kitchen and got a box of crackers and six
tea cups. Olivia carefully arranged the tea cups on a
tray, but while she reached for the box of crackers, the
tray accidentally slipped out of her hands and the six
cups smashed into pieces on the floor.

• Another girl, one named Melissa, was playing with her

daddy. Melissa wanted to play marching band in the
kitchen by clanging pot lids together. When her
daddy said the he didn’t want to play marching band
because it was too loud, Melissa became very upset.
She was so angry that she grabbed a cup off the
 According to Piaget, young
children who are in a stage of
moral realism, judge right and
wrong by the consequences of
one’s actions. Therefore, young
children should say that Olivia is
more bad because she broke more
cups.
 These objective judgments give
way to subjective judgments
when children (around age 8)
enter the stage of moral
relativism. In this advanced stage,
children consider motives when
judging one’s actions
 Moral Reasoning – Kohlberg’s
Theory

• Moral development progresses

through a series of stages that are
discontinuous and hierarchical

• Each new stage reflects a qualitatively

different, more adequate way of
thinking than the one before it
 Older and more advanced
thinkers SHOULD, on average,
be more advanced in their
moral development
 Higher-level moral reasoning
• Like Piaget, age-related advances in cognitive
skills (especially perspective taking) are
believed to underlie the development of
higher-level moral judgments.

• People who have higher-level cognitive skills are

better educated and exhibit higher-level moral
judgment.

• Children who exhibit higher-levels of

perspective taking than their peers score
higher in their moral judgment.
 On your own activity…

Read the following moral dilemma

and reflect on why this was right or
wrong. Also what reasoning can use
apply to this story? Would you
always have thought the way you do
right now? What has changed?
 Heinz, had a wife who was dying of
cancer. A drug that might save her had
been discovered by a local pharmacist,
but he was charging $2000, ten times
what the drug cost to make. It was far
more money than Heinz had. Heinz
went to everyone he knew to borrow
the money but he could only get
together about half of what the drug
cost. He told the druggist 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.
 Was this moral?
• Which response is more advanced in terms
of moral reasoning?

• He shouldn’t steal the drug because

he’ll probably get caught and put in jail.

• He should steal the drug because he

wants his wife to feel better and to live.
 Were you right?
• Which response is more advanced in terms
of moral reasoning?

• He shouldn’t steal the drug because

he’ll probably get caught and put in
jail.

• He should steal the drug because he

wants his wife to feel better and to
live.
 How is stealing moral?
• The second would be a display of
higher levels of moral reasoning.

• In the early stages, moral reasoning is

based on external forces, such as the
promise of reward or the threat of
punishment.

• The most advanced stages, moral

reasoning is based on a personal,
internal moral code and is unaffected
 Stages in Kohlberg’s Theory
Preconventional Level
Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation
Stage 2: Instrumental and Exchange Orientation
Conventional Level

Stage 3: Mutual Interpersonal Expectations,

Relationships, and Interpersonal Conformity

Stage 4: Social System and Conscience Orientation

Postconventional Level
Stage 5: Social Contract or Individual Right Orientation

Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

 Stage 1
Punishment and Obedience Orientation

• Pro-stealing: If you let your wife die, you

will get in trouble. You’ll be blamed for
not spending the money to help her and
there’ll be an investigation of you and the
druggist for your wife’s death

• Anti-stealing: You shouldn’t steal the drug

because you’ll be caught and sent to jail if
you do. If you do get away, you’d be scared
that the police would catch up with you
any minute.
During stage 1 people believe
that adults know what is right
and wrong.
Consequently, a person should do what adults say is
right to avoid being punished. Child does not consider
the interests of others or recognize that they differ
from his or her own interests. People in this stage
exhibit blind obedience to authority.
 Stage 2
Naïve Hedonism

• Prostealing: The druggist can do what he

wants and Heinz can do what he wants to
do… But if Heinz decides to risk jail to save
his wife, it’s his life he’s risking; he can do
what he wants with it. And the same goes
for the druggist; it’s up to him to decide
what he wants to do.

• Antistealing: [Heinz] is running more risk

than it’s worth to save a wife who is near
death.
 In Stage 2 people look out for
their own needs. They often
are nice to others because they
expect the favor to be returned
in the future. So it is a tit-for-
tat exchange of benefits.

“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch

yours”
 Stage 3
“Good Boy” or “Good Girl” Orientation

• Prostealing: No one will think you’re bad if

you steal the drug, but your family will
think you’re an inhuman husband if you
don’t. If you let your wife die, you’ll never
be able to look anyone in the face again.

• Antistealing: It isn’t just the druggist who

will think you’re a criminal, everyone else
will too. After you steal it, you’ll feel bad
thinking how you’ve brought dishonor on
your family and yourself.
Stage 3: Adolescents and adults believe
they should act according to others’
expectations. The aim is to win the
approval of others by behaving like
“good boys” and “good girls.” Being
good is important in itself and means
having good motives, showing concern
about others, and maintaining good
relationships with others.
People are judged by their
intentions…meaning well is valued and
being nice is important.
 Stage 4
Social-Order Maintaining Morality

• Prostealing: He should steal it. Heinz has a

duty to protect his wife’s life; it’s a vow he took
in marriage. But it’s wrong to steal, so he
would have to take the drug with the idea of
paying the druggist for it and accepting the
penalty for breaking the law later.

• Antistealing: It’s a natural thing for Heinz to

want to save his wife, but… Even if his wife is
dying, it’s still his duty as a citizen to obey the
law. No one else is allowed to steal, why
should he be? If everyone starts breaking the
law in a jam, there’d be no civilization, just
crime and violence.
 Stage 4: Adolescents and adults believe
that social roles, expectations, and laws
exist to maintain order within society and
to promote the good of all people. The
individual is motivated to keep the social
system going and to avoid a breakdown in
its functioning.

What is right is what conforms to the rules

of legal authority –the reason for
conforming is not fear of punishment but
a belief that rules and laws maintaining a
social order that is worth preserving.
 Stage 5
Social-Contract Orientation

• Prostealing: Although there is a law

against stealing, the law wasn’t meant
to violate a person’s right to life.
Taking the drug does violate the law,
but Heinz is justified in stealing in this
instance. If Heinz is prosecuted for
stealing, the law needs to be
reinterpreted to take into account
situations in which it goes against
people’s natural right to keep on living.
 Stage 5: Adults agree that members of
cultural groups adhere to a “social
contract” because a common set of
expectations and laws benefit all group
members. If these expectations and laws
no longer promote the welfare of
individuals, they become invalid

The greatest good for the greatest number…

Some values and rights are universal and must
be upheld regardless of the majority such as
life and liberty.
 Stage 6
Morality of Individual Principles of
Conscience
• Pro-stealing: If Heinz does not do everything
he can do to save his wife, then he is putting
some value higher than the value of life. It
doesn’t make sense to put respect for property
above respect for life itself. [People] could
live together without private property at all.
Respect for human life and personality is
absolute and accordingly [people] have a
mutual duty to save one another from dying.
 Stage 6: Abstract principles like justice
(equality of human rights, respect for the
dignity of each human being),
compassion, and equality form the basis of
a personal moral code that may sometimes
conflict with society’s expectations and
laws. When laws violate principles, the
individual should act on principles not the
law.
Right and wrong are determined on the basis of self-
chosen ethical principles. Principles are not concrete
rules – they are abstract moral guidelines of universal
justice and respect for the rights of all human beings.
These principles transcend any law or social contract
that is in conflict with them.
 Three Levels of Moral
Judgment
• Preconventional
• Self-centered
• Focuses on getting rewards and avoiding
punishments

• Conventional
• Centered on social relationships
• Focuses on compliance with social duties and
laws

• Postconventional (Principled)
• Centered on ideals
• Focuses on moral principles
 Do you understand
Kohlberg’s stages of moral
development?

Test your knowledge with the following

activity
 Shaking her head and frowning
disapprovingly at the teenager
who was slipping a candy bar
from the shelf into the pocket of
his jacket, a shopper lectured,
“You know as well as I do that
shoplifting is against the law.
What if everyone just did what
they wanted?”
What level of moral reasoning is
demonstrated by the shopper?
 The shopper is in Stage 4 -
Fulfilling duties and upholding
the law to maintain social
order.

They are motivated to keep the social

system going and to avoid a
breakdown in its functioning.
 Amy’s mother has insisted that
Amy not eat snacks between
meals. Now, if Amy should eat
this Twinkie before dinner, she
should be unhappy when
thinking about how she would be
disappointing her mother.

What level of moral reasoning

does this demonstrate?
Amy is in stage 3…she has to be
a “good girl.” Her good
behavior is doing what is
expected by people who are
close to the person or what
people generally expect of
someone in a given role.
 Well, Amy ate the Twinkie.
When talking with a friend
about it the next day, Amy’s
friend told her that she (Amy)
was bad because her mother
caught her eating snacks
between meals and punished
her for it.
Amy’s friend is using what level of moral
reasoning?
Amy’s friend is in Stage 1…she is
being obedient. The
conscience is made up of fear
of punishment and the moral
action is motivated by the
avoidance of punishment.
The child does not consider the interests
of others or see how someone else’s
interests are different from their own.
 asks you to charge a late fee to
customers who miss the deadline.
You believe that a late fee is clearly
unjustified; late orders cause no real
difficulty and cost the company no
more to process than early orders.
While you recognize the right of the
company to make a profit, you insist
that a late fee is not fair to the
customer.

What level of moral reasoning are you

demonstrating?
You are in Stage 5 - being right
involves upholding rules that
are in the best interest of the
group. Rules should be
impartial, and agreed upon by
the group. If the rule no
longer promotes the welfare of
individuals, then the rules
become invalid.
 Conversation overheard in a
cafeteria line: “Why should I
want to report the guy for
failing to submit all the money
we collected for the charity
fund? Sure he kept some of it,
but he shared it with me.”

What level of moral reasoning does this

demonstrate?
This person is in Stage 2 - what
is right is based on the “tit-for-
tat” principle. It involves an
equal exchange between
people. People look out for
their own needs.

They are nice to others because they

expect the favor to be returned.
• People with higher-level moral reasoning
• Are more likely to assist others
• Are less likely to engage in delinquent activities
• Are more likely to behave in a moral manner

• Individuals at the preconventional and

conventional levels would act morally
when external forces demand, but
otherwise they might not

• Individuals at the postconventional level

would act morally even when external
forces may not favor it
 Criticisms of Kohlberg’s
Theory
• It is culturally biased
• Does not apply to cultures outside a
constitutional democracy
• Does not incorporate the concerns and
experiences of non-Western people

• It is considered sexist
• Gilligan believes that he places women
at a lower level of moral reasoning (stage
3, approval) than he does men (stage 4,
law and order)
 Gilligan’s Ethic of Caring
• Proposed a developmental progression in
which individuals gain greater
understanding of caring and responsibility

• First stage
• Children are preoccupied with their own needs

• Second stage
• People care for others, particularly those who are less
able to care for themselves (like infants and aged)

• Third stage
• People care in all human relationships (with others
and oneself)
 Think about this Moral
•
Dilemma
Two young men, brothers got into serious
trouble. They were secretly leaving town in a
hurry and needed money. Karl, the older one,
broke into a store and stole a thousand dollars.
Bob, the younger one, went to a retired old man
who was known to help people in town. He told
the man that he was very sick and that he needed
a thousand dollars to pay for an operation. Bob
asked the old man to lend him the money and
promised that he would pay him back when he
recovered. Really Bob wasn't sick at all, and he
had no intention of paying the man back.
Although the old man didn't know Bob very well,
he lent him the money. So Bob and Karl skipped
town, each with a thousand dollars.

• Think on your own…which is worse, stealing like

Karl or cheating like Bob? Why?
When Does Aggression
Emerge?
 Social Understanding
• Children in this age begin to develop
social understanding or social
cognition, which is their understanding
of the social world.
• This is a person’s awareness and
understanding of human personality,
emotions, intentions and actions.
• They start to realize that people are
motivated by thoughts and emotions
that are different than their own.
 Empathy
• A person’s understanding of the emotions
of another, including the ability to figure
out what would make that person feel
better.

• The child must be able to identify the

emotions of others (to at least some degree)
and understand that another person is feeling
an emotion or is in some kind of need.

• This indicates a level of understanding of the

self, usually not evident until age 4.
• At a city playground, 4-year-old Ezra
sees his playmate Ned trip, fall, and
begin to cry. Ezra goes to Ned,
telling him not to feel bad, and
offers to push him on a swing.

• In order for Ezra to understand that

Ned needed comforting, it was
necessary for Ezra to feel empathy with
Ned’s unhappiness.

• To realize that he was hurt and warranted

sympathy.
 How Empathic Are You?
Answer on a scale of 0 to 4
0: Does not describe me very well --- 4: Describes me very well
1. Before criticizing somebody, I
try to imagine how I would
feel if I were in his or her
place.
2. If I’m sure I’m right about
something, I don’t waste
much time listening to other
people’s arguments.
3. I sometimes try to understand
my friends better by
imagining how things look
from their perspective.
4. I believe that there are two
sides to every question and
try to look at them both.
5. I sometimes find it difficult to
see things from the “other
guy’s” point of view.
6. I try to look at everybody’s
side of a disagreement before
I make a decision.
7. When I’m upset at someone, I
usually try to “put myself in
8. When I see someone being
taken advantage of, I feel kind
of protective toward him.
9. When I see someone being
treated unfairly, I sometimes
don’t feel much pity for him.
10. I often have tender,
concerned feelings for people
less fortunate than me.
11. I would describe myself as a
pretty softhearted person.
12. Sometimes I don’t feel very
sorry for other people when
they have problems.
13. Other people’s misfortunes do
not usually disturb me a great
deal.
14. I am often quite touched by
things that I see happen.