Biography kohlberg lawrence

Lawrence Kohlberg (October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was born in Bronxville, New York. He served as a professor at the University of Chicago as well as Harvard University. He is famous for his work in moral development and education. Being a close follower of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, Kohlberg's work reflects and extends the work of his predecessor. A brilliant scholar, Kohlberg was also passionate about putting theory into practice. He founded several "just community" schools in an attempt to stimulate more mature moral thinking in young people, with the hope that they would become people who would create a more just and peaceful society.

Life

Lawrence Kohlberg grew up in a wealthy family and attended Phillips Academy, a private and renowned high school. During the Second World War, following his high school education, he decided to join the merchant marines. During his time as a sailor he helped Jews escape from Europe by smuggling them into Palestine.

After his service in the war he applied to the University of Chicago. He received his bachelor's degree in psychology in just one year. Kohlberg stayed at the University of Chicago for his graduate work, becoming fascinated with children's moral reasoning and the earlier works of James Mark Baldwin, George Herbert Mead, John Dewey, William McDougall, Jean Piaget, and others. He wrote his doctoral dissertation there in 1958, outlining what became his theory of moral development.

In 1968, at 40 years of age and married with two children, he became a professor of education and social psychology at Harvard University. There he met and befriended Carol Gilligan, who became his colleague and most outspoken critic of his theory.

During a visit to Israel in 1969, Kohlberg journeyed to a kibbutz and was shocked to discover how much more the youths' moral development had progressed compared to those who were not part of kibbutzim. Jarred by what he saw, he dec

1927–1987

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST, EDUCATOR

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, PhD, 1958

BRIEF OVERVIEW

Lawrence Kohlberg was regarded for many years as a leader in the field of moral education and development. Trained in an institution identified with the progressive education ideals of American philosopher John Dewey, Kohlberg came to be regarded by his colleagues as more of an educator than a psychologist. Dissatisfied with the traditional character formation, behaviorist, and psychoanalytic models of moral behavior that were available to educators in the 1960s, Kohlberg worked out an approach to moral development known as cognitive structuralism, or cognitive developmentalism. This approach focuses on the growing child's processes of moral reasoning and the changes that take place in the structures of a person's thinking as he or she matures from childhood into adult life. Cognitive developmentalists regard children as independent agents capable of thinking for themselves about moral issues, as contrasted with the Freudian view of children as passive recipients of moral values imposed on them by adults. Kohlberg is best known for his stage theory, which postulated that human moral development progresses through a series of cognitive stages defined as total ways of thinking about moral issues rather than as attitudes toward specific situations.

Kohlberg regarded his work as interdisciplinary, insofar as he believed that moral education must combine psychological research with the insights of moral philosophy. He named John Dewey and Émile Durkheim as his predecessors in the "grand tradition" of unifying these two disciplines. Kohlberg believed that he had succeeded in meeting four requirements that he considered essential to a satisfactory system of moral education:

• It should be based on "the psychological and sociological facts of moral development."
• It should make use of educational methods that stimulate moral change.
• It should be base

Kohlberg’s revolutionary Theory of Stages of Moral Development helped establish his reputation as a brilliant thinker in the field of psychology. Studying the topic of moral development was certainly not a new pursuit as philosophers had been doing it for centuries. The subject had, for lack of a better description, had become an afterthought when Kohlberg resurrected it. In doing so, he breathed new life into the study of a very critical area of psychology.

Kohlberg’s Early Years

Lawrence Kohlberg was born on October 25, 1927, in Bronxville, NY. His parents did not have a good relationship and divorced when Kohlberg was in his early teens. The young man put a lot of work into his studies and enrolled in the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for his high school education.

At the end of WWII, Kohlberg joined the Merchant Marines. As part of his duties, he helped Jewish refugees escape from Romania and into Palestine. This way, the refugees could avoid persecution. These activities were not actually approved and Kohlberg ended up spending time in an internment camp in Cyprus when British forces captured him. Kohlberg eventually escaped from the internment camp and found his way back to the United States.

Continuing Education

Upon returning to the United States, Kohlberg once again continued his studies and enrolled in the University of Chicago. At the time, the passing of placement tests could allow a student to gain credit for courses. Kohlberg did so well on the tests that he was awarded his bachelor’s degree in only one year, graduating in 1948. Soon after receiving his degree, Kohlberg enrolled in a doctoral program at the university in the area of psychology. In 1958, he received his Ph.D.

Kohlberg was very much influenced by the Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget worked extensively in areas

American psychologist (1927–1987)

Lawrence Kohlberg (; October 25, 1927 – January 17, 1987) was an American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development.

He served as a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Chicago and at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Even though it was considered unusual in his era, he decided to study the topic of moral judgment, extending Jean Piaget's account of children's moral development from 25 years earlier. In fact, it took Kohlberg five years before he was able to publish an article based on his views. Kohlberg's work reflected and extended not only Piaget's findings but also the theories of philosophers George Herbert Mead and James Mark Baldwin. At the same time he was creating a new field within psychology: "moral development".

In an empirical study using six criteria, such as citations and recognition, Kohlberg was found to be the 30th most eminent psychologist of the 20th century.

Early life and education

Lawrence Kohlberg was born in Bronxville, New York. He was the youngest of four children of Alfred Kohlberg, a Jewish German entrepreneur, and of his second wife, Charlotte Albrecht, a Christian German chemist. His parents separated when he was four years old and divorced finally when he was 14. From 1933 to 1938, Lawrence and his three siblings rotated between their mother and father for six months at a time. This rotating custody of the Kohlberg children ended in 1938, when the children were allowed to choose the parent with whom they wanted to live.

Kohlberg attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and served in the Merchant Marine at the end of World War II. He worked for a time with the Haganah on a ship smuggling Jewish refugees from Romania into Palestine through the British Bl