Kohlberg asserted that each of the three stages were split into even smaller stages, that a person graduated through as they matured and grew. The first stage, or level, of Preconventional Morality, is focused on punishment, and how to avoid it as effectively as possible. This is because the main exposure children have to morality is through obeying their parents to avoid being "grounded." This is viewed as a more simplistic view on morality. Although it is more common in children, adults can only hold an obedience-punishment centered view of morality.

Level One of the Preconventional Morality Stage

The second level, or sub-stage of the Preconventional Morality Stage, is very similar to the first. While in the first level, individuals are focused on avoiding punishment through their actions, individuals in the second level are focused on trying to satisfy personal needs and achieving personal pleasures and luxuries.

Second Level of the Preconventional Morality Stage

The Preconventional Morality stage is one of Kohlberg's three moral stages of development. This stage, Kohlberg maintained, takes place from the time a person is born, until they turn approximately nine years old.

Grinnell College

University of Chicago

Kohlberg's theory can be broken down into three different stages of moral development that humans go through:
1. Pre-conventional Morality 
2. Conventional Morality
3. Post-conventional Morality 

Stages of Moral Reasoning 

Cherry, K. (2022, November 7). Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/kohlbergs-theory-of-moral-development-2795071
‌

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development Reference

Preconventional Morality

The Conventional Morality stage is Kohlberg's second of the three moral stages of development. This stage, Kohlberg maintained, takes places from early adolescence into adulthood.

Conventional Morality

The Postconventional Morality stage is Kohlberg's final of the three moral stages of development. This stage, Kohlberg maintained, takes places only in some adults. He believed that that it was actually very rare for a person to graduate to this stage. 

Learn Before

Related

Learn After