Lawrence Kohlberg — in line with the ideas of Jean Piaget — he states:
1) The moral development of children is carried out according to certain stages;
2) Each stage is characterized by qualitative differences;
3) The stages go in a certain sequence, so that no stage can be skipped, and there is no reverse movement;
4) The qualitative features of the stage are the dominant characteristic of the moral development of the child in a given period, while the child can demonstrate an understanding of morality in accordance with the stages already passed and sometimes move in his understanding to the next, higher stage (but not further). The transition of a child to a higher stage is impossible without encouragement, training or practice. Moreover, children tend to engage the highest stage they have reached so far.
For convenience, all the stages identified by the scientist can be presented in the form of a table:
Six stages of moral development according to Lawrence Kohlberg
Critics believed that Lawrence Kohlberg did not take into account the differences between girls and boys in his stages, as well as cultures where the orientation towards the opinion of the group (rather than the development of the individual) is strong.