Question

Selena and her friends are walking home after school. They approach a grocery store with bags if candy and other snacks stacked in open shelves right outside the front door. A young clerk sits outside waiting for customers. As they get closer, Selena notices that the clerk goes inside the store. Selena's friends encourage her to take a bag of candy from the shelf and run away, but she refuses. How would an individual in Kohlnerg's preconventional stage of moral reasoning explain Selena's behavior?

Answer 1

In Kohlberg's pre-conventional stage, Selena's refusal to take the candy is likely viewed as avoiding punishment, not as a decision based on moral principles.

Step-by-step explanation:

An individual in Kohlberg's pre-conventional stage of moral reasoning might explain Selena's behavior as a decision driven by the potential for direct consequences to herself rather than out of consideration for moral principles or the feelings of others. At the pre-conventional stage, moral reasoning is typically based on individual needs and concrete rewards or punishments. Selena's refusal to take the candy might therefore be seen by someone at this stage as simply avoiding potential trouble or punishment for theft, rather than making a decision based on ethical standards or societal laws.