Dr Kohlberg goes to Washington: Using congressional debates to teach moral development

In his theory of moral development, Kohlberg (1976) stressed that the reasoning behind a moral decision is more important in determining a person's stage of development than the decision itself. Students in introductory Psychology and human development courses may have difficulty appreciating this distinction, as well as the differences among Kohlberg's stages. An activity is described in which arguments from congressional debates provide a real-world moral dilemma, to which students can apply Kohlberg's theory. Suggestions on how to use the arguments are presented, as well as possible discussion topics an the validity and usefulness of the theory.