B. Conventional Level

  • Stage 3: Mutual Interpersonal Expectations features:
  • 1. Conformity " Good boy -- Nice girl."

  • 2. Peer group approval [ "everybody is doing it" ]

  • 3. Good behavior = please others

  • 4. Value affection of family members

Example: " I won't speed on the freeway because a policeman will give me a speeding ticket!"

Ages: children: 9 - adolescence:

  • usually middle school & high schoolers
  • Adults: many adults may become arrested at this level & have values that reflect such behaviors.

Good behavior is that which pleases or helps others within the group. "Everybody is doing it." One earns approval by being conventionally "respectable" and "nice." Sin is a breach of the expectations of the social order. Retribution, however, at this stage is collective. Individual vengeance is not allowed. Forgiveness is preferable to revenge. Punishment is mainly for deterrence. Failure to punish is "unfair." "If he can get away with it, why can't I?"