C. Level Transitional:

Stage 4.5: Post-Conventional features:

• 1. Still believe in Law & Order


• 2. But, belief not yet principled


• 3. Choice is personal & subjective


• 4. Ideas such as duty, morally right = arbitrary


• 5. Make decisions outside society -- but without principles as backup


• 6. College students obey law but without principles,

"do your own thing" Example: " I can speed on the freeway until the cop gives me a speeding ticket; who cares?"

Ages: Some adolescents, many college students & Most adults
Adults: many adults may become arrested at this level & have values that reflect such behaviors.

Between the conventional stages and the post-conventional Levels 5 and 6, there is a transitional stage. College-age students that have come to see conventional morality as relative and arbitrary, but have not yet discovered universal ethical principles, may drop into a hedonistic ethic of "do your own thing." This was well noted in the hippie culture of the l960's. Disrespect for conventional morality was especially infuriating to the Stage 4 mentality, and indeed was calculated to be so.