The first level of personal moral development, according to Kohlberg, is the premoral or preconventional level. In this level, moral values come from an authoritative source outside the self. This is how children understand morality. They do not realize that morality is an internal quality. Instead, in the first stage--the stage of obedience and punishment orientation--children respond to unpleasant consequences of their actions, such as a punishment.
As children move beyond this reaction to external punishment, they enter into the second stage of level one. This is the "naively egoistic orientation." In this stage, children still conceive of right and wrong egocentrically by satisfying their own needs first. They begin to recognize the needs of others, but only slightly and secondarily to their own needs.
Level two of Kohlberg's stages is when people begin to conform to social norms and roles. At this level, people experience the "emergence of moral reciprocity," according to the University of Illinois--Chicago website. Benevolent behavior is still somewhat egoistic and depends on what the individual can receive in return for helping someone else. The third stage of development falls within this level. It consists of conformity of social norms and stereotypical forms of behavior. In stage four the individual feels a sense of duty to the social order and behaves morally in order to help maintain it. People's actions depend less on expectation of reciprocity.
The third and most advanced stage of moral development moves beyond role conformity and convention. This is the post-conventional stage, in which moral principles are part of the self and not due to an external authority or societal pattern of behavior. Stage five consists of a sort of legal or contractual understanding of morality. Here, morals are determined based on what seems rational and necessary for society. What is good for the greatest number of people is more important than what is good for the individual.
Stage six is the final stage of development and is based on individual conscience rather than any type of external authority at all. Even laws can be secondary to a person's own moral conscience. The individual does not ignore society's rules, but also does not depend on these rules as his only guide. Moral actions are based on his own internal inclinations. Because guilt and condemnation are the typical result of violating conscience, individuals typically conform to this internalized system of behavior.