To explain Philip’s behavior with Kohlberg’s theory, Kohlberg explained that as we

develop intellectually we pass through as many as six stages of moral thinking, moving
form simplistic and concrete toward the more abstract and principled. He clustered these
six stages into three basic levels: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional.
Preconventional morality occurs before age 9. Most children have preonventional
morality of self-interest: They obey either to avoid punishment or to gain concrete
rewards. Conventional morality occurs by early adolescence, morality usually evolves to
a more conventional level that cares for others and uphold laws and social rules simply
because they are the laws and rules. Being able to take others’ perspectives,
adolescents may approve actions w that will gain social approval or that will help
maintain the social order. Post conventional morality is an abstract reasoning level of
formal operational thought that is only developed by some people. Post conventional
morality affirms people’s agreed-upon rights or follows what one personally perceives as
basic ethical principles. Kohlberg’s claim was that these levels form a moral ladder, from
the bottom rung of a young child’s immature, preconventional morality, to the top rung
of an adult’s self-defined ethical principles, which only some attain. Philip is in the
process of defining his own values.
Erik Erikson contended that each stage of life has its own “psychosocial” task, a crisis
that needs resolution. Young children wrestle with issues of trust, then autonomy, then
initiative. School children strive for competence, feeling able and productive. The
adolescent’s task, said Erikson, is to synthesize past, present, and future possibilities into
a clearer sense of self. Adolescents wonder about individual identity. Erikson had eight
identity stages: infancy, toddlerhood, preschooler, elementary school, adolescence,
young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Philip is likely in the
adolescence stage where his main issues are identity versus role confusion. Teenagers
work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a
single identity, or they become confused about who they are.