Annaliese knows that her friend is paying an online service to write a term paper. this bothers her, but she knows that if she tells the teacher everyone will think she is a snitch. she decides her friends’ approval is more important, so she says nothing about the cheating. what stage of moral reasoning does this exemplify? a) conventional b) formal operational c) post-conventional d) pre-conventional

a) Conventional stage

Explanation:

Kohlberg did some studies on morality and proposed a theory on moral development.

Kohlberg defined three different levels of morality (and each level consists in 2 stages). These levels are:

In the preconventional level, the person's morality is externally controlled and therefore acts based on what the punishment will be (1st stage) or based on how good will it be for him/her to act in some way (2nd stage)

The conventional level stages also have to to with external controls but now the person thinks in function of ensure positive relationships and societal order. The third stage here depends on the approval of others. The fourth stage has to do with accepting rules because they preserve the society order  and functioning.

The postconventional level stages are defined in more abstract principles or values. The 5th stage sees the world as a place with different values that must be respected. Finally the 6th stage is based in universal ethical abstract principles.

In the example, Annaliese is bothered by the fact that her friend is paying for a service to write a term paper, however, she decides that her friends' approval is more important so she says nothing about cheating.

We can tell that Annaliese decision is based in external factors (her friends' approval), therefore she cannot be in the Post-conventional level.

The third stage, which belongs to the conventional level, refers to the making of decisions based on the approval of others.

Since Annaliese wants to get her friends' approval we can conclude that she's at this stage and therefore in the Conventional stage.