Cogntivite Explanations - Kohlberg’s Level of Moral Reasoning:

Question 1

What is it?

Answer 1

• Kohlberg (1969) constructed a 3-stage theory of moral development.
• Each represents a more
  advanced form of moral understanding, resulting in a more logically consistent and morally mature form of understanding.

Question 2

What is level 1 - Pre-conventional level

Answer 2

• Up to about the age of 10 children accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions by their consequences.
• Actions that result in punishments are bad; those that bring rewards are good.
• However, adults who remain at the pre-conventional level are more likely to break the
  law - breaking the law is justified if the rewards outweigh the costs or if punishment can be
  avoided.

Question 3

What is Level 2 - Conventional Level?

Answer 3

• Individuals continue to believe that conformity to social rules is desirable, but this is not out of
  self-interest.
  -Maintaining the current social system ensures positive human relationships and social order.

-Those at this level who break the law feel that their behaviour is justified because it helps maintain relationships or society.

-An offender might accept breaking the law
to protect other people – family members, friends, or oppressed groups.

Question 4

What is Level 3 - Post-Conventional Level?

Answer 4

• Individual moves beyond unquestioning compliance to the norms of the social system.
• Here, individuals tend to sympathise more with the rights of others and show more ethically bound behaviours such as honesty, generosity and non-violence.
• They may break the law if they
  think it contradicts universal ethical principles.

Question 5

A03 - Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson (2007)

Answer 5

• There is some research support that stage one type reasoning contributes to criminal behaviour.
• Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson (2007) found that 38% of 144 young offender did not
  consider the consequences of what they were doing and 36% were confident they
  would not be caught.
• This suggests that they were at Kohlberg’s pre-conventional level of moral reasoning,
  supporting the relationship between moral reasoning and offender behaviour.
• However this doesn’t specifically look at
  Kohlberg’s definition of the levels but uses other measurements of moral
  development.

Question 6

A03 - Culture Bias

Answer 6

• One limitation of Kohlberg’s theory is that it may be biased towards Western cultures. Arguably, an example of an imposed etic.
• For example, the post-conventional stage endorses Western ideals of the rights of
  individuals and the high importance of honesty, generosity and non-violence.

-Gibbs suggested a more collectivist alternative replacing the it with a ‘mature’ stage.
Here, a person gives high importance to empathy, social justice and one’s own
conscience.

• It may be inappropriate to apply Kohlberg’s model to other contexts.

Question 7

A03 - Real World Application

Answer 7

-Kohlberg observed that children raised on Israeli kibbutzim were morally more advanced than those not raised on kibbutzim.

• A kibbutz is a special kind of farming community in Israel where a number of families
  live together and share all of their profits.

-The children are largely raised in a communal home. This led him to suggest that belonging to a democratic group and
being involved in making moral judgements facilitated moral development.

• With Gilligan, he set up a number of Cluster Schools (also called ‘just’ communities)
  in a number of schools, and even one in a prison.
• Members had the power to define and resolve disputes within the group, encouraging moral development.
• Hence, Kohlberg’s theory may have important application in the development of
  strong morals.