Developmental Area- Kohlberg

Question 1

Background

Answer 1

Jean Piaget put forward a cognitive account of moral development
Kohlberg based his theory about stages of moral development on piagets ideas

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

To provide evidence for his stage theory or moral development. His theory takes piagets research into child development, elements of behaviourism(behaviour learnt from environment) and psychodynamic psychology(morality coming from development of superego) into account

Question 3

Research method

Answer 3

Longitudinal field experiment

Question 4

Sample

Answer 4

For 12 years kohl berg studied the same group of 75 American boys, following their development at 3 year intervals from ages 10-16 until 22-28 years old

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

Boys were given hypothetical dilemmas such as hienz ones
Their answers and reasoning was recorded and linked to the 25 moral concepts
This was carried out every 3 years

Question 6

Strengths and weaknesses of longitudinal studies

Answer 6

Lots of qualitative data
Follow same person throughout

Participant could die
Withdrawal
Takes years to achieve results

Question 7

Other countries he carried his experiment out in:

Answer 7

Yuca tan
Taiwan
Mexico
Turkey

Question 8

Stages of moral development

Answer 8

1) obedience and punishment- follow rules to avoid punishment
2) self interest- doing the right thing will benefit oneself and not others
3) good girl/boy- have to be good and behave in a way which is socially acceptable
4) authority and social order- follow rules and laws
5) social contract- right and wrong based on a majority vote- not all laws are morally right and need to be changed
6) universal ethical Principles- set own ethical principles which are based on equality of human rights and human dignity. Ok to break laws if they are wrong

Question 9

Conclusions

Answer 9

Stages follow invariant developmental sequence
All movement is forward and doesn’t skip steps
It’s universal- not affected by social, cultural conditions
Each stage of development takes into account previous stage but organises them into a more comprehensive and equilibrated structure

Question 10

Ethics

Answer 10

Assumed that participants consented to take part

Could have withdrawn by not cooperating when they turned up to collect data

Question 11

Internal reliability

Answer 11

Same moral dilemmas presented & same questions to answer so easily standardised

Question 12

External reliability

Answer 12

75 boys large enough to suggest it’s not a fluke

Question 13

Internal validity

Answer 13

Factors such as upbringing, socio-economic status or education could effect moral development

Question 14

Population validity

Answer 14

Can’t generalise girls
Can’t generalise over 28
Only measured in Chicago
Diff time period to now a day

Question 15

Ecological validity

Answer 15

Hypothetical dilemmas- act diff to how they said if they actually found themselves in situation

Question 16

Ethnocentrism

Answer 16

Moral dilemmas culture bound to USA

Carried out later research in diff countries but initially just USA

Question 17

How does it link to developmental area

Answer 17

Investigates how we change over time, passing through prescribed stages and using skills previously acquired and developing them.