Developmental- kohlberg Flashcards
What are morals
Standards of behaviour , principles of what is right or wrong
What is moral development
Way we learn to construct beliefs about what is right and wrong
What Piaget find
Morals are learned around the age of 8 he found age affected our understanding of morals
What was kohl ergs theory
As intelligence matures so does moral behaviour when we reach a new stage of development this replaces the previous stage of thinking . We go through stages in the same order
Some people don’t reach the final stage
What was kohl ergs aim
Investigate development of morals using a longitudinal method over 12 years to identify the stages of moral development
Sample
75 American boys
10-16 at beginning followed them for 12 years until age of 22-28
Also looked at Malaysia , Taiwan, Canada, Mexico,UK, Turkey
Procedure
Participants were given interviews involving moral dilemmas like Heinz story every 3 years and were asked to solve these
Level 1 pre conventional stage
Stage 1- obedience vs punishment
Child behaves in order to avoid punishment . Will behave in immoral ways if lacking authority figure
Stage 2- reward vs self interest
Behaving in self centred way, doing what benefits one self recognises isn’t just 1 view.
Level 2 conventional stage
Stage 3- conformity
Thinking is related to approval of others, individual is good so they can be seen as good by others. Emphasises conformity and being nice
Stage 4- law and order
Individuals becomes aware of wider rules of society , obey these rules to avoid guilt.
Level 3 post conventional stage
Stage 5- human rights
Awareness of rules and laws exist but protection of human life is more than important than breaking the law
Stage 6- universal human ethics
Have developed own morals which may or may not obey law prepared to defend one self whatever willing to pay consequences
Results
Children followed same stages of moral development
Stage 5 most American teenagers over Mexicans reached this stage , not everyone reaches stage 6
Higher stage replaces previous level of thinking
Conclusions
Moral development occurs in the same sequence regardless of background.
Not significantly affected by social cultural or religious conditions. Moral thought develops like all other kinds of thoughts
Successive stages being better cognitive organisation than one before it
Data
Qualitative - participants justified how they would behave in these various hypothetical dilemmas cannot analyse results to ensure data supports theory .
Ethics
Consented to take part in research and could withdrawn by just not cooperating when he returned three years later to collect further data.
Validity
Reduction in validity- social desire ability may be scared their response may be weird give a standard answer.
Entrepreneurs variables - socioeconomic background may influence morals development may not be testing moral development but maybe linguistic understanding or intelligence
