Developmental psychology : kohlberg - the child as the moral philosopher

Question 1

Methodology

Answer 1

• used interviews to collect qualitative data, inluded cross cultural comparisons and a longitudinal event

participants
- group of 75 american boys
- age of 10 -16 and 22 - 28
- studied people in britain, canada, taiwan, mexico and turkey

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

-created nine hypothetical moral dilemmas and each dilemma presented a conflict between two moral issues
- each participant was asked to discuss three of these dilemmas, prompted by a set of ten or more open ended questions
- questions could be — should heinz steal the drug? why or why not? if the respondent favours stealing ask “If heinz doesnt love his wife should he steal the drug for her? why or why not”
- the boys answers were analysed and common themes were identified so that the stage could be constructed
- each boy was re interviewed every 3 years
- the same kind of interview was used again

Question 3

Findings

Answer 3

• the boys answers were analysed and common themes were developed
• stage theory is an account of how behaviour changes at different ages
• kohlberg found that younger children thought at a pre-conventional level and as they got older their decisions became less focused on themselves and more on doing good because relationships and others are important
• final level of development is related to moral principles
• results were same in other countries but a little slower

Question 4

Findings table

Answer 4

The pre conventional level - children accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions by their consequences
Stage 1 - punishment and obedience orientation — this style of morality ignores the intentions behind a behaviour and focuses on obeying rules that are enforced by punishment
Stage 2 - the instrumental purpose orientation — children view actions as right to satisfy their own needs

The conventional level - individuals believe that conformity to social rules is desirable but not out of self interest
Stage 3 - interpersonal cooperation — there is a good boy - good girl orientation and what is right is defined by what is expected of others
Stage 4 -the social order maintaining orientation— this marks the shift from defining what is right in terms of norms from what is right in terms of role expectations

The post conventional level - individual moves beyond questioning compliance with their own social system and now defines morality in terms of moral principles that apply to all societies
Stage 5 - the social contract orientation— laws are seen as relative and flexible. where they are consistent with individual rights and interests of the majority and are upheld to maintain social order
Stage 6 - the universal ethical principles orientation — morality is defined in terms of self chosen abstract moral principles and laws usually conform the these principles

Question 5

Conclusions

Answer 5

concluded key features of moral development are:
- stages and invariant and universal — people everywhere go through the same stages in the same order
- each new stage represents a more equilibrated form of moral understanding

moral discussion classes can be used to help children develop their moral thinking

Question 6

Evaluate

Answer 6

sampling
-interviews with boys, male morality is different to female morality – based on justice rather than caringness
-Gilligan found evidence that showed women tend to be more focused on relationships than justice when making moral decisions
-Suggests this theory was gender biased and restricted
However core concepts remain unchallenged as gilligans theory was an expansion of kohlbergs theory

External validity
- Gilligan also criticised this research because the evidence was not based on real life decisions
- They were hypothetical scenarios which made little sense
- Gilligan did research that involved interviewing people about their own moral dilemmas for example the decision about whether to have an abortion

Social desirability bias
- Participants want to present themselves in a good light when it comes to self-report methods
- can lead to them describing their moral behaviour idealistically rather than what they would actually do
- this theory is about idealistic moral thinking than about behaviour
However, it was a study of reasoning. How do you make that?