Kohlberg

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

To show how as young adolescents develop into young manhood, they move through the distinct levels and stages of moral development proposed by Kohlberg in his theory.

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

75 American boys who were aged 10-16 at the start of the study were followed at three-year intervals (data collected x4) through to ages 22-28.

Moral development was also studied in boys of other cultures including Great Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey .

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

Individual interviews were carried out. Participants were presented with hypothetical moral dilemmas in the form of short stories to solve.
45 minutes long with 9 dilemmas
The dilemmas were related to 25 moral concepts/aspects Kohlberg identified such as value of life and used to determine each participant’s stage of moral reasoning.
Their answers were then scored using a scoring manual (900 pages long!)
Aspects assessed included:
Motive Given for Rule Obedience or Moral Action
The value of human life: tested by asking the participant:
Aged 10: “Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?”
Aged 13, 16, 20 and 24: “Should the doctor ‘mercy kill’ a fatally ill woman requesting death because of her pain?”

Question 4

results

Answer 4

At the age of 16, Stage-5 thinking was much more prevalent in the US than either Mexico or Taiwan.
Results for two isolated villages, one in Yacatan, one in Turkey, also showed that moral thought increased steadily from ages 10-16 but there was still some pre-conventional thought.
Not all participants over the period of the study progressed through all the stages and reached Stage-6.

Question 5

Cross-cultural findings:

Answer 5

Taiwanese boys aged 10-13 tended to give ‘classic’ Stage-2 responses.
Example: Should a man steal food for his wife? Yes because if she dies he’ll have to pay for her funeral and that costs a lot.

Middle-class urban boys aged 10 in the US, Taiwan and Mexico showed the order of use of each stage to be the same as the order of its difficulty or maturity. (Linked to education – reminded of importance of being virtuous, kind. Allows you to practice good habits – be honest and compassionate)

In the US, by age 16, Stage-6 was rarely used.
Mexico and Taiwan showed the same results except that development was a little slower.

Question 6

Conclusions

Answer 6

Moral development is invariant, individuals go through the stages one at a time and they are in a fixed order, but some Individuals may not reach the final stage.
He also concluded that the order of stages is universal across all cultures.

Question 7

Relation to Key theme - Moral Development

Answer 7

Who - 75 American boys aged 10-16
Boys from other cultures studied too

What - Aim of the study was to gather further support for his view of moral development occurring in stages.

How - He presented participants with a number of hypothetical moral dilemmas such as the Heinz study to determine their stage of moral reasoning.

Findings - There is cultural universality in the sequence of stages. There are six stages that explain the motive behind morality ranging from stage one which is that people are ‘good’ to avoid punishment to stage six that people are good to avoid self condemnation (blaming yourself).

Question 8

Relation to area (developmental)

Answer 8

Assumption - Individuals change their thinking and behaviour systematically through crucial stages of development.

Aim - Aim of the study was to gather further support for his view of moral development occurring in stages.

Findings - There is cultural universality in the sequence of stages. There are six stages that explain the motive behind morality ranging from stage one which is that people are ‘good’ to avoid punishment through to stage six that people are good to avoid self condemnation (blaming yourself). Participants progress through these stages one at a time and always in the same order. For example, no participant at stage 4 had first been through stage 6.

Question 9

1) Describe the sample used in Kohlberg (3)

Answer 9

75 American boys who were aged 10-16

Question 10

2) Discuss the weaknesses with the sample used in Kohlberg (4)

Answer 10

Limited age range even when following participants from the age of 16 to 28 years old.
Sample size relatively small (75 ps) so difficult to generalise to the target population.

Question 11

3) Explain why Kohlberg’s study can be described as longitudinal (2)

Answer 11

75 American boys who were aged 10-16 at the start of the study were followed at three-year intervals through to ages 22-28

Question 12

4) Describe what is meant by a moral dilemma (2)

Answer 12

Difficult choice to be made between two or more options about what is right or wrong in that situation.

Question 13

5a) What was the name of the 2nd stage in Kohlberg’s moral dilemma’s (1)

Answer 13

Instrumental relativist orientation.

Question 14

5b) Outline the main ideas of this stage (2)

Answer 14

‘Right’ Behaviour is that which ultimately brings rewards to oneself.a

Question 15

Kohlberg’s

stages of moral development

Answer 15

Question 16

Kohlberg as a quasi experiment - strength

Answer 16

P- A strength of a quasi-experiment is that there is no manipulation, participants fall naturally into the conditions.
E- This means that it is possible to look at something that would be unethical or impossible to manipulate.
E- In this study the researches investigated the impact of age and culture on moral development. They waited for the American boys from10 years old to turn 3 years older before they collected data, researchers cannot force age/experience on people.

Question 17

Kohlberg as a quasi experiment - weakness

Answer 17

P- A weakness of quasi-experiment is that there is a lack of controls over extraneous variables.
E- As participants naturally fall in to the conditions extraneous variables such as individual differences can stop the researcher measuring the impact of the IV.
E-In this study the researcher looks at the impact of culture on moral development. However, the results may tell us more about individual differences of the participants e.g. the amount of communication/discipline from parents regarding what is right or wrong

Question 18

Semi-Structured Interview - strength

Answer 18

P- A strength of using a semi-structured interview is that it includes both open and closed questions.
E- This enables the researcher to gain quantitative data (nominal data) from the closed questions and the use of open questions and probing enables a fuller picture to be painted- increasing internal validity, the researcher is measuring what they set out to measure.
E- Participants were given dilemmas and asked whether the people discussed should/shouldn’t have behaved in a set way. Participants were then probed to gain greater insight to the reasons for the answers that then was used by Kohlberg to determine the level of moral development.

Question 19

Semi-Structured Interview - weakness

Answer 19

P- A weakness of using semi-structured interview is that participants may answer questions in a social desirable way.
E- This means that participants may provide responses that make them look good in the eyes of others.
E- In this study the boys may not be providing their own reasoning for why behaviour should/shouldn’t happen in the dilemmas but ones that they think make them look good to the person asking them the questions.

Question 20

Longitudinal - strength

Answer 20

P- A strength of using a longitudinal study is that it enables the researcher to collect data over a period of time.
E- This enables the researcher to gain insight into how behaviors develop over time.
E-In Kohlbergs study, the American boys were interviewed from 10-16 years old every 3 years, given dilemmas and asked for reasoning behind there answers. This enables Kohlberg to monitor their moral development over time.

Question 21

Longitudinal- weakness

Answer 21

P- A weakness of using a longitudinal study is that data collection takes a lot of time.
E- As data is collected over a period of time and on more than one occasion, data collection takes time and therefore money.
E- In this study the American boys were studied for 12 years and data was collected every three years. Therefore analysis and conclusions couldn’t be drawn until after this period.

Question 22

Qualitative data - strength

Answer 22

P- A strength of qualitative data is that it is detailed.
E- This enables the researcher to gain a fuller picture of what is being studied, as descriptive data can provide reasoning. And therefore the researcher is more likely to measure what they set out to measure.
E-Kohlberg used open questions in his interviews and collected qualitative data. This enabled him to gain greater insight into the thought process of the participants given moral dilemmas such as the Heinz dilemma.

Question 23

Qualititative - weakness

Answer 23

P- A weakness of the qualitative data is that analysis can be subjective.
E- This means that the researchers own personal opinions and predictions could influence how the data is anaylsed, therefore open to researcher bias.
E- Kohlberg had developed his stages of moral development prior to the study and aimed to provide evidence of this within the study. Therefore, he may have subjectively analysed the reasoning provided by the boys to fit this theory.

Question 24

Ethical issues - strength

Answer 24

P- This study could be considered ethical as informed consent was given.
E- Informed consent refers to a participant understanding what will happen within the study and why the study is being carried out then agreeing to take part in the study.
E- By participants answering the interview questions they are agreeing to take part in the study. The dilemmas provided provide insight as to what the researcher was looking at and the repetition (every 3 years) ensured participants knew what was happening.

Question 25

Ethical issues - weakness

Answer 25

P- This study could be considered unethical as protection from harm may be an issue.
E-Protection from harm refers to the responsibility of the researcher to sure the participant is not harmed physically or psychologically by the participation in this study.
E-Although it may not have been stressful to answer the questions on the dilemmas in years to come when the lads had grown in cognitive and moral development they may be embarrassed of their previous responses.

Question 26

Validity - strength

Answer 26

P- This study is high in internal validity.
E- This means that controls have been put in place to ensure that the researcher is measuring what they set out to measure.
E- The participants in Kohlbergs study were presented with the same moral dilemas at the same age. From the age of 13 years all pts were asked ‘should the doctor “mercy-kill”a fatally ill woman requesting death because she is in pain?’. This stops the researcher measuring the difference in question rather than the differences in moral development between pts e.g. social classes.

Question 27

Validity - weakness

Answer 27

P- This study is low in ecological validity.
E- This means that the study does not reflect real life situation and therefore the results cannot be generalized beyond the study.
E-Kohlberg gave participants moral dilemas and they were asked to give comment on whether behaviours should/shouldn’t occur. What participants suggest should happen and how they would actually behave if put in that situation may be very different.

Question 28

Reliability - strength

Answer 28

P- This study is high in external reliability.
E- This means that the study could be repeated using the same or similar sample and the results checked for consistency, this is due to the high level of standardization.
E- In Kohlberg the American boys would be given the same dilemas e.g. at 13 years of age ‘Should the doctor “mercy-kill”a fatally ill woman requesting death because she is in pain?’. This means the study was and could be repeated.

Question 29

Reliability - Weakness

Answer 29

P- This study is low in external reliability.
E- This means that it may not be possible to repeat the study in exactly the same way to check the consistency of the results, this is linked to lack of standardization.
E- In Kohlbergs study the questions were adapted based on the previous answer. For example, if the participant said Heinz should steal the drug then the next question would be ‘If Heinz doesn’t love his wife, should he steal the drug for her?’. But of the pts doesn’t favour stealing then the question would be ‘Does it make a difference whether or not he loved his wife’. Not all particiants had the same experience and there for hard to repeat in the exact same way.

Question 30

Sampling Bias - strength

Answer 30

P- The sample is representative.
E- This means it includes a good cross-section of the characteristics found in the target population and therefore the results can be generalized.
E- Kohlbergs study is cross-cultural and therefore he collects data on moral development from a number of different cultures e.g. America, Canada, GB, Mexico and Turkey. This means the results can be generalized to a number cultures.

Question 31

Sampling Bias - weakness

Answer 31

P-The sample is bias.
E- This means the sample does not represent a good cross-section of the characteristic found in the target population and therefore the results can be generalized.
E-Kohlberg only studies moral development in boys, this means the sample is androcentric and therefore we cannot generalize the results and support for Kohlbergs theory of moral development to girls.

Question 32

Ethnocentrism - strength

Answer 32

P- This sample is not ethnocentric.
E- This study and the results considers a number of cultural backgrounds and therefore results can be generalized to more than one cultural group.
E- Kohlbergs study is cross-cultural and therefore he collects data on moral development from a number of different cultures e.g. America, Canada, GB, Mexico and Turkey. This means the results can be generalized to a number cultures

Question 33

Ethnocentrism - weakness

Answer 33

P-This sample has an element of ethnocentrism.
E- This means that it studies a narrow range of cultures and therefore the results cannot be generalised to all cultural backgrounds.
E- Although Kohlberg’s study is a cross-cultural study it does not study all societies. For example it does not look at the moral development of boys in Vietnam or Australia and therefore results cannot be generalised to these cultures.