Kohlberg

Question 1

outline Kohlberg’s 3 levels of moral development

Answer 1

1. pre-conventional
2. conventional
3. post-conventional

Question 2

Describe the AIM of Kohlberg

Answer 2

To further support his theory, with a particular focus on whether everyone went to stage 5

Question 3

Describe the DESIGN with the Ivs and Dvs of Kohlberg’s study

Answer 3

American longitiudinal case study and cross-cultural case study both quasi experiments.
IV- culture
IV- stage
DV- age

Question 4

Descrive the two SAMPLES of Kohlberg’s study

Answer 4

1. 75 American boys from Chicargo, 10-16 at the start and 22-28 at the end. All from different backgrounds, education and classes.
2. Boys from GB, Canada, Mexico and Turkey

Question 5

Describe the PROCEDURE of the american longitudinal study in Kohlberg’s study

Answer 5

Boys aged 10,13,16 are essessed evert 3/4 years until aged 24
Levels of moral development are assessed using moral dilemmas i.e the Heinz dilemma
They were asked open questions about their thoughts on the dilemmas
Inteviews lasted 45 minuites each with 9 dilemmas asked.

Question 6

Describe RESULTS from Kohlberg’s study

Answer 6

American mddle class boys were more advanced than lower class boys
In the USA stage 5 was most common for boys aged 16, however in Mexico stage 3 was most common for boys aged 16
Stage 6 was rarely found in any culture

Question 7

Describe the CONCLUSIONS from Kohlberg’s study

Answer 7

Moral reasoning devlops with age in a fixed and invariant sequence of stages
Moral development is similar in all countries but progresses at different rates

Question 8

Outline two STRENGTHS of Kohlberg’s study

Answer 8

High in internal validity as Kohlberg’s aim was to asses moral reasoning nit moral behavioyr so he was testing what he intended to.
High in inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability as Kohlberg produced a complex system to turn qualitative data into quantitative data to make classification of moral development reliable.
+ both data types

Question 9

Describe the WEAKNESSES of Kohlberg’s study

Answer 9

Low in ecological validity as the moral developments were hypothetical scenarios which means what people believe about right and wrong does not predict what they actually do.
Sampling bias as the research focusses on boys moral development and not girls as well. His study only provides evidence for one kind of moral development; girls may develop differently to boys so the evidence cannot be generalised making it ethnocentric.

Question 10

Describe the ETHICS of Kohlberg’s study

Answer 10

No deception used as it was clear to the boyd what the task was and was testing
Boys and their parents had informed consent.
Interviews unlikely to be stressful due to the fact the participants returned to be interviewed several times.