Kohlberg Flashcards
What is preconventional?
- Morality based on consequences.
- Children accepted the rules of authority figures (such as parents).
- No understanding of reasoning or society’s conventions.
What is the preconventional stage 1 called?
Obediance and punishment orientation
What is the preconvnetional stage 1 about?
It’s the stage where all young children start at (and some children are still in). Rules are seen as being fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it means avoiding punishment.
What is stage 2 of preconventional called?
Self interest orientation
What is stage 2 of preconventional about?
As children grow older, they begin to see that other people have their own goals and preferences and that often there is room for negotiation.
- “What’s in it for me?”
- Morality governed by self interest
- E.g. A child may do chores only if they receive pocket money to do so, rather than to help their family.
What is conventional?
- Individuals believe that morality is determined by society’s views and expectations.
- Society’s rules and norms accepted without question.
- Maintaining the current social system ensures positive human relationships and social order
What is Stage 3: Social Conformity Orientation - conventional about?
Seeking approval by following conventions and norms
Child wants to be a “good girl” or “good boy”
E.g: A child behaves in a lesson because to misbehave is against society’s norms, and would be met with disapproval from both the teacher, their family and their peers.
What is stage 3 - conventional called?
Social Conformity Orientation
What is Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation - conventional about?
- By the time individuals reach adulthood, they usually consider society as a whole when making judgments.
- Focus on maintaining the law and order by following the rules, doing one’s’ duty and respecting authority.
- Understood as vital for a functioning society rather than a need for approval.
- A belief that all people have the duty to uphold laws
- E.g. Theft is seen as wrong as if one person steals, perhaps everyone would, and this would be bad for society.
What is stage 4 called?
Law and Order Orientation
What is postconventional?
The individual moves beyond unquestioning compliance.
An understanding that individuals are separate from society
Morality is judged by abstract concepts, and that rules can be changed.
Different principles (what is right and wrong) could be different depending on what the situation is.
What is stage 5 - postconventional called?
Social Contract Orientation
What is stage 5 about?
- People understand that there are differing opinions on what is right and wrong.
- Morality is seen as relative and flexible
- Laws are social constructs, not rigid laws
- People at this stage will disobey rules if they find them to be inconsistent with their personal values.
- E.g. Campaigning for equal marriage rights for homosexual people while gay marriage was illegal
What is stage 6 called?
Universal Ethics Orientation
What is stage 6 about?
- Few people operate at this stage all the time. It is based on abstract reasoning and the ability to put oneself in other people’s shoes.
- Morality based on abstract ideals and ethical principles
If there is a conflict between morals and the law, the law should be disobeyed. - The individual acts because it is right, and not because it avoids punishment, is in their best interest, expected, legal, or previously agreed upon. E.g. The type of civil disobedience shown by Gandhi in opposition to unjust laws.
What ages is preconventional?
3-7 years
What ages is conventional?
8-13 years
What ages is postconventional?
Adulthood
What were the cross cultural findings?
- Stages are universal
- Differences in how quickly children progress through the stages
- Middle class children in all cultures progressed quicker than lower class children
- Religion had no effect
What were the conclusions?
- Stages are universal
- Differences in speed of progression
- Each stage builds upon the stage before, but becomes more equilibrated
- Children are able to understand moral reasoning up to and including the stage that they are in, but not more than one stage above their own.
- And importantly they prefer the next stage.
What was Kohlbergs aim?
To investigate the development of moral reasoning in children to create a series of stages that could be applied to all children.
What was the methodology?
Sample:
1. 75 American boys were used – at the beginning of the research they were between the ages of 10 and 16.
2. By the end of the period of research, the boys were between 22 and 28.
3. Additional samples from a number of other countries (Great Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey) were also interviewed to gain a cross-cultural comparison.
- Research method: A longitudinal study using interviews
- The data collected was qualitative
Who was Kohlberg influened by?
Jean Piaget
What was the procedure?
- Each child given 9 hypothetical moral dilemmas.
- Discuss these issues
- Then asked a series of specific open ended questions
- Semi structured interview
- Responses analysed
- Children then assessed every three years
- Also conducted the same study on other cultures to compare
