Kohlberg Flashcards
Key theme
Moral development
‘A moral person’
Seeks to do the right thing, play fair, tell truth, avoid cheating
Moral development
Refers to the way children begin to construct, cognitively a system of beliefs about how we interact with others.
Done as an interaction with their environment adopting moral rules and attitudes which reflect the society they live in.
Background: Jean Piaget
Argued children don’t become adult thinkers by gaining knowledge, the actual WAY they think changes.
Kohlberg was inspired by Jean Piaget’s ‘structural’ theory of cognitive development and developed a stage theory of moral development. (acknowledges that psychological processes are developmental)
Moral thinking evolves over many years through child interacting with complex social environments.
Kohlberg identified 3 levels and 6 stages of moral development (stage theory)
3 levels=
1- Pre Morality,
2- Conventional morality, 3- Post- conventional morality
Kohlberg identified 3 levels and 6 stages of moral development (stage theory)
6 stages=
Stage 1- Punishment & obedience orientation
Stage 2- Self interest & orientation
Stage 3- Conformity to expectation and rules
Stage 4- Social accord & system maintenance
Stage 5- Social contract orientation
Stage 6- Universal Ethical principles
Level 1 Pre-morality
Rules and social expectations are seen as being EXTERNAL to the person.
Level 1- Stage 1 Punishment and obedience orientation
Doing what is right because of fear of punishment. Unquestioning obedience to superior power.
Level 1- Stage 2 Self interest and orientation
Child behaves in a self centred way, doing what brings benefit to themselves.
Level 2 Conventional morality
Rules and expectations are INTERNALISED
Level 2- Stage 3 Conformity to expectation and rules
Child seeks approval from others and begins to consider intentions of the act.
(why does everyone say in my world is right or wrong?) (why did the person do that?)
Level 2- Stage 4 Social accord and system maintenance
Right consists of fulfilling one’s agreed duties, upholding laws and contributing socially.
Level 3 Post conventional morality
Self and social rules are differentiated, Individual defines their own values using selections from universal moral principles.
Level 3- Stage 5 Social contract orientation
Child does what is right based on law plus personal values and opinions, sees laws as unchangeable.
There is a difference between law and morality.
Level 3- Stage 6 Universal Ethical principles
Right is defined in terms of self chosen and universal ethical principles of justice, human rights and dignity.
All individuals have value, even those who do not value themselves.
Aim
To investigate development in moral reasoning through adolescence & early adulthood providing evidence to support view that moral development changes with age
Secondary Aim
To assess extent to which these changes hold true in a range of cultural contexts.
Method
-Longitudinal study.
-Same boys interviewed over period of 12 years.
-Cross-cultural study-children from different countries/cultures compared in terms of their moral development.
-Quasi experiments
IV (1st case)
Age of child (not manipulated)
DV (1st case)
Stage of development
IV (2nd case)
Culture (not manipulated)
DV (2nd case)
Stage of development
How was data collected?
Semi-structured interview.
Interviewer presented series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and asked series of questions.
Choice of questions depended on previous answers given.
Main sample
75 boys
Chicago (american)
10-16 years old at start of study.
Selected from lower and higher socio-economic families
Represented spread of religious backgrounds.
Second sample
Data collected from boys in other countries; Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and boys from 2 villages- one atayal (Malaysian aboriginal) and other 2 Taiwanese.
No numbers given for sample size of 2nd study.
These boys were asked about a story concerning theft of food.
Materials/apparatus
Moral thinking was assessed using moral dilemmas developed by Kohlberg.
Related to 25 moral concepts he had identified, e.g ‘value of human life’.
Each ps listened to a dilema such as the Heinz dilemma, and were asked selection of open and closed questions e.g ‘should Heinz steal the drug? why or why not?’
Procedure
Ps were first assessed when they were either 10, 13 or 16 years old.
Each boy retested every 3-4 years until age of 24.
Each ps moral development was assessed by giving hypothetical moral dilemma e.g Heinz dilemma, all deliberately philosophical.
Oral interview lasted 45 mins.
Ps were presented with 9 dilemmas in 45 mins and asked various questions such as ‘what should the person do?’ why or why not?’
Decision of which question asked depended on previous answer given.
Cross cultural sample
Tested boys in 2 rural villages in Malaysia and Taiwan.
Chinese researcher helped interpret responses.
Boys were told story involving theft of food:
‘ A man’s wife is starving to death by the store owner won’t give the man food unless he pays, he cannot, should he break in and steal some food? why?’
Moral concept ‘value of human life’ Kohlberg asked:
‘should the doctor “mercy kill” a fatally ill woman requesting death due to her pain?’
Different question was asked when Tommy was 10:
‘Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?’
Results across cultures: Taiwanese boys
Many of Taiwanese boys said ‘He should steal the food for his wife because if she dies he’ll have to pay for her funeral and that costs a lot’ (stage 2 response.)
Analysis depended on local knowledge of chinese researcher.
Results across cultures:
Atayal boys
Stage 2 boys would say ‘He should steal the food because he needs his wife to cook for him’
Both boys were showing fundamental stage 2 responses. (whats in it for them?)
Results across cultures
Stage 5 (social contract & orientation) was more common in American teenagers than Mexican or Taiwanese adolescents, but enough cultures showed stage 5 thinking to be sure it was simply an American phenomenon.
Results: class and religion
Middle class children more advanced than matched lower class children.
Because they developed faster.
No differences found between religions.
Conclusions
1) Children, adolescents and young adults go through a series of stages in which their moral reasoning develops from pre conventional (self interest) through conventional (rules and approval from others) and post conventional (respect for democratically agreed rules and personal conscience)
2) Although there are variations in rate of development, people growing up in a range of cultural contexts go through same stages.
