kohlberg

Question 1

research method

Answer 1

• longnitudinal study as he studied the same boys over a period of 12 years, collecting data from them every 3 years
• cross cultural study as he followed up his work collecting data from america boys with work collecting data in other cultures around the world

Question 2

advantages of longnitudinal study in kohlberg

Answer 2

• this meas that it controls particpant variables but there are the extraneous varibles of upbrigning which might influence the behaviour
• kohlberg found consistent developmental changes in line with his theory
• spending 12 years is not time consuming as kohlberg is spending one week on a snapshot study
• not expensive as sending a questionnaire or interviewing a particioant once a year for 12 years would not be expensive

Question 3

disadvantages of longnitudinal study in kohlberg

Answer 3

• over the course of time there will be participant attrition where for some reason or another a number of participants will drop out
• this can be a problem when there is something in the research which might stop a person continuing: death, illness, moving away
• if the only interested participants were in the study it would mean that they all have similar characteristics which could impact moral development
• time consuming and expesnive

Question 4

advantage of cross cultural study in kohlberg

Answer 4

• enables him to demomstate that his theory of moral development doesnt just apply to american (isnt ethnocentric)

Question 5

disadvantages of cross cultural study in kohlberg

Answer 5

• cost implications
• language barriers
  -moral dilemmas with which he presented his participants may be too culture-bound to the usa

Question 6

data

Answer 6

• qualitative daya as he was interested in listening to the ways in which his participants justified how they would behave in the various moral dilemmAS

Question 7

disadvanatges of qualitative data in kohlberg

Answer 7

• there is subjective analysis which researchers could use to snure that their data supports their theory
• there is no quantitative difference between the different age groups but kohlberg infers from their responses the level of their moral development

Question 8

ethics that kohlberg upheld

Answer 8

• informed consent: participnats consented to take part in his research
• right to withdraw: participants could just stop co-operating when he returned 3 years later to collect further data from them

Question 9

ecological validity

Answer 9

• giving participants hypotethical moral dilemmas could lack ecological validty as how people say they would act in a given situtation may be very different from how they actually woud act if they found themselves in that situation

Question 10

how does kohlberg lack validty

Answer 10

• asking any participant to report on their thoughts or behaviour decreases validty as there is a chance of demand characteristics and social desirability
• everyone has post-conventional levels of moral development and chooses how to show pre-conventional levels when they are younger to appear socially desirable or help the researcher
• extraneous varibales may affect validity such as uobringing, socio-economic status or educayion which infleunces moral development

Question 11

how does kohlberg lack construct validity

Answer 11

• the dilemas which kohlberg used may not be testing moral development but maybe limguistic understanding or intelligence which reduces the validty

Question 12

external reliability

Answer 12

• kohlberg conducted his research on a large sample (75 american boys and participants from other countries too) meant that he was not just seeing flukes

Question 13

internal reliability

Answer 13

• standardised procedure in which he presented the same moral deilemmas to different particioants along with the same questions for them to answer

Question 14

sample

Answer 14

• lacks generalisability of results as he carried out a 12 year study on american boys meaning that the results only apply to males and americans
• kohlbergs sample is adrocentric meaning hat he researched males and generalised his theory to both males and females

Question 15

ethnocentricism

Answer 15

• there is some evidence that there are cultural differences in moral thinking
• assuming that all people will have the same moral development as the american boys can also show an ethnocentric bias

Question 16

NATURE

how does kohlbergs research link to nature/nurture debate

Answer 16

• within each individual is an innate predetermined sequence of stages which whatever the situation in which the child is rough up will remain invariant
• this supports nature side of the debate as it suggests that our moral development is innate

Question 17

NURTURE

how does kohlbergs research link to nature/nurture debate

Answer 17

• influences of culture may have infleunced the childs moral thinking
• there is an acknowledgement of the cultural context explaining the stage of moral thinking

Question 18

psychology as a science

Answer 18

• although there is a lack of control over extraneous variables and the subjective interpretation of the evidence to support tos theory, it may lack some validity and objevtibity of the scientific paradigm
• however, it can be falsifiable as kohlbergs research showed that the stages of moral development were reflected in the reasning given by the boys
• this showed that the theory was not wrong, but there may be some other acceotible explanaitions like the children may have learned different moral behaviours through more exposure to role models
• kohlberg used the scientific process of induction in his research (a researcher will observe a phenomenon of human behaviour and then induce from that theory to explain behaviour) kohlberg induced piagets thory and that the same theory of cognitive development would explain moral development

Question 19

determinsim

how does kohlbergs study link to free will/determinism debate

Answer 19

• as kohlbergs theory suggests that the stages of moral development are invariant and happen in distinct chronological ages it shows how moral development and behaviour can be considered as deterministic
• there is little free wil or choice over how you will progress through the stages as you cannot change or avoid any of the stages

Question 20

how does kohlberg be linked to the developmental area

Answer 20

• one apsect of the developmental area is the idea that we change over time and kohlbergs study links to this as it shows how moral reasoning develops over time through a prescribed set of stages which is invariant
• kohlberg created a 3 level with 6 stages showing how moral reasoning is developed over time

Question 21

holistic

how can kohlbergs research be linked to reductionist/holistic debate

Answer 21

• adopts a holistic view of a childs development as it doesnt believe in one reason for development but assumes that development takes place over time.
• kohlberg consideres different perspectices based on the individuals understanding of social norms and looking at the big oicture of moral development

Question 22

reductionist

how can kohlbergs research be linked to reductionist/holistic debate

Answer 22

• kohlberg may be seen to only focus on cognitive factors
• neglects the influence of other factors like emotions or situational context

Question 23

what perspective does kohlberg link to

Answer 23

• psychodynamic
• behaviourist
• he would see his theory as very different from the behaviourist view of virtue as merely a learned behaviour.

Question 24

how does kohlberg link to the key theme

Answer 24

• the level of reasoning from self interest to the interest of humanity did not change whatever the culture