Kohlberg (1968) Flashcards
What are the 2 levels of moral development?
- preconventional (4-10)
- conventional
- post-conventional
Outline the preconventional stage of moral development
Stage 1: Punishment and obedience avoidance. Behaviour aims to avoid punishment.
Stage 2: Instrumental-relativist orientation. Reward orientation.
Outline the conventional stage of moral development
Stage 3: Good boy-good girl orientation. Good behaviour pleases other.
Stage 4: law and order orientation. Ones duty to obey the laws
Outline the postconventional stage of moral development
Stage 5: social contract orientation. ‘Right’ is what is democratically agreed on
Stage 6: Universal principles orientation. moral action is taken based upon self chosen principles.
What was the aim of Kohlbergs research?
Kohlberg aimed to find evidence to support his theory of moral development
What was the research method used in Kohlbergs study?
Longitudinal study
Cross cultural element.
What sample was used in Kolbergs research?
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.
Moral development was also studied in boys of other cultures including Great Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey.
What were the key findings from research by Kolhberg?
75 American Boys:
Presented with hypothetical moral dilemmas. They each contained 25 moral concepts. They included: value of human life and motive given moral action.
Different cultures:
Taiwanese boys, aged 10-13, were asked about a story involving theft of food.
Young boys in Great Britain, Canada, Mexico and Turkey were tested in a similar way.
What were the key findings of the 75 American boys on motive given moral action?
Motive given moral action:
- obey rules to avoid punishment
- conform to obtain rewards
- conform to avoid disapproval
- conform to avoid guilt
- conform to maintain respect
- conform to avoid self-condemnation
What were the key findings of the 75 American boys in relation to value of human life?
Relation to value of human life:
- confused with value of objects
- seen as instrumental to the satisfaction of the needs of possessor
- based on empathy and affection
- moral or religious duty
- valued as a universal right
- human value of respect for individual.
What were the longitudinal findings of the 75 American boys?
Not all participants over the period of time reached the 6 stage.
Participants progressed through the stages one at a time and always in the same order
A child at an earlier stage of development tends to move forward when confronted with the views of a child one stage further along
What were the cross cultural findings from the research by Kohlberg?
Taiwanese boys (10-13) gave stage 2 responses.
Middle-class urban boys aged 10 in the US, Taiwan and Mexico moved though the stages in the same order.
Same result in Mexico and Taiwan but slower.
No important differences were found in the development of moral thinking among Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims or Atheists
What were the possible conclusions from research by Kohlberg?
There is an invariant developmental sequence in an individual’s moral development.
Each stage of moral development comes one at a time and always in the same order.
Moral development fits with Kohlberg’s stage-pattern theory.
There is a cultural universality of sequence of stages.
Middle-class and working-class children move through the same sequence but middle-class children move faster and further
