Kohlberg Flashcards
What was the methodology?
Interviews used to collect qualitive data Cross-cultural longitudinal study 75 participants 10-16 and 22-28 UK, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Taiwan
What research method was used?
Interviews
How many participants were there?
75
What were the age ranges of the participants?
10-16 and 22-28
What countries did the participants come from?
UK, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey
What was the procedure?
9 moral dilemmas Participants discussed 3 Prompted by a set of 10 open ended questions Awnsers analysed and themes identifyed Re-interviewed every 3 years
How often were the participants interviewed?
Every 3 years
What were the findings of the study?
Stage theory
Younger children at the preconventional level
As they got older, they were less focused on themselves
Development in Mexico and Taiwan was slower
What stage did Kohlberg think young children were at?
Preconventional level
What were the conclusions?
Stages are universal and people go through them in the same order.
Each stage is higher moral understanding
Moral discussion develops moral thinking
What are the levels of moral development?
Preconventional
Conventional
Postconventional
What is the preconventional level?
We accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions based on their concequences such as reward and punishment
What are the stages of the preconventional level?
Punishment and obedience orientation
Instumental purpose orientation
What is the punishment and obedience orientation?
Ignores the intentions of behaviour and focuses on obeying the rules due to punishment
What is the instumental purpose orientation?
Actions are right if they satisfy their own needs
What is the conventional level?
Conformity to social rules is desirable due to self interest
What are the stages at the conventional level?
Interpersonal cooperation
Social-order-maintaining orientation
What is interpersonal cooperation?
What is right is defined by what is expected
What is the Social-order-maintaining orientation?
What is right is established by the norms of the larger social system
What is the post-conventional level?
Morality is an abstract moral concept that applies to all societies and situations
What are the stages of the post-conventional level?
Social contract orientation
Universal ethical principles orientation
What is the social contract orientation?
Laws are seen as flexiable and can be changed if they are not consistant with human rights
What is the Universal ethical principles orientation?
Morality is self-chosen abstract principles that don’t always line up with laws
What evaluative points can be made?
Sampling External validity Social desirability Culutral bias Reliability
Why is the sampling method used a negative thing?
All participants weree male
Gillian: Women more concerned with caring rather than justice
He was gender biased as decisions were more to do with justice
Core principles unchallenged
Who criticised his sampling?
Gillian
Why is external validity low?
Gillian: Not based on real life situations
Hypothetical situations make little sense to young children
How could social desirability bias have had an effect?
People may describe behaviour idealistically
Those with better idealistic thinking showed more moral behaviour
15% of college students cheated on a test compared to 70% of pre-conventional children
Burton: Depends on liklihood of punishment
What percentage of college students and pre-conventional students cheated on a test?
College students: 15%
Pre-conventional students: 70%
What did Burton argue about behaviour according to moral principles?
Behaviour depends on liklihood of punishment
How did Kohlberg avoid cultural bias?
He changed the questions to be more relevant to the culture
What was Colby’s study?
58 American boys progressed as expected but only 10% reached stage 5 and none reached stage 6
What was Snarey’s study?
Meta analysis of 44 studies from 27 cultures and found 1-4 were correct stages.
Stage 5 was more common in Western cultures
