Kohlberg (classic study) Flashcards
Moral development
How children begin to construct a system of beliefs by cognitive development and accepting rules + attitudes which determines right or wrong
Previous theories of moral development
Psychodynamic perspective (Freud)
Behaviourist perspective
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget perspective on moral development
Moral thinking is in 2 stages:
Heteronomous stage where children don’t consider intention but only outcome if action is bad/good
Autonomous which takes into account another person’s perspective
Kohlberg’s inspiration from Jean Piaget
Agreed there were stages to moral development and was a developmental process as cognitive reasoning improved in children
Aim of Kohlberg’s study
To investigate the moral development in children to provide evidence for his theory in moral development
What type of research method was this?
Self report study in the series of semi structured interviews
Sample used
First 725were boys sampled from Chicago between 10-16 who over course of 12 year study were 22-28
Other boys studied from different countries later
procedure step 1
Kohlberg interviewed each participant and presented them with philosophical moral dilemmas eg Heinz dilemma
What themes were used in kohlbergs questions in his interviews?
Questions about the value of human life
Questions about duty to not lie and keep promises
Questions about not stealing
Procedure step 2
Kohlberg judged boys responses to identify what moral thinking they were showing and what stage in development they were at
Procedure step 3
Over 12 year intervals every 3 years, Kohlberg follows up the boys to interview them again with more hypothetical moral dilemmas
To judge their progression through his stages of moral development
Longitudinal study
A study which follows up participants over a long period, which Kohlberg did for 12 years in 3 year intervals following up the same boys to ask them Philosophical moral dilemmas
Procedure step 4
Kohlberg travelled to different countries to interview boys and determine their place in his stages of moral development theory
In order to show his model wasn’t cultural specific
Cross cultural study
A study in which someone collects data from other cultures around the world in order to measure the differences/similarities in behaviour
What countries did Kohlberg collect data from in his cross cultural study?
Malaysia
Taiwan
UK
Mexico
Turkey
What was the main outline of kohlberg’s theory on moral development?
There are 3 levels: level 1, 2 and 3
And each level is composed of 2 stages
(So 6 stages in total)
What moral aspects was each stage in his theory concerned about?
The motivation to obey certain rules (what someone’s moral reasoning to do so is)
The value of human life
Level 1 of his theory on moral reasoning
Pre conventional
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 1 of his theory name
Obedience and punishment orientation
Stage 1 of his theory of moral reasoning development
Obedient and follows rules set by cultural norms to avoid punishment (so may break rules if punishment might not happen)
And value of human life is based on someone’s social status or physical attributes
Stage 2 of his theory name
Self interest orientation
Stage 2 of his theory of moral reasoning development
The reasoning is based on what the person can gain or get in return
The value of human life is linked to satisfying the possessor and other people’s needs eg if wife died then their family wouldn’t have someone to cook for them etc
Level 2 of his theory on moral reasoning development
Conventional
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 3 of his theory name
Good girl/boy orientation
Stage 3 of his theory on moral reasoning development
The morality is based on approval of other people and what everyone else thinks (conformity to expectations)
So the value of human life is based on affection of other people to its possessor
Stage 4 of his theory name
Authority and social order orientation
Stage 4 of his theory on moral development reasoning
Moral reasoning based on maintaining social order in society by following laws
The value of human life is universal (based on religious idea or laws) but not autonomous because it is dependent on this
Level 3 of his theory on development of moral reasoning
Post conventional
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 5 of his theory name
Social contract orientation
Stage 5 of his theory on moral reasoning development
Does what is right based on law and personal values and opinions thus changeable compared to stage 4
Value of human life is a universal human right but also concern for welfare of others
Stage 6 of his theory name
Universal ethical principles orientation
Stage 6 of his theory on moral reasoning development
Does what is right to avoid self condemnation for universal human rights of justice, equality, reciprocity and respect
So every human life value is absolute determined by universe even if no one or themself values it
How does stage 6 differ from the rest on value of human life?
The definition of human life is centrally valuable to all and has no dependence on authority or other people
Conclusion Kohlberg made from his research about his own theory (in terms of invariance)
All people progress through the stages 1 at a time but they are invariant so no steps are skipped (but speed they are passed through can vary, this is affected by social class
Conclusion Kohlberg made from his research about his theory (in terms of condition development)
There is a link between developing cognitive skills such as considering other people’s pov and developing through stages
Where they take in data (thinking) to take in new information but balance these thoughts with their experiences (cognitive organisation)
Morality develops In the same, invariant stages regardless of the culture grown in
Conclusion Kohlberg made from his research about his theory (in terms of cultures)
His theory was universal regardless of where you grow up: different cultures will have different answers to his dilemmas but the overall thinking followed his stages
Conclusion Kohlberg made from his research about his theory (in terms of children comprehending next stage)
In discussion, a child (eg at stage 3) can comprehend and accept the next stage that they’re at (eg stage 4)
But they cannot comprehend the stage after that (stage 5)
But they can comprehend but reject previous stage (stage 2)
How does kohlberg’s theory differ from behaviourist and psychodynamic theory?
Behaviourist and psychodynamic theory differentiate moral thinking and action
But Kohlberg links them directly
Evaluation of construct validity
Hard to show demand characteristics or social desirability because hard to guess kohlberg’s aims and show higher stage moral thinking
But could be a measure of linguistic ability and intelligence instead?
Evaluation of population validity
Low for only using boys and not measure of all age ranges
High for range of cultures in cross cultural study
Evaluation for ecological validity
Certain dilemmas may have unfamiliar situations + all hypothetical so unsure if they will actually think this way irl
Evaluation of reliability
High: 75 is large sample for boys
Standardised where 50% of boys answers had to match a stage to be put their
Low: unknown sample size for other cultures
Need to replicate test but difficult as it was unstructured interview
Evaluation of ethics
Good: informed consent every 3 years and had right to withdraw/ignore Kohlberg
No deception as he genuinely just wanted their answers
Low: some scenarios may be upsetting, involving death and disease etc
Evaluation of sample
Low generalisability as the sample only used boys from a specific area in states
Perhaps girls show different moral reasoning as proposed by Gilligan
Evaluation of ethnocentrism
Assumption that all cultures have same moral reasoning could be ethnocentric but lessened by it being a cross cultural study
But still many cultures not represented in his study
Evaluation of kohlberg’s actual theory
Argument that perhaps stages don’t develop as you progress, for example stage 5 is different than 6 but not necessarily inferior
Evaluation of research method
Longitudinal study may cause participant attrition (dropping out) which could skew the sample eg those who are developing would remain
Also time +costs but Kohlberg knew this so not an issue
