Kohlberg's moral understanding

Question 1

what is a moral understanding ?

Answer 1

the way in which children learn between right and wrong.

Question 2

What happens to your moral understanding as you get older ?

Answer 2

increases as you get older, at each stage you take more of the social world into account.

Question 3

What did kohlberg focus on?

Answer 3

The way that children think about moral decisions rather than there moral behaviour.

Question 4

How did Kohlberg create his stages ?

Answer 4

-conducted a moral judgement interview- he used 9 hypothetical dilemmas (the heinz moral dilemma). They presented a conflict between two moral dilemmas - 84 boys aged 10,13 or 16. PPTs. had to discuss three dilemmas and had to answer 10 or more open ended questions.

Question 5

Define level 1 (stages 1 and 2)

Answer 5

Pre conventional morality - Actions that result in punishment=bad, rewards= good.
stage 1- punishment obedience- You don’t do something because you will be punished.
stage 2- morality is based on meeting your own interests and getting what you want.

Question 6

define level 2 (stages 3 and 4)

Answer 6

conventional morality - maintains the current social systems.
stage 3- interpersonal cooperation - you try to live up to the expectations of the people who are important to you.
stage 4 - moral behaviour is behaviour which fits in with social norms.

Question 7

define level 3 (stage 5 and 6)

Answer 7

post conventional morality- define morality in terms of abstract moral principles that apply to all societies.
stage 5- the social contract orientation- laws are seen as flexible in certain situations
stage 6-universal ethical principle - developed your own set of principles that you follow above the laws.

Question 8

strengths ?

Answer 8

remained an important influence on our understanding of moral development.

Question 9

weaknesses ?

Answer 9

• concerned with moral thinking rather than behaviour which people are concerned with.
• stage 6 may be an unrealistic ideal which is rarely achieved.
• PPT’s do not make consistent judgements when given moral dilemmas.

Question 10

Gilligans criticism

Answer 10

-gender bias- Kohlberg’s theory is based on a morality of justice. Gilligan found that women tend to be more focused on relationship(caring)

Question 11

criticism of Gilligan

Answer 11

• an expansion rather than an alternative.

- Jorgenson- the concepts put forward by kohlberg remain unchallenged.