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Kohlerg Flashcards

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1
Q

Define morality.

A
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2
Q

What was the background to Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • The psychodynamic perspective would explain morality in terms of the development of a superego.
  • The behaviourist perspective can explain morality in various ways but one would be as a consequence of children observing and imitating models who behave in a moral way.
  • Jean Piaget put forward a cognitive account of moral development to do with ways in which children think. He theorised that there were two levels of moral thinking: heteronomous moral thinking and autonomous moral reasoning.
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3
Q

What is the difference between heteronomous and autonomous moral reasoning?

A
  • Heteronomous moral thinking weighs the outcome of the action to determine how bad it is.
  • Autonomous moral reasoning takes into account the intent of the person committing the action.

According to Piaget, autonomous moral reasoning was more advanced than heteronomous moral thinking.

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4
Q

What was the aim of Kohlberg’s study?

A

To investigate moral development in children as they get older (provide evidence for his stage theory of moral development) and to see whether there are any cultural differences in moral reasoning.

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5
Q

What was the US sample in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • 75 boys
  • Start age: 10 - 16
  • End age: 22 - 28
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6
Q

What was the procedure in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • Every boy was presented with moral dilemmas every 3 years during the 12 year study.
  • Using the answers the boys gave, Kohlberg ranked them in six categories (1 being the least morally developed to 6 being the most morally developed). If about 50% of their responses to any of these moral concepts fell into a stage they were put into it.
  • This formed his theory of stages of moral development.
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7
Q

Define longitudinal in terms of research methods?

A

A research method that follows a number of participants over an extended period of time.

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8
Q

How was Kohlberg’s study longitudinal?

A

He studied the same boys over a period of 12 years.

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9
Q

What are the strengths of using longitudinal research in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • Excellent at controlling participant variables.
  • Can show development of individuals and how these differ by gender, culture, environment etc…
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10
Q

What are the weaknesses of using longitudinal research in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • Time consuming
  • Extraneous variables of upbringing might influence behaviour.
  • Retention rate / participant attrition
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11
Q

How was Kohlberg’s study cross-cultural?

A

Kohlberg repeated the study on boys from Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Canada and the UK.

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12
Q

What are the strengths of using cross-cultural research in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • Enables him to demonstrate that his theory of moral development doesn’t just apply to Americans (it isn’t ethnocentric).
  • Comparisons can be made to help generalise results.
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13
Q

What are the weaknesses of using cross-cultural research in Kohlberg’s study?

A
  • Cost implications
  • Language barriers
  • Moral dilemmas might have been culture-bound to the USA.
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14
Q

What did the data Kohlberg collected lead him to create?

A

Kohlberg proposed a topology of moral reasoning made up of six stages across three levels.

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15
Q

What are the three levels of morality proposed by Kohlberg?

A
  • Pre-conventional
  • Conventional
  • Post-conventional
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16
Q

What stages are under the three levels of morality proposed by Kohlberg?

A
  • Pre-conventional: Stages 1 and 2
  • Conventional: Stages 3 and 4
  • Post-conventional: Stages 5 and 6
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17
Q

Describe the pre-conventional level of morality proposed by Kohlberg.

A
  • Children are well behaved but only because of the physical consequences to them of being good or bad.
  • If there is nobody there to judge them, the children are likely to be naughty.
18
Q

Describe the conventional level of morality proposed by Kohlberg.

A
  • People conform to the social norms and expectations of their individual family, group or nation.
  • Rules must be followed.
19
Q

Describe the post-conventional level of morality proposed by Kohlberg.

A
  • People set their own personal moral principles which may differ from those of the social groups they form.
20
Q

Describe stage 1 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Orientation towards punishment
  • Child is well behaved and responsive to cultural norms but able to behave in an immoral way if authority structure is missing.
21
Q

Describe stage 2 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Self-interest orientation
  • Child behaves in a self-centred way, doing what brings benefit to self.
22
Q

Describe stage 3 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Conformity to expectations and rules (Good boy / good girl orientation)
  • Child seeks approval from others and begins to consider the intention of the act.
23
Q

Describe stage 4 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Orientation towards authority, fixed rules and social order (check)
  • Child now sees right behaviour as a duty to show respect and maintain social order.
  • Laws are set in stone.
24
Q

Describe stage 5 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Social contract orientation
  • Child now does what is right based on law plus personal values and opinions.
  • Sees laws as changeable.
25
Q

Describe stage 6 of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.

A
  • Universal ethical principles
  • Child now based judgement on universal human rights of justice, equality, reciprocity and respect for the individual.
26
Q

What did Kohlberg claim about the movement through his typology of moral development?

A
  • Everyone, regardless of culture, social background or religion, moves through the same six stages in the same order (although not everyone will reach the last stage).
  • Nobody can skip a stage or move backwards through the stages.
27
Q

How can Kohlberg’s study be defended ethically?

A
  • Consent was gained by the boys every three years.
  • Boys had the right to withdraw every three years by not answering questions.
  • The names of participants were left confidential.
  • Participants knew the truth aim of the study so there was no deception.
28
Q

How can Kohlberg’s study be criticised ethically?

A
  • Harm may have been experienced through being given troubling dilemmas.
29
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study have internal reliability?

A
  • The procedure was very standardised (e.g. same dilemmas being given every three years).
  • Standardised by ensuring that 50% of answers must fit in a stage to deem the boy in that stage.
30
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study lack internal reliability?

A
31
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study have external reliability?

A
  • 75 is quite a large sample size so able to establish a consistent effect.
  • Further samples within the other countries.
32
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study lack external reliability?

A
33
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study have construct validity?

A
34
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study lack construct validity?

A
  • Possible social desirability bias
  • Possible demand characteristics
  • The dilemmas may have instead been testing intelligence
  • Extraneous variables (education, upbringing etc…)
35
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study have population validity?

A
  • A wide range of cultures used so generalisable to other places.
36
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study lack population validity?

A
  • Only male participants were used.
37
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study have ecological validity?

A
38
Q

How did Kohlberg’s study lack ecological validity?

A
  • How you would respond to a hypothetical dilemma may not be how you respond if you actually were in the scenario.
39
Q

How was Kohlberg’s study ethnocentric?

A
  • The main sample consisted of only American boys.
  • In the cross-cultural study these was a focus on Western cultures.
40
Q

How was Kohlberg’s study not ethnocentric?

A
  • He repeated the study in several other places (Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico, Canada and the UK) and found similar results.

Psychology (7 decks)

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