| Aims | - Kohlberg interested in moral development of children and how that changes through their life
- Inspired by Piaget’s theory, behaviourism, and Freudian psychology |
| Freudian psychology definition | - Morality linked to the development of the superego |
| Procedure | - 72 American boys
- Aged10 to 16 years at the start, and 22– 28 years at the end
- Presented with hypothetical moral dilemmas (Heinz)
- Answers given were linked to 25 basic moral concepts or aspects |
| Example of hypothetical question | - “Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?” |
| Background | - Kohlberg believed that the stages of moral development were invariant |
| Why were the stages of moral development invariant | - They don't change order
- The speed at which a child passed through the stages could vary |
| 6 reasons for the motivation of obeying rules | - to avoid punishment
- to gain rewards
- to avoid dislike by others
- to gain respect from others
- to avoid self-condemnation |
| Preconventional (Stages) | 1. Punishment and obedience orientation
2. Self-interest |
| Preconventional stages (Moral reasoning shown) | - Rules are followed to avoid punishment
- ‘Right’ behaviour brings rewards to oneself |
| Conventional (Stages) | 3. Good boy-good girl orientation
4. Law and order orientation |
| Conventional stages (Moral reasoning shown) | - ‘Good’ behaviour pleases others
- Moral action is taken based upon self-chosen principles |
| Post-conventional (Stages) | 5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal principles orientation |
| Post-conventional stages (Moral reasoning shown) | - ‘Right’ is what is democratically agreed upon
- Doing one's duty, obeying law is important |
| Conclusions | - Moral development happens in the same order regardless of where a child grows up
- Not significantly affected by cultural, social or religious reasons |
| Discussion | - Evidence shows a universal development of morality, from the egocentric to other centric |
| Results | - Some participants didn't reach the final stage
- Stages didn't change order |
| Research methods | - Longitudinal study
- Cross-cultural, collected data from other cultures (e.g. Taiwan and Mexico) |
| Longitudinal study (cohort study) definition | - Following a group of people overtime |
| Cross-cultural findings | - Americans didn't reach stage 6
- Middle-class children were more advanced in moral judgement |
| Advantages + disadvantages to longitudinal studies | - Participant variables are controlled, low cost
- Participant attrition (people dropping out), time-consuming |
| Advantages + disadvantages to cross-cultural studies | - Isn't ethnocentric
- Language barriers, the moral dilemmas might be too culture-bound to the US |
| Data | - Qualitative data
- There is no significant difference between the different age groups |
| Ethics | - Consent given by participants
- Right to withdraw, by just not cooperating when he returned three years later |
| Validity | Reduced by:
- Hypothetical moral dilemmas, words do not reflect actions
- Extraneous variables e.g. upbringing |
| Reliability | - Large sample
- Used standardisation - same dilemmas
- Conducted in 1950s +1960s, very different world |
| Sample | - 72 American boys, from Chicago
- Aged between 10 - 16 years at the start, 22-28 years at the end
- They are observed over 12 years, every 3 years |
| Androcentric | - He only used males and then generalised his theory to both males and females |
| Gilligan | - Suggested that females will show different moral development due to socialisation factors
- Two ways of looking at moral dilemmas (justice-based and care-based). |
| Ethnocentrism | - Data collected from different cultures
- Ethnocentric bias - if there is assumption that everyone will have the same moral development as the American boys |
| Psychologists + ethnocentrism | - Lots of bias towards one's culture
- Particually in the west |
| Nature vs nurture debate | - Nature side of this debate: moral development is innate
- Nurture side of this debate: culture may influence morality |
| Free Will vs determinism (Free Will) | - Little free will or choice over how you will progress through the stages
- You cannot change or avoid any of the stages |
| Free Will vs determinism (Determinism) | - The stages are invariant and happen at fairly distinct chronological ages |
| Psychology as a science | - Lack of control over extraneous variables, falsifiable
- Used the scientific process of induction |
| Falsifiable meaning | - Trying to prove a theory is wrong
- If you can’t prove it wrong then you can assume it is right |
| Induction meaning | - Observing human behaviour and then inducing a theory to explain that behaviour |
| Links to areas and perspectives | - Developmental - life long process
- Cognitive - development of thought processes
- Behaviourism - moral behaviour is learnt |
