AO1 - Description

• Aims and Hypothesis

  • Aimed to investigate the process of moral reasoning and development
  • Hypothesised that we go through moral stages from childhood to adulthood
  • Our moral thinking changes as we mature and there would be little variation across cultures
• Sampling - Participants

  • 75 American boys aged 10-16 and again every 3 years until 22-28 years old
  • Kohlberg or colleague interviewed boys (10-16) from UK, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey
  • Non-USA interviews were only done once with each group - acted as cultural comparison to main group
  • Sampling technique not recorded
• Methodology

  • Semi structured interview - interviewed from childhood to adulthood
  • Longitudinal study with his USA group - every 3 years for 12 years
  • Non-USA were cross sectional as they were only done once and acted as comparison
  • Answers were answered using content analysis
• Location

  • Not recorded it is thought Kohlberg used a field location
• Procedures - Part 1

  • Kohlberg developed nine hypothetical moral dilemmas, including the Heinz Dilemma, where a man steals drugs to save his wife from cancer.
  • Participants discussed three dilemmas in interviews using 10 open-ended questions, like “Should Heinz steal the drug? Why or why not?”
  • Interviews were conducted every three years from ages 10 to 16 over 12 years.
  • Participants’ answers were analyzed through content analysis to identify common themes.
• Procedures - Part 2

  • The same dilemmas were used for participants from the UK, Mexico, and Canada, while culturally specific dilemmas were used for Taiwanese participants.
  • The dilemmas used for the Turkish participant group were not recorded.
  • Kohlberg compared findings across cultures to explore potential cultural differences in moral reasoning.
• Findings

  • Collected qualitative data - verbal answers about moral dilemmas + used content analysis to convert them into numerical themes e.g. the 6 stages of moral development
  • 3 main stages - Pre conventional, Conventional and Post Conventional - each had 2 sub stages
  • Children thought at conventional and then when more mature where at post conventional - moved from focus on themselves to what is important to others
  • Each went through same stages but some quicker e.g. middle class USA
• Conclusion

  • Accepted his hypothesis and concluded that stages of moral development are universal - everyone goes through the same stages