Moral Reasoning

• What is level of moral reasoning?

  The way a person thinks about right and wrong. It is presumed that such thinking then applies to moral behaviour. The higher the level, the more that behaviour is driven by a sense of what is right and the less it is driven by just avoiding punishment or avoiding the disapproval of others.
• Who applied the concept of moral reasoning to offending behaviour?

  Kohlberg
• What did Kohlberg;s theory of moral reasoning suggest?

  People’s judgments of right and wrong can be categorised into stages of moral development. Higher stages indicate more sophisticated reasoning. Kohlberg based his theory on people’s responses to a series of moral dilemmas
• What are Kohlberg’s 3 levels of moral reasoning?

  • Level 1: Pre-conventional morality (lowest level)
  • Level 2: Conventional morality
  • Level 3: Post-conventional morality
• What did Kohlberg et al. find about violent youths?

  Violent youths have significantly lower level of moral reasoning than non-violent youths, even after controlling for social background.
• At which moral reasoning stage are offenders more likely to be classified?

  Pre-conventional level (stages 1 and 2)
• What characterises the pre-conventional level of reasoning?

  A child like reasoning style, focusing on avoiding punishment (stages 1) and gaining rewards (stage 2).
• Why might offenders at the pre-conventional level commit crimes?

  They believe they can get away with it or gain rewards like respect or financial benefits.
• What did Chandler find about offenders?

  Offenders tend to be more egocentric and have poorer social perspective-taking skills compared to non-offenders
• What behaviours are associated with higher levels of moral reasoning?

  Honesty, generosity, non-violence and sympathy for others’ rights.
• Kohlberg’s sample only consisted of men and boys