Kohlberg

    Cards (33)

    • morality
      principles for how individuals should treat one another
    • morals
      the standards of behaviour that fit with these principles. they tell us what is right or wrong and guide our behaviour
    • amoral
      we are born without morals and so we must develop our personal values and judgements
    • freud theory of moral development
      stated that our superego are internalisations of our moral values. it isnt until it develops with the resolution of the phallic stage around the age of 5 that a child's morals develop
    • kant theory of moral development
      listed universal moral rules including: it is wrong to steal and it is wrong to tell lies. we can work out the right thing to do by considering if we would want something to become a universal moral rule
    • what does piaget say?
      children begin with a focus on obedience to authority, meaning they dont take intention into account, however around the age of 8, children begin to understand rules may be modified as a result of social interactions
    • what are kohlberg's three levels of moral development?
      preconventional, conventional, postconventional
    • what stages are in the preconventional level?
      • obedience and punishment
      • self interest orientation
    • obedience and punishment description
      the child is well behaved but is able to behave in an immoral way if authority is missing
    • obedience and punishment thinking
      "how can i avoid punishment?"
    • self interest orientation description
      child behaves in a self-centred way, doing what brings them the most benefit
    • self interest orientation thinking
      "what's in it for me?"
    • what stages are in the conventional level?
      • conformity to expectations and rules
      • authority and social order
    • conformity to expectations and rules descriptions
      child seeking approval from others and begins to consider the intention of others acts
    • conformity to expectations and rules thinking
      "why did that person do that?"
    • authority and social order description
      child now sees it as their duty to show respect and maintain social order - laws are set in stone
    • authority and social order thinking
      "i must do what is right"
    • what stages are in the postconventional level?
      • social contract orientation
      • universal ethical principals
    • social contract orientation description
      an understanding that there is a difference between law and morality
    • social contract orientation thinking
      "there is a difference between law and morality"
    • universal ethical principals description
      judgement is now based on universal human rights of justice, equality and respect for others
    • universal ethical principals thinking
      "all individuals have value, even those who dont value themselves"
    • aim
      to find evidence to support his theory of moral development - wanted to study how morals develop over time
    • sample
      75 american boys aged 10-16 at the start of the study and 22-28 at the end
    • what other cultures were studied?
      great britian, canada, taiwan, mexico and turkey
    • what were p's given?
      paragraphs describing situations that could be morally or legally wrong
    • what was kohlberg interested in?
      the reasoning participants gave for their decisions rather than the choice made
    • how often were the p's studied?
      3 year intervals over 12 years
    • what was the name of the dilemma used?
      the heinz dilemma
    • findings
      • participants progressed through the stages as they got older and always in the same order
      • some participants reached stage 6
      • at 16, stage 5 was more prevalent in american boys than mexican or taiwanese participants. this stage was reached by participants in mexico and taiwan at a later age
      • middle class children were found to be more advanced than lower class children
    • conclusions
      • moral development matures with age
      • not everyone develops in the same way
      • there are cultural differences in moral development
      • there are social differences in moral development
    • strengths of kohlberg
      • useful - longitudinal (can show behaviour develops so there are practical applications)
      • qualitative data - holistic - gives a better understanding of behaviour
      • criterion validity - can make assumptions about people's morals at different ages
    • weaknesses of kohlberg
      • androcentric sample - less generalisable
      • primary data - biased - researcher may choose certain data to support their aim
      • population validity - only used boys from america
    See similar decks