Kohlberg

• Background

  Based of Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development:

  • He provided a systematic 3-level, 6-stage sequence of development
  • Reflected changes in moral development throughout a person's life

  Kohlberg argued that development proceeds from a selfish desire to avoid punishment, to thinking about others around you
• Aim

  • To investigate the development in moral reasoning throughout adolescence and early adulthood
  • To assess the extent to which these changes hold true in a range of cultural contexts
• Method

  • Longitudinal studies
  • Early adolescence for 12 years until adulthood
  • Interviewed every 3 years
• Sample

  • 75 American boys
  • Aged 10-16
  • Studied up to 22-26 for 3 year intervals
  • Also studied in th UK, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey
• Procedure

  Asked moral dilemmas such as:

  10 yo:

  • "Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?"

  13, 26, 20 and 24:

  • "Should the doctor 'mercy kill' a fatally ill woman requesting death because of her pain?"
• Results (1)

  • Participants progressed through the stages as they got older
  • Some participants had not reached the final stage of moral development by the end of the study
  • Stages were always passed through in the fixed order, none missed, participants never went backwards
  • When children were confronted with the views of a child one stage further along, they seemed to prefer this next stage and move forward
  • Taiwanese boys aged 10-13 gave Stage 2 responses
• Results (2)

  • Middle class urban boys aged 10 in the USA, Taiwan and Mexico showed the order of each stage to be the same as the order of it's difficulty or maturity
  • 16 year old Americans had rarely advanced to stage 6 and at age 13, stage 3 had not been used
  • At the age of 16, Stage 5 thinking was more prevalent in the USA than either Mexico or Taiwan
  • Middle class children were more advanced in moral judgement than lower class children
  • No significant differences in the moral judgement between religions
• Conclusions

  • Individuals go through the stages one at a time and they are in a fixed order
  • Some people might not reach the final stage
  • The order of stages in universal across all cultures
  • Middle class children move quicker and further through the stages than working class children
  • Development through stages of development is not significantly affected by social, cultural or religious differences, though the speed at which you move through the stages is
• How does Kohlberg link to the key theme?

  Moral development refers to a set of principles that we hold which govern how we behave

  • It is the way children develop a system of belief on how we interact with other people and our surrounding environment
  • Kohlberg was investigating the movement through the stages of moral development
  • Results showed that all children go through these stages
  • It doesnt matter the social or religious beliefs, although this can alter how they go through the stages
• How does Kohlberg link to the key theme?

  Developmental psychology:

  • looks at how behaviour changes throughout your life
  • It looks at what influences these changes and the main causes (e.g biology and external influences)
  • Kohlberg investigated the biological roe and how different people went through their stages of moral development
  • Results howed that all children went through these stages
  • Not altered by social or religious beliefs, but they can affect the speed at which they go through the stages
  • Development is the same for everyone biologically but can alter with external influences