Kohlberg

• Developmental psychology focuses on how people change as they get older. Researchers within this area of psychology consider such topics as how our sense of self changes and how our memories and thinking change from birth to death.
• Morality - when a baby is born, they have no understanding of right and wrong, baby is inherently selfish, they do not stay this way. as a child grows they develop they start to understand the difference between right and wrong but this understanding does not happen all at once, it deepens overtime.
• Moral understanding is seen as a spectrum, a child may be placed somewhere on the spectrum according to the depth and sophisitication of their moral understanding and reasoning.
• Kohlberg was a psychologist who was interested in studying the development of morality in children. Unsatisfied with predominant theories of time that explained morality in behaviourist (rewards and punishments) and psychodynamic (superego and phallic stage) terms.
• Kohlberg approached morality from a different angle as he was influenced by the work of the renowned developmental psychologist Jean Piaget who developed a theory that saw development as occurring in stages. Piaget's theory however was about the development of a childs logical and scientific understanding and reasoning and did not directly address morality. However Kohlberg felt that the development of moral reasoning could likewise be broken down into stages. Kohlberg based his definition of morality on the Socratic notion that justice is the end of all moral reasoning.
• Aim - Kohlberg aimed to investigate the development of moral reasoning in children in order to create a series of stages that could apply to all.
• Methodology - longitudinal study - identifying a group of ppts at the start of the research and working with them over a substantial period of time. Kohlberg re-interviewed the same group over a 12 year period.
• Methodology - semi-structured interview - a few 'prompt' questions are prewritten. The interviewer can generate new questions in response to what the interviewee tells them. Kohlberg used 10 or more open questions to prompt participant's discussion and justification for their responses to the moral dilemmas for example should heinz steal the drug and why or why not.
• Methodology - content analysis - going through qualitative data and picking out themes. Can be used to generate quantitative data for example counting how many times ppts say a certain thing. Kohlberg analysed the interview responses to the moral dilemmas. Identified common themes to create his stage theory of moral development.
• Methodology - case study - an in-depth study of one/ a few individuals/place/events. Kohlberg's research has many features of a case study. In depth study often longitudinal in nature and using methodologies for example interviews often gathering qualitative data.
• Participants - 75 American boys from ages 10-16 and then again between 22-28. (12 year period). He also studied Great Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico for cross cultural comparisons.
• Procedure - to assess moral thinking Kohlberg created 9 hypothetical moral dilemmas. Each dilemma presented a conflict between two moral issues (e.g. stealing vs saving someone's life). Each child was asked to discuss three of these dilemmas, prompted by a set of 10 open-ended questions.
• Procedure - their responses were analysed and general themes identified. These themes were used as the basis for the stages of moral development. the children were assessed with a similar interview every three years and changes in their moral reasoning were recorded. Kohlberg compared his findings with those from other cultures (only interviewed once in different cultures) to see if there existed cultural differences in moral development.
• Findings - Kohlberg was able to identify differences in the moral reasoning shown by his participants and used this to develop a stage model of moral development. He found that moral development can be broadly split into 3 stages: pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional. Each of the stages separated into two substages with a total of 6 stages.
• Findings - Kohlberg found that younger children thought at the pre-conventional level and as they got older their reasons for moral decisions became less focused on themselves and more focused on doing good because relationships with others are important. The final level of development is related to moral principles. The results in Mexico and Taiwan were the same except development was a little slower.
• Findings - pre-conventional - this is the most common level of morality in young children. Pre-conventional morality is based on its actions and direct consequences. Children at this stage only see morality in terms of how actions will affect themselves. they do not understand society's conventions regarding right and wrong.
• Findings - pre-conventional - Stage 1 - obedience and punishment orientation: a focus on the direct consequences of their actions on themselves. Actions are only considered to be wrong if the perpetrator will be punished for it. The worse the punishment the more bad the act is. Children at this stage ignore the motivation behind an act and focus instead on its consequences. For example a child may say that stealing a classmate's chocolate bar is wrong because the teacher would punish them.
• Findings - pre-conventional - Stage 2 - the instrumental purpose orientation, in this stage the child is more concerned with 'what's in it for me'. Moral behaviour is defined by self interest but in a narrow way that does not take account of their reputation or relationships. The needs of others are considered but only to the extent to which they serve the childs interests. For example you scratch my back ill scratch yours. Or for example a child may only do chores only if they recieve pocket money to do so rather than to help their family.
• Findings - conventional - conventional morality is the most common type of reasoning with adolescents and many adults. In this stage an individual will assess morality by comparing it with society's views and expectations. An individual accepts and obeys society's norms and rules often without question even if the rule may seem unfair or inappropriate.
• Findings - conventional - Stage 3 - interpersonal cooperation - an individual seeks to achieve approval by others and avoid disapproval by following society's conventions and norms. The child seeks to be a 'good boy' or 'good girl'. They have learned that being good benefits the self. Consequences of behaviour are now judged by how they affect an individuals relationships ad include things like respect and gratitude. For example a child behaves in a lesson because to misbehave is against society's norms, and would be met with disapproval from both the teacher, their family and their peers.
• Stage 4 - the social order maintaining orientation


  Emphasis on following orders and conventions, understood as important for maintaining a functioning society rather than the need for approval
• Understanding of right and wrong

  Comes from an outside force (society, the law etc.) but the individual understands the reasoning behind morality
• Individual believes


  All people have a duty to uphold laws and rules
• Findings - post conventional - at these stages there is a growing realisation that individuals are separate entities from society. society's views may come into conflict with individual views and in some cases the individual may take precedence over society. Disobeying society's conventions can be seen as acceptable. Morality is judged now by adhered to absolutely and may be changed. Morality is based on an individual's moral evaluation rather than society's rules. It is argued that many people never reach this stage of development and that many adults stay in stage 4.
• Findings - post conventional - Stage 5 - the social contract orientation, morality is seen as a relative and flexible. there is an understanding that what is considered right and wrong may be different for different people and groups. law are seen as 'social contracts' rather than rigid rules, and that unfair rules should be changed in order to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people. this is done through majority decision and compromise. For example campaigning for equal marriage rights for homosexual people while gay marriage was illegal.
• Findings - post conventional - stage 6 - the universal ethical principles orientation, in this final stage moral reasoning is based on abstract ideals and ethical principles. laws are only seen as valid if they are grounded in justice. If there is a conflict between a person's moral principles and the law there is an obligation to disobey these unjust laws. the individual acts because it is right and not because it avoids punishment, is in their best interest, expected, legal or previously agreed upon. For example the type of civil disobedience shown by Ghandi is opposition to unjust laws.
• Conclusions - Kohlberg concluded that the stages of development that he had identified were universal. all people regardless of culture class or religion would progress through the stages in the same order. The only thing that differs between people is the speed at which they progress. Kohlberg argues that each stage of development represents a better cognitive organisation than the stage before.
• Conclusions - Each stage builds upon the stage that came previously but allows for new distinctions. Each stage becomes more equilibrated (more equal and fair). this is supported by evidence that strongly suggests that children are able to understand moral reasoning up to and including the stage that they are in but not more than one stage above their own and importantly they prefer the next stage.
• Conclusions - Children at a particular stage of development tend to move forward in their moral reasoning when confronted by the views of a child one stage along. In an argument between stage 3 and stage 4 child the child in the third stage tends to move to stage 4 while the child in stage 4 understands but does not accept the argument of the stage 3 child. Moral discussion could therefore be used to help children develop their moral reasoning.
• Evaluation - internal validity - social desirability answered good in the interviews, demand characteristics could pick u on aim as longitudinal, researcher bias had clear expectations of the outcome. External validity - population validity androcentric cross cultural, ecological validity hypothetical scenarios field location.
• Evaluation - internal validity - Kohlberg used longitudinal study so controlled for ppt variables acting as a confounding variable (background of children) so increasing internal validity. Social desirability - young ppt want to be seen in the best possible light to do the right thing in the eyes of the male adult researcher. Researcher bias - Kohlberg could have used leading questions and also chosen what to extract in the content analysis.
• Evaluation - internal reliability - same interviews used for each group of ppts so high internal consistency, possible inconsistencies in the way the interviews were conducted not same scenarios used each time 3/9 used. External reliability - consistency with other cultures so not a fluke, a 20 year longitudinal study done by Colby replicating Kohlbergs study supported Kohlbergs original conclusion. Ppts in other cultures on interviewed once for comparison.
• Evaluation - ethical issues - confidentiality used tommy and richard in study could be real names or not, risk of stress anxiety humiliation or pain possible distress from sensitive topics in the scenarios the scenarios could also have had things in that the child had experienced themselves could mean they get distressed, valid consent does not state how consent was obtained, working with vulnerable individuals - children all underage valid consent needed from parents or guardians or children felt pressure to give 'right' answers.
• Overall ethical issues are minimal and should be weighed with importance of findings, so benefits outweigh ethical costs.