kohlbergs moral reasoning

• INTRO

  Kohlberg suggested criminals have a different level of moral reasoning compared to non-criminals

  he believed morality was key to levels of development

  he measured more development using different moral dilemmas in each stage of development and individuals are tested on how they respond to different scenarios
• HEINZ DILEMMA

  kohlbergs most famous moral dilemma

  • Heinz wife had cancer, and there was only one drug to save her
  • this was too expensive and Heinz couldn't fund enough money to get it
  • Heinz faced the moral dilemma of disobeying the law and stealing to drug to save his wife's life or obeying the law and not stealing the drug and his wife dies
• PRECONVENTIONAL MORAL REASONING - 5-11

  • STAGE 1 - PUNISHMENT-AVOIDANT ORIENTATION - right/wrong determined by what the individual thinks they will be punished for
  • STAGE 2 - INSTRUMENT ORIENTATION - right/wrong determined by what is best for the individual
• CONVENTIONAL MORAL REASONING - 12+ - ADULT

  • STAGE 3 - 'GOOD CHILD' ORIENTATION - right/wrong determined by what other individuals think / whether they approve
  • STAGE 4 - MAINTANENCE OF SOCIAL ORDER - right/wrong determines by rules/regulations
• POST-CONVENTIONAL MORAL REASONING - ADULTHOOD

  • STAGE 5 - SOCIAL CONTRACT - right/wrong determined by the needs of the individual or group. rules can be challenged if they are unjust
  • STAGE 6 - UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES - right/wrong are self-determined based on sanctity of human rights. all laws should be based off this, and if not disobedience is thus justified.
• CRIMINALS - usually have pre-conventional levels of moral reasoning as it involves a lack of reflection and self-awareness aswell as a simplistic assessment of right/wrong
• A03- RESEARCH SUPPORT

  + palmer and Hollin gave a series of moral dilemmas to a sample of male and female offenders and non-offenders from ages 13-22. they found that those who were non-offenders had higher levels of moral reasoning compared to offenders thus supporting kohlbergs theory.

  • HOWEVER - age bias so lacks generalisability
• A03

  -more desirable alternatives - for example, Gibbs suggested an alternative for kohlbergs theory which is based on the idea of mature and immature reasoning. Gibbs proposed post-conventional moral reasoning was culturally biased so therefore should be eliminated as it doesn't display natural maturational stages of development. thus this suggests that this theory is better suited for explaining criminal behaviour as it is generalisable to different cultures and populations
• A03

  -been criticised as being gender biased, in particular beta biased. Gilligan pointed out that Kohlbergs theory is mainly based off male experiences and perspectives which focus on morality of justice. on the contrary, women operate off a morality of care principle. therefore this suggests that each gender's morality is driven by different factors and is therefore unable to be generalised to women thus lacking the validity of this theory