Lawrence Kohlberg / Carol Gilligan

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987)

he studied Piaget as a grad student at University of Chicago in the 1950s. Piaget had a theory of morality and in 1958 Kohlberg wrote a dissertation on this saying it didn’t have enough depth. He is the name of moral development.

morality is a decision and not a trait.

heteronomous morality or moral realism

Hetero means other

you do the right thing due to parents, teachers, and so on.

autonomous morality or moral independence (Piaget)

beginning at approximately age 8, rules and regulations are relative and can be changed. Actions are judged partially on intent. You understand in this stage that rules are made by people, and thus, they can be altered or adjusted.

o   Level 1 – Preconventional Morality

o   Approximately ages 2 to 7

o   At this level, consequences dictate feelings. Behavior is guided by punishment and rewards.

§  Stage 1: Obedience and Reward Orientation.

·       The fear of punishment is strong.

§  Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation.

·       The child is motivated by reward.

o   Level 2 – Conventional Morality

o   You try to meet the standards of the family, your nation, and your culture. You identify with people in power. You try to live up to a socially defined role.

§  Stage 3: Good boy/girl orientation.

·       You do the right thing to please others and get recognition.

§  Stage 4: Law and Order or Social Authority Order Orientation.

o   Level 3 – Postconventional or Self-Imposed Morality (the highest level)

o   The person acts on principles rather than rules, and thus, it is sometimes called a prior-to-society viewpoint. The person has a self-accepted standard of behavior.

§  Stage 5: Social Morality of Contract.

·       Here, the person wants to maintain respect with equals in the community.

§  Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle of Conscience – highest stage.

·       There is a concern over self-condemnation over violating one’s principles – some never reach stages 5 and 6.

·       In this stage, you are concerned with equal rights of all people.

Carol Gilligan (1936-)

o   An American psychologist and feminist who wrote In a Different Voice (1982).

o   She contends that Kohlberg’s theory focuses too heavily on morality and justice and ignores moral issues like compassion, caring, and responsibility to others that are significant to women and girls.

o   As a colleague of Kohlberg’s, she was critical of the fact that he did his research on a small group of boys and hence his findings might not be applicable to women.

o   She feels that perhaps this theory is even a lil sexist because it relies on research based on males and male-focused stories.

o   Kohlberg’s theory may be more accurate when applied to males than females.