developmental : kohlberg

kohlberg’s theory of moral development

• everyone progresses through the levels and stages ignorer but some progress further than others

• 6 stages

• pre conventional level (4-10 years) : avoiding punishment and self interest

• conventional level : good boy attitude and law and order morality

• post conventional level : social contract and principle

aim

• to carry out research to explain and support his theory that moral thinking changes over time

method

• longitudinal study (12 years)

sample

• 75 American boys

• aged between 10 - 16 years old (at the start of the study)

procedure

• at 3 yearly intervals, boys were presented with hypothetical moral dilemmas and asked what they would do and explain why

• he looked at motive given for rule obedience and moral action and the value of human life by asking moral dilemmas (e.g. the Heinz situation)

• boys asked questions like ‘should Heinz have stolen the drugs?’ and ‘would it make any difference if the person dying was a stranger?’

• study repeated in Taiwan, Mexico, Canada and the uk

• changed the situation to the culture

results

• found his stages were reflected in answers

• results showed 50% of ppts were consistent in their stage of moral reasoning regardless of the dilemma

• ppts showed progress through the stages with increased age

• not all ppts made it through to stage 6

• at the age of 16, stage 5 more noticeable in the us than Mexico or Taiwan

• in the us, Mexico and Taiwan, middle class children were found to be more advanced than matched lower class children

• no differences in moral development across different regions

conclusions

• moral development occurs in the same sequence regardless of where a child grows up (supports nature debate to a large extent)

• the nature of this sequence is not significantly affected by social, cultural or religious conditions

sampling bias

• androcentric

• smallish (only 75 ppts)

• but was done across cultures

validity

• potential research bias so low internal validity

• also effects of social desirability so lowers internal validity as ppts may lie to seem more moral

• low ecological validity as situations were hypothetical

ethics

• quite ethical

• parents will have given consent

• was confidential

• socially sensitive research s could create harmful stereotypes that some countries develop slower

research method

• longitudinal study

• attrition - people may drop out over time

type of data

• qualitative as longer answers given so gives insight into why ppts would act a certain way

• quantitative data as % of children progressing through each stage in order

reliability

• research is replicable

• may find same order or moral development but individual differences

• used standardised procedures

• question changed to suit younger ages so less control of extraneous variables

• overall high reliability

practical applications

• can ensure children are moving through the development stages

• understanding of moral development in different cultures

• can identify when children may have issues with their moral development

ethnocentrism

• done across different cultures

• questions changed to be more relatable to the country to lower ethnocentrism

• overall western bias so slightly ethnocentric