ch 14 part 1 - piaget and kohlberg

Jean piaget

Introduced cognitive theories of moral development

• Moral reasoning - the thinking process involved in deciding whether an act is right or wrong

• Observation

• open-ended interviews

piaget 4-7 stage

the law is the law

• rules are permanent, unchangeable and must be obeyed

• immanent justice- breaking rule leads to immediate punishment

• consequences determine if the action is more bad

transitional period 7-10yrs (piaget)

social interaction with peers stimulates moral thinking

• cooperation skills, reciprocity, perscpective taking

10 yrs and older enter autonomous morality (piaget)

• understand that rules/laws are created by people and view them as more changeable

• greater consideration of peoples motives and intentions

• greater appreciation of others in issues of justice and fairness

• value relationships on a deeper level (mutual respect)

Kohlbergs dilema

heinz dilema about the women near death and husband stole the drug

kohlberg has 4 stages

2 in preconventional and 2 in conventional

stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation (preconventional)

right action: avoid punishment and obey authority because youre told to obey

stage 2: instrumental orientation (preconventional)

right action: pursue your own interest/needs, but let others do the same

• may see nice behavior in exchange for future favors

stage 3: mutual interpersonal expectations (conventional)

right action: act according to others (parents) moral standards (win their approval by being good)

• follow the golden rule

stage 4: social system morality

right action = following laws to ensure societal order and promote the common good of all people

kohlbergs longitudinal study of boys found

• before 9yrs most children used stage 1

• most adolescents reasoned at stage 3 with some signs of stage 2 and 4

• 1 and 2 stage decreased with age

moral reasoning

children become less self focused and more able to consider others perspectives

evaluating kohlberg theory

most adolescents around the world value trust, caring, and loyalty as a basis of moral judgements (Stage 3) and by late adolescence they begin to more fully understand the importance of laws for the common good (stage 4)

• however adolescents who regularly engage in delinquency are more likely to display delayed moral judgement