Kohlberg Study summary
Data collection - kohlberg
Qualitative so rich in detail and insight, could have gotten quantitative data using likert scale and closed questions
Authority orientation - Kohlberg's theory
Respect for authority, fixed rules, and doing one's duty, seeking to maintain social order
How does the study change our understanding of individual diversity?
Shows how each individual develops along the same stages of moral reasoning, at different speeds
Design - Kohlberg -experiment 2
Snapshot study, semi-structured
Dv - kohlberg
Stage of moral reasoning
Similarities between kohlberg and lee
Standardised procedure: replicable, bosth quasi
Reliability - kohlberg
Standardised: same questions and dilemmas, interviews measure morality which can be affected by demand characteristics and social desiribility
Results - kohlberg - experiment 2
Tawain boys gave stage 2 responses: he shouls steal the food because he needs his wife to cook for him - Mexico and Taiwan showed same results as experiment 1 but development was slower - isolated villages showed steady progress but at 16 yrs still stage 1 reasoning still most common - stage 6 rarely found but wasn't an alternative to stage 5
Practical applications - kohlberg
Teachers can understand their students better
Aim - Kohlberg
To gather further support for Kohlberg's view on moral development. To find out if people at stage 6 go through stage 5 or whether they are two alternate orientations
Punishment orientation - kohlberg's theory
Unquestioning deference to a superior power: the physical conseqence of an action determines its goddness or badness
How does the study change our understanding of social diversity?
culture is in a sense a social influence, as both studies show cultural differences in moral development, this supports the idea that morals are influenced by the social, cultural environment that a child is brought up in
Levels of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
preconventional, conventional, postconventional
Link to area - kohlberg
- It is investigating how, as people get older, the nature of their moral thinking can be seen to evolve, passing through six distinct stages of moral development - Moral development is found to occur in a sequential order, according to Kohlberg's stage theory, where individuals may progress at their own rate depending on environmental factors such as class upbringing.
Conclusions - kohlberg
- There is a developmental sequence of an individual's moral development - each stage comes one at a tme and always in the same order - An indivudual may stop at any given stage, at any age
Role of society discussion - kohlberg
- as children mature they learn to see the world from the viewpoint of others At pre-con and con levels morals are culture bound but at pot-con they are based on universal principles - a person who understands justice more will act more justly (contradicts view that what people say and what they actually do are different)
Differences between kohlberg and lee
- longitudinal vs snaphot study - inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability - kohlberg focused on qualitative vs lee focused on quantitative - population validity
Results - kohlberg - experiment 1
- stages were reflected in answers given to dilemmas - progress through stqages with increased age - not all participants get to stage 6y - a child at an earlier stage of development moves forward when confronted with the views of a child one stage further along and they seem to prefer this next step
Trading up discussion - kohlberg
-Each stage requires more cognitive organisation -children understand the stages they have been through and even the next stage -children move stages when their own stage is challenged by views from the next stage along
Stages of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
1. Punishment orientation 2. Instrumental orientation 3. Good boy/good girl 4. Authority orientation 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles
Sample - Kohlberg - Experiment 1
75 American boys, starting ages: 10,13,16, Finsihing ages: 22-28, interviewed every 3-4 years, selected from ranges of socioeconomic and religious backgrounds
Social contract orientation - Kohlberg's theory
A legal ppoint of view, respect for democratic process of arriving at social rules
Iv - kohlberg
Age
Good girl/Good boy - kohlberg's theory
Behaving well to please others, behaviour judged by intention
Procedure - experiment 2 - kohlberg
Boys asked dilemmas through a chinese translater, dilemmas adjusted to more understandable concepts for the culture (e.g. stealing food rather than stealing medicine)
Procedure - experiment 1 - kohlberg
Boys assesed using moral judgement interview consisting of fictional moral dilemmas based on 25 moral concepts: - first assessed at 10-13 yrs and retested every 3-4 years - after given moral dilemma, open questions asked to explain reasons for their choices : the questions asked were aadjusted based on previous answers - 9 dilemmas, took 45 minutes
Internal validity - Kohlberg
Chinese interpreter may have posed questions differently, demand characteristics, social desiribility bias, repeated measures reduces individual differences
Universal ethical principles - kohlberg's theory
Desicions based on one's own conscience, respect for dignity of all humans
Population validity - kohlberg
Experiment 2 not ethnocentric, androcentric as only boys, range of socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, may be cultural differences in socities' view on morality, large sample reducing invidual differences
Instrumental orientation - Kohlberg's theory
Fairness is important as long as one's own needs are satisfied (I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine)
Ecological validity
Hypothetical though experiment cannot begeneralised to their real life actions, young children cannot relate to dilemmas (e.g Heinz), artificial dilemmas, However chinese participants had altered dilemmas so they were more culturally understandable
How does the study change our understanding of cultural diversity?
morality is deveoped over time across cultures
Design - kohlberg - experiment 1
Longitudinal study, semi-structured interview, quasi experiment, repeated measures
How is kohlberg related to the nature debate
Moral resoning progresses in the sae way in all cultures
How is kohlberg related to the individual debate
Moral thinking develops through the six stages in the same way
How is kohlberg deterministic
Moral thinking is determined mostly by innate processes that unfold over the course of development
Debates relating to kohlberg
Nature, individual, deterministic
Sample - kohlberg - Experiment 2
No data on number of participants, all male, starting ages: 10-13, participants from two villages in malaysia and taiwan, two isolated villages in Mexico and Turkey, and Uk and Canada
Ethics - kohlberg
No harm, consent, could drop out at any age, some situations could potentially cause distress