Core Studies - Kohlberg (Moral Development)

Question 1

What is the key theme of the study

Answer 1

Moral development

Question 2

What was the background of the study?

Answer 2

Freuds ideas of
Superego - ego - ID

Question 3

What was the aim of the study

Answer 3

To investigate how young boys move through the stages of Moral development over time (12 years)

Question 4

What was the method

What type of study was it

Answer 4

A semi structured interview which lasted around 45 minutes each time

Longitudinal

Question 5

What was the sample (2)

Answer 5

75 American boys aged 10 - 16 followed at 3 year intervals until they were aged 22 - 28

Boys from 5 other countries

Question 6

What were the other 5 countries that were included in the study

Answer 6

Great Britain
Turkey
Taiwan
Canada
Mexico

Question 7

Describe the procedure of the study for the boys in America

Answer 7

The participants were given 9 moral dilemmas in the form of short stories to solve every 3 years

They were asked open questions about the dilemmas

More questions asked based on their answers

The stories were used to determine each participants stage of moral reasoning
Stories were more complex based on the age

It lasted about 45 minutes

Question 8

Describe the procedure for the boys in other countries

Answer 8

The boys in Taiwan and and Malaysia were asked about a dilemma involving the theft of food

Other boys tested similarly

Question 9

What were the 3 levels of moral development

Answer 9

Pre conventional
Conventional
Post conventional

Question 10

What was stage 1 and 2 in the pre conventional stage

Answer 10

Stage 1 - punishment obedience orientation

Stage 2 - instrumental relativist orientation

Question 11

What was stage 3 and 4 in the conventional stage

Answer 11

Stage 3 - good boy good girl orientation

Stage 4 - law and order orientation

Question 12

What was stage 5 and 6 in the post conventional stage

Answer 12

Stage 5 - social contract orientation

Stage 6 - universal principles orientation

Question 13

Define punishment and obedience orientation
What stage is it

Answer 13

Rules are kept to avoid punishment
Stage 1

Question 14

Define instrumental relativist orientation
What stage is it

Answer 14

Right behaviour is that which ultimately brings rewards to oneself

Stage 2

Question 15

Define good boy-good girl orientation
What stage is it

Answer 15

Good behaviour is what pleases others- conformity to goodness

Stage 3

Question 16

Define law and order orientation
What stage is it

Answer 16

Doing ones duty, obeying laws is important
Stage 4

Question 17

Define social contract orientation
What stage is it

Answer 17

Right is what is democratically agreed upon on
Stage 5

Question 18

Define universal principles orientation
What stage is it

Answer 18

Moral action is taken based upon self chosen principles

Stage 6

Question 19

What are 4 key results from the study

Answer 19

Not all participants would reach stage 6 and once a participant reached a particular stage they’d either stay in it or progress

All participants moved upwards one stage at a time and always in the same order

A child who’s in an earlier stage moves forward quicker when confronted with the views of another child in a stage further which supports social learning theory by bandura

You can’t move back a stage

Question 20

What were the results cross culturally

Answer 20

At age 16 stage 5 thinking was more prevalent in US than either Mexico or Taiwan

Villages in yucatan and Turkey showed that moral thought progressed steadily but there was still some ore conventional thought

Question 21

What are 3 conclusions from the study

Answer 21

There is an invariant developmental sequence in an individuals moral development

Each stage of moral development comes one at a time and always in the same order

An individual can stop at any given stage at any age

Question 22

Evaluate the research method

Answer 22

Semi structured interview means that they can ask standardised questions but also ask mo questions which can provide more detailed information on what stage or moral development participants are in

Hard to sort through data

Question 23

Evaluate the validity of the study

Answer 23

High internal validity as study tested what it was supposed to

Low internal and ecological validity because what is moral or not can be subjective and the dilemmas were hypothetical so the kids may not relate to it ie having a wife in heinz dilemma what they deemed as right or wrong might be different if they were in actual situation

Question 24

Evaluate reliability

Answer 24

Used a complex system to turn tye qualitative data into quantitative data which is good inter rater reliability and test retest reliability

Question 25

Evaluate any sample bias

Answer 25

The study was androcentric as all the participants were makes tye dilemmas were written by males and morality also decided by makes so it can’t be generalised to other genders who may have progressed differently

Question 26

Evaluate the types of data

Answer 26

Qualitative data which provided insight into boys reasonings for their answers

Question 27

Evaluate any ethical considerations

Answer 27

Informed consent and no deception

They had the right to withdraw

Question 28

Evaluate ethnocentrism

Answer 28

Not ethnocentric since he looked at other cultures and adapted the moral dilemmas to make more sense to them