Kohlberg (Developmental)

Question 1

Kohlberg Background

Answer 1

It was motivated by Piaget’s theory of moral development, Kohlberg developed his own ideas and suggested that we have three levels of moral thinking. Pre-conventional, Conventional and Post-conventional

Question 2

Kohlberg Aim

Answer 2

The aim of the study was to see if there was evidence to support his theory of moral development

Question 3

Kohlberg Methods

Answer 3

Kohlberg conducted a longitudinal study over a period of 12 years and during this time in order to test moral reasoning he gave 75 young Americans males a series of moral dilemmas. The participants were aged 10-16 years old at the start of the study and were aged 22-28 by the end. Examples of the moral dilemmas for 10 year olds “is it better to save a life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people” and at ages 13, 16, 20 and 24 “Should the doctor ‘mercy kill’ a fatally ill women requesting death because of her pain?”

Question 4

Kohlberg Results

Answer 4

Participants progressed through the stages as they got older, some participants had not reached the final stage of moral development by the end of the study. Around 50% of each six stages a participants thinking was at a single stage. Stages were passed through stage by stage and the participants never went back to a previous stage. Kohlberg found that when children are confronted with views of a child one stage further along, they seemed to prefer this next stage and to move forward

Question 5

Kohlberg Conclusions

Answer 5

Findings from this study agree with Kohlberg’s 6 stage theory and moral development is invariant and individuals go through the stages one at a time and they are in a fixed order but some individuals may not reach the final stage.