The Moral Development Theory

1. The Moral Development Theory HSP3M

2. The Moral development theory • He was intrigued by the findings of Piaget, and from this inspiration he created three stages of moral development in his 1966 study. • Lawrence Kohlberg was the American psychologist who founded the moral development theory. • He did this through his disputation of Mead’s assumption that social development is the main source of development for the self.

3. Kohlberg’s beliefs • Our ability to judge the morality of actions evolves through stages as our brains develop. • Our development occurs in fairly predictable stages • We move through these stages as we deal with moral and ethical issues and as our brains and experience grows

4. The findings • Kohlberg theorized that the moral development occurs in 3 stages:

5. The preconventional stage • The preconventional stage occurs as a young child develops their moral reasoning • Actions are decided based on whether or not they are in the personal interest of the child • Rules are concrete and are not to be varied • Rules are obeyed by a child because the alternative could result in punishment • They are unaware of the logic behind the rules they are taught to obey

6. The conventional stage • The conventional stage is how we currently think in our teenage years • We begin to not think only about ourselves and understand the needs of others • We understand that our own ideas of right and wrong must be similar to those of our society • Our behaviour mostly conforms to society • We accept that rules may need to be broken in some cases in order to do what is really the right thing • We also understand they must generally be followed in order to have an orderly societyOur childish selfishness is still there but also a new understanding about the needs of society

7. The postconventional stage • Moving from the conventional stage, where we accept that there is a structure to society and, there are rules to be followed, we realize that we care about others and our selfish needs are gone. • At this stage we distinguish right and wrong from society's norms. • When we are recognized by society as adults, we begin to question whether we really accept society's norms as our own. Lawrence Kohlberg said that as our brains develop into this stage we begin to care about others past the point of right and wrong in the perspective of others. • What may be morally right to an adult in the post conventional stage, may be wrong to a teenager in the conventional stage as he might say that, according to society and its rules, that is wrong. • To Kohlberg, like Piaget suggests, these stages become obvious as we develop through them. Our way of thinking changes to fit what we find most important in our lives; and going through these stages, life gives us different scenarios where we question, what we once were so sure about.

8. Criticisms 1. Bias • All the subjects of his research were boys • Some claim he made a serious research error in generalizing the results of these male subjects to all humanity 2. Related Freud and Piaget Criticisms • Feminist social scientist are especially critical of Freud, pointing to his belief that what is male is “normal”. • Social scientists refute Piaget’s suggestions that all people progress through stages at the same rate.

9. Activity time!

10. Situation #1 Rosa borrowed her father’s car. She and her friend Judy were very late coming home that evening. They were further delayed at a stop light on a quiet street. After what seemed to be an unnecessarily long wait, Judy reminded Rosa that they were late. Rosa continued to wait, insisting that if everyone ignored stop lights when it was personally convenient to do so, no street would ever be safe.

11. Situation #1 At what stage was Rosa’s decision? Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

12. Situation #1 Conventional Rosa acknowledges the needs of the other drivers on the roads and she recognizes the reasoning behind such laws.

13. Situation #2 Bill was not prepared for a difficult chemistry exam, so he wrote some important formulas on a slip of paper which he put in his pocket before the test period. Just before the test began, the teacher informed the class that any students caught cheating would automatically fail the test. Even though Bill needed the information that he wrote, he didn’t use it because the teacher stood too close to his desk during the entire exam.

14. Situation #2 At which stage was Bill operating? Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

15. Situation #2 Bill’s decides not to cheat only because his teacher was standing too close to him, and if he were to cheat he would almost certainly get caught and be punished for his actions. Preconventional

16. Situation #3 Early in the school year, La Mar who played on the first string of the basketball team, asked Janet for a date. Janet was not attracted to La Mar and politely declined. A few weeks later Janet tried out for cheerleading and made it. Several of the other cheerleaders were dating boys on the team. When La Mar asked Janet to go with him to a party the team was having after an important game, she accepted.

17. Situation #3 Which stage was Janet’s decision made at? Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

18. Situation #3 Janet accepted La Mar’s second offer because most of the other cheerleaders were dating basketball players. As a cheerleader, this seemed to be normal. Therefore, Janet believed that dating La Mar would correspond with what was considered to be right and normal for a cheerleader. Conventional

19. Situation #4 Kevin asked his older sister, Joyce, if he could borrow her car so that he and his friend could go to the beach for the afternoon. Joyce reminded her brother that she never wanted him to drive her car. She suggested, however, that if it was alright with him, they could all go together. Soon after they got to the beach, Kevin’s friend got ill. Kevin asked Joyce if she could drive his friend home. Joyce refused saying that she had just come all that way and she was not going to turn around and go right back. Kevin tried unsuccessfully to find another way to get his friend home. Finally, while Joyce was swimming, Kevin wrote her a note telling her that he would be back soon, took her car keys, and drove his friend back home.

20. Situation #4 Which stage was Kevin’s decision made? Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

21. Situation #4 Kevin questions whether Joyce’s decision to not take Kevin’s friend home is right or wrong. Kevin realizes his sister does not want him to drive her car, but decides that the well-being of his friend is more important that Joyce’s decision. Postconventional

22. Situation #5 As Carl’s father was leaving for work in the morning, he asked Carl to clean out the garage sometime during the day. Carl responded, saying that he already had plans to play tennis that day. Around noon, Carl and two of his friends made plans that required Carl to borrow his father’s car that evening. Carl decided to skip playing tennis and clean the garage.

23. Situation #5 Which stage was Carl’s decision made at? Preconventional Conventional Postconventional

24. Situation #5 Carl initially decided that cleaning the garage, as his father asked, would not correspond with his plans. When his plans changed, he made time to clean the garage for his father, knowing that if he did not, he would face the consequences and would most likely not be able to use his father’s car.