Developmental-Kohlberg

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  • Created by: tspence
  • Created on: 13-06-17 11:21
What was the background behind Kohlberg's study into the stages of moral development?
Kohlberg stated that morals develop in stages throughout life. He disagreed with Behavourism (behaviour is learnt).
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Who was Kohlberg inspired by?
Piaget, a swiss psychologist who proposed a theory of intellectual development which children think and reason differently at different stages. He applied his theory to moral development, saying that childrens' moral reasoning develops through chil
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What was the aim of the study?
To investigate development in moral reasoning throughout adolescence and early adulthood. A secondary aim was to assess the extent to which these changes hold true in a range of cultural contexts.
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Who were the participants?
75 American boys. At the start they were aged between 10 and 16 at the end they were 22-28 years
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What was the design?
Longitudinal. Ps were followed from early adolescence for 12 years until early adulthood. Every 3 years each ps was interviewed individually, where they were presented with a moral dilemma.
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What were the dilemmas?
They were all philosophical in nature and some were taken from medieval ethics literature. Between them the dilemmas were aimed to measure 25 moral themes e.g. value of human life.
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What were the ps asked about the dilemma?
Once they had understood the dilemma the ps were asked what the character should do. Questions also included 'is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people?'
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Who else were presented with dilemmas?
The same dilemmas were presented to young people in Taiwan and Mexico. There was no longitudinal follow ups of these ps. The design ws cross sectional.
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Results- What did Kohlberg propose?
Based on the ps response to the moral dilemmas at different ages Kohlberg proposed that moral development went through a series of three levels and six stages?
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Results- what is level 1 and what are the stages within it?
Preconventional Level- Stage 1 Orientation towards punishment and deference to power (consequences) Stage 2- Orientation towards self interest (what suits ones own needs, 'you scratch my back i'll scratch yours'.
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Results- What is Level 2 and what are the stages within it?
Conventional Level- Stage 3- Good- boy-good girl orientation (good behaviour is what pleases others and gains approval)Stage4- orienatation towards authority (right consists of showing respect to authority).
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Results- What is Level 3 and what are the stages within it?
Post Conventional- Stage 5- Social contract orientation (Right is what has been agreed upon by society, room for personal opinion. Stage 6- Orienation towards conscience and ethical principles (know the rules but would break for the greater good)
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Results- How was a ps put into a stage?
when 50% of their responses to dilemmas fell neatly into a stage.
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What was Kohlberg uncertain about?
As to whether people generally went through stage 5 to get to stage 6, or whether stages 5 and 6 represented alternative mature orientations.
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Results- was there a link with ages?
No, Kohlberg did not link stages to particular ages. He illustrated how two people of the same age could have different moral maturity.
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Conclusions 1/2
1. Children, adolescents and young adults go through a series of stages in which their moral reasoning develops, from pre conventional based on self interests, to post conventional based on a persons conscience.
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Conclusions 2/2
Although there are variations in the rate of development, people growing up in a range of cultural contexts go through the same stages.
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Who was Kohlberg inspired by?

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Piaget, a swiss psychologist who proposed a theory of intellectual development which children think and reason differently at different stages. He applied his theory to moral development, saying that childrens' moral reasoning develops through chil

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What was the aim of the study?

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Who were the participants?

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