Kohlberg

’s Theory Essay, Research Paper

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG S THE PHILOSOPHY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Born: 1927 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Raised in Bronxville, New York)

Died: January 19, 1987 he committed suicide by drowning himself in The Boston Harbor.

Family Life: Born to a wealthy family. Married & divorced — Had two sons.

Education: Attended Phillips Academy, then The University of Chicago (Because he scored so high on his admissions test, he quizzed out of many courses and received his bachelors degree in one year). He also attended graduate school at The University of Chicago.

Work Experience: 1968 Harvard Graduate School of Education

1970 Taught course on moral and political choice

1974 Worked with Cambridge, MA schools helping

to form just schools

Worked and taught at The University of Chicago and

Harvard University off and on from 1968-1987

Worked Closely with Carol Gilligan throughout

professional career

Worked most of his life toward the liberation of Jews Publications: 1958 – Kohlberg s doctoral dissertation

Kohlberg believes that adolescence is a particularly rich time for moral development. He presented stories containing moral dilemmas to children, adolescents, and adults and asked them how these dilemmas should be resolved. Kohlberg proposed that people advance through three levels of moral thought, which are further divided into six stages.

First, there is a preconventional level, in which moral dilemmas are resolved in ways that satisfy self-serving motives so an act is moral if it enables a person to avoid punishment or obtain reward.

Second is a conventional level, in which moral dilemmas are resolved in ways that reflect the laws of the land or norms set by parents and other sources of authority. Thus, an act is moral if it meets with social approval or maintains the social order.

Third there is a postconventional level of moral thought, one based on abstract principles such as equality, justice, and the value of life. At this level, an act is moral if it affirms one s conscience even if it violates the law.

Kohlberg has found that as children and adolescents mature, they climb his moral ladder in the predicted order, without skipping steps. Page 411 in your Psychology book shows a graph that illustrates this ladder.

For the most part, Kohlberg s theory remains quite relevant in today s society. Psychologists like John Snarey, Carol Gilligan, and Dennis Krebs have all criticized the theory of moral development. There are three main arguments against Kohlberg. The first, is that his model is culturally biased. Snarey found that only well-educated middle-class adults from complex urban societies consistently exhibited postconventional forms of morality. A second criticism is that the model is gender biased. In the beginning, Kohlberg tested only males, and used the male gender as his moral yardstick. Women are proven to be more compassionate for others. The final criticism is that morality consists of more than just an ability to think about hypothetical dilemmas in a manner that is cognitively sophisticated. Some psychologists bring up the question: Are postconventional thinkers kinder, more caring, or more virtuous in their daily affairs than those who are lower on the cognitive ladder?

Nancy Eisenberg has expanded on Kohlberg s theory, but believes that to predict changes in moral behavior it is better to examine how children and adolescents reason specifically about presocial, helpful actions. Eisenberg presents situations in which the conflict is between one s own desires and the needs of another person.

Kohlberg s theory has had a monumental effect on the psychology profession. It has brought several moral issues to the forefront of psychological study. Moral issues like assisted suicide, antiwar activity, and spousal abuse have all been tested by Kohlberg s ideas.

References: Kassin, Saul. Psychology Second Edition. Prentice Hall. 1998.

Walsh, Catherine. The Life and Legacy of Lawrence Kohlberg . Transaction Publishers. 2000.

Background

Born: 1927 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Raised in Bronxville, New York)

Died: January 19, 1987 he committed suicide by drowning himself in The Boston Harbor.

Family Life: Born to a wealthy family. He was married then divorced and had 2 sons.

Education: Attended Phillips Academy, then The University of Chicago and because he scored so high on his admissions test, he quizzed out of many courses and received his bachelors degree in one year. He also attended graduate school at The University of Chicago.

Work Experience: 1968- He worked at theHarvard Graduate School of Education

1970 HeTaught course on moral and political choice

1974 Kohlberg Worked with Cambridge, MA schools helping to form just schools

He worked and taught at The University of Chicago and

Harvard University off and on from 1968-1987

He Worked Closely with Carol Gilligan throughout

professional career

Kohlberg, a Jew himself worked most of his life toward the liberation of Jews

Publications: In 1958 Kohlberg wrote doctoral dissertation which contained his theory of moral development

Kohlberg believed that adolescence is a particularly rich time for moral development. He presented stories containing moral dilemmas to children, adolescents, and adults and asked them how these dilemmas should be resolved. Kohlberg proposed that people advance through three levels of moral thought, which are further divided into six stages.

First, there is a preconventional level, in which moral dilemmas are resolved in ways that satisfy self-serving motives so an act is moral if it enables a person to avoid punishment or obtain reward.

I am going to read you a scenario, and I want you all to think about what your reaction would be.

In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2,000 10 times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, No. The husband got desperate and broke into the man s store to steal the drug for his wife (Kohlberg, 1969).

Kohlberg used 3 levels of development in his theory. Here are the levals of moral development, that are divided into stages, that show both sides of Heinz s action.

In favor of Heinz Against Heinz s

Levels Stages Stealing the drug stealing the drug

1.Preconventional Stage 1

Punishment and obedience orientation:

Motivation to avoid punishment If you let your wife die, you will get in trouble. You shouldn t steal the drug because you ll be caught and sent to jail if you do.

Stage 2

Instrumental relativist orientation:

Motivation to obtain rewards It wouldn t bother you much to serve a little jail term, if you have your wife when you get out. He may not get much of jail term if he steals the drug, but his wife will probably die before he gets out, so it won t do him much good.

2.Conventional Stage 3

Good boy nice girl orientation:

Motivation to gain approval and to avoid disapproval No one will think you re bad if you steal the drug, but your family will think you re an inhuman husband if you don t. It isn t just the druggist who will think you re a criminal; everyone else will too.

Stage 4

Society-maintaining orientation:

Motivation to fulfill one s duty and to avoid feelings of guilt If you have any sense of honor, you won t let your wife die because you re afraid to do the only thing that will save her. You ll always feel guilty for your dishonesty and law-breaking.

3.Postconventional Stage 5

Social contract orientation:

Motivation to follow rational, mutually agreed-upon principles and maintain the respect of others If you let your wife die, it would be out of fear, not out reasoning it out. You would lose our standing and respect in the community and break the law.

Stage 6

Universal ethical principal orientation:

Motivation to uphold one s own ethical principles and avoid self-condemnation If you don t steal the drug, you would have lived up to the outside rule of the law but you wouldn t have lived up to your own standards of conscience. If you stole the drug, you d condemn yourself because you wouldn t have lived up to your own conscience and standards of honesty.

Source: Adapted from L. Kohlberg (1969). Chicago: Rand McNally.

For the most part, Kohlbers s theory remains quite relevant in today s society. Psychologists like John Snarey, Carol Gilligan, and Dennis Krebs have all criticized the theory of moral development. There are three main arguments against Kohlberg. The first, is that his model is culturally biased. Snarey found that only well-educated middle-class adults from complex urban societies consistently exhibited postconventional forms of morality. A second criticism is that the model is gender biased. In the beginning, Kohlberg tested only males, and used the male gender as his moral yardstick. Women are proven to be more compassionate for others. The final criticism is that morality consists of more than just an ability to think about hypothetical dilemmas in a manner that is cognitively sophisticated. Some psychologists bring up the question: Are postconventional thinkers kinder, more caring, or more virtuous in their daily affairs than those who are lower on the cognitive ladder?

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