By Jessica Jancose and Ketan Jain-Poster

HOW MORAL ARE YOU?

Morals: attitudes and beliefs that help people decide what is right and wrong

Influenced by culture, parental influences and peer influences

Humans are born without morals

BACKGROUND

Lawrence Kohlberg built off of Jean Piaget’s workQuestion: “How does the amoral infant become

capable of moral reasoning?”Hypothesis: Human ability to make moral judgments

develops in a predictable way – specific stages

HYPOTHESIS

1) Each stage is uniquely different2) Stages always occur in same step-by-step

sequence3) Children comprehend all stages below their own

THEORETICAL PROPOSITIONS

Interviewed young boys of varying ages (10,13,16) 10 hypothetical moral dilemmas The Heinz Dilemma The Brother’s Dilemma

METHOD

10 year old boys’ responses focused on what was best for the individual

13 year old boys’ responses focused on considering relationship roles

16 year old boys’ responses focused on individual needs vs. society

WHAT THE BOYS SAID….

Discovered six stages of moral development, six types of motives to explain reasoning

Categorized into 3 “moral levels”: Premoral Level- Egocentrism and personal interests Level 2- Recognition of one’s role in relationship Level 3- Own views on morality and judgment

RESULTS

Level 1 – Premoral Level

Stage One Punishment and obedience orientation

Stage Two Satisfaction of one’s own needs defines what is good

Level 2 –Conventional Role-ConformityStage Three What pleases others is goodStage Four Maintaining law and orderLevel 3 – Self-Accepted Morals

Stage Five Society values and individual rights determine right and wrong

Stage Six Individual philosophy which is shaped by universal principles.

SIX STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Children actively organize the morality of the world around them in steps

Morality – emergence of cognitive moral structures influenced by social and cultural environment

Morality is not learned, it is constructed

DISCUSSION

Moral reasoning = not the same as moral behavior Study didn’t address situational factors

Six stages of moral reasoning are not universal Western individualistic societies

Stages do not apply equally to both men and women Women – care orientation

CRITICISMS

Law and criminal justice Criminals understand moral issues but ignore them

Child eye-witness testimonies Their understanding of secrecy

APPLICATIONS