Transcript Stress and the Immune System

KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Androcentric bias
Kohlberg tested boys and then created his
theory
He later tested girls and found they achieved a
lower stage of moral development, typically
stage 3 not stage 4
He concluded therefore that females are less
morally developed!
WHY IS THIS A BIASED VIEW?
Because, Gilligan argued, that women are
NOT less morally developed.
They only APPEAR to be because the tool
used (the moral judgement interview) is
biased towards males and does not
measure female moral thinking
Therefore it is invalid to apply to females
Therefore the tool created to measure moral
thinking is biased towards males, as is the
theory generated from this research
Kohlberg researched males and assumed that
he could generalise these findings (and his
theory) to females
This was flawed, and demonstrates beta bias,
and more specifically androcentric bias
Beta bias – to minimise gender differences
– assume there aren’t any so research
done on one sex can be generalised to the
other
Androcentric bias – male beta bias
Gilligan’s anti-Kohlberg approach
Gilligan (1977) argued that boys develop a
morality of justice, focusing on the use of laws
and moral principles.
In contrast, girls develop a morality of care, in
which their main focus is on human well-being
and compassion for others
i.e. different genders have different moral voices,
and that this is dependent on their different
socialisation
Therefore, Kohlberg’s theory is invalid since......
Consequently, Kohlberg’s theory needs to
recognise that emotions and empathy do
play a role in moral thinking (which he did
acknowledge in his later work).