Transcript Cognitive Development

Unit 3
Morals

motivation based on ideas of right and
wrong

define personal character
Ethics

the rules or standards governing the
conduct of a person or the members of a
profession

a social system where morals are
applied
Values

beliefs of a person or social group in
which they have an emotional
investment (either for or against
something)

the rules by which we make decisions
about right and wrong, should and
shouldn’t, good and bad
Example

A defense lawyer may…
 value justice
 believe murder is immoral

Yet ethics demand…
 the accused be given a fair trial and
defended strongly
Lawrence Kohlberg

Moral judgments
build on cognitive
development

Sought to describe
the development of
moral reasoning:
 the thinking that
occurs when we
consider right and
wrong
Kohlberg’s Dilemma
In Europe, a woman was near death from a very
bad disease, a special kind of cancer. There was
one drug that the doctors thought might save her.
It was a form of radiation that a druggist in the
same town had recently discovered. The drug
was expensive to make, but the druggist was
charging 10 times what the drug cost him to make.
He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2000
for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s
husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to
borrow money, but he could get together only
about $1000, which was 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, I discovered the drug and I’m
going to make money from it.” Heinz got
desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal
the drug for his wife.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development
Preconventional
Morality
Before 9 yrs
Morality focuses on self-interest
1. Act to avoid punishment
2. Act to gain reward
Conventional
Morality
By early
adolescence
Morality focuses on upholding laws &
social rules
3. Act to gain social approval/avoid social disapproval
4. Act to maintain social law and order
Postconventional
Morality
Adulthood
Actions are judged “right” because
they flow from people’s rights or selfdefined ethical principles
5. Act to meet the greatest good
6. Act because it is right, not because it is instrumental,
expected, legal, or previously agreed upon