Transcript Kohlberg

 Not
if you agreed or disagreed, but WHY!
 Reasoning behind our morality changes
throughout our lifetime
 Stage theorists (yes another one!)

Work stems from Piaget
 Morality:
psychological muscle for
controlling impulses and figuring out what
is right from wrong
 He
asked people of different ages to read the
famous Heinz Dilemma
 Asked
them what they would do and more
importantly why.
 (and
it has nothing to do with ketchup)
In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug
might save her, a form of radium that a pharmacist in the
same town had recently discovered. The pharmacist was
charging $2000, ten times what the drug had cost him to
make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone
he knew to borrow the money, but he could get together
only about half of what it should cost. He told the
pharmacist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it
cheaper or to let him pay later. But the pharmacist said
no. The husband got desperate and broke into the man's
store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband
have done that? Why?
 Youngest
children (although many of us use
this morality throughout our lifetimes)
 Morality
is linked to getting rewards &
trying to avoid punishment
 Right

to Steal
he will be rewarded with his wife's life, then
you are still using preconventional morality.
 Wrong

 It
to Steal
he could get punished you are using
preconventional morality.
is not about the decision, but rather
how you go about reasoning it.
Most
common moral stage for
teenagers
Morality is based on how you
think people will view you
Or following rules blindly, simply
because they are rules

Will his family/community see him as a hero or a
criminal?
 Either
way, you are using conventional morality.
 Based
on your self-defined morals, your
basic ethical principles
 Morality
of societal rules are examined
rather than blindly accepted.
 Preconventional

Obey rules to avoid punishment or to gain
concrete rewards
 Conventional


Uphold laws & social rules simply because they
are laws & rules
Concerned of how they will be viewed by others
 Postconventional

Follows one’s personal moral reasoning
(perceived as basic ethical principles)
 Carol
Gilligan
Research based on responses by boys
 Assumed males & females come to moral
conclusions in the same way

 Boys:
more absolute view, moral rules
that apply to every situation
 Girls: pay more attention to situational
factors (relationships of people etc)
Must
teach empathy for others’
feelings
Must teach self discipline of
one’s own impulses
Delay small gratification now to
enable bigger rewards later
(2:00)