Transcript Level 1 - Personal Pages

Developmental Psychology
Cognitive & Moral Development
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
• Higher cognitive abilities allows for
“deeper moral processing”
Moral Dilemma
• Two morals or two “rights” pitted against
one another
– Interested in reasoning, not behavior
Moral Dilemma: What do you think?
In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind
of cancer. There was one drug that the doctor’s thought
might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in
the same town had recently discovered. The drug was
expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten
times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for
the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the
drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz went to
everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could
only get together $1,000 which is 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.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into
the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.
Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
Level 1: Preconventional Morality
Stage 1:
Punishment &
Obedience
Orientation
Stage 2:
Instrumental
Hedonism
Orientation
The child decides what is wrong on the
basis of what is punished. Obedience
is valued for its own sake, but the child
obeys because the adults have superior
power.
The child follows rules when it is her
immediate interest. What is good is
what brings pleasant results.
Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
Level 2: Conventional Morality
Stage 3:
Moral actions are those that live up to the
Good Boy/Good Girl expectation of the family or other
significant group. “Being good” becomes
Orientation
important for its own sake.
Stage 4:
Law and Order
Orientation
Moral actions are those so defined by larger
social groups or the society as a whole.
One should fulfill duties one has agreed to
and uphold laws except in extreme cases.
Kohlberg’s Stages of
Moral Development
Level 3: Postconventional Morality
Stage 5:
Social Contract
Orientation
Acting to achieve the “greatest good for the
greatest number.” The teenager or adult is
aware that most values are relative and laws
are changeable, although rules should be
upheld to preserve social order.
Stage 6:
Principled Conscious
Orientation
The adult develops and follows self-chosen
ethical principles in determining what is
right. These ethical principles are part of an
articulated integrated, carefully thought-out
and consistently followed system of values
and principles.
Developmental Course
• Childhood: Level 1
• Adolescents : Level 2
• Adult: Level 2 (Level 3?!)
Write an answer for stage_____
There was a woman who had very bad cancer , and
there was no treatment known to medicine that
would save her. Her doctor, Dr. Jefferson, knew that
she had only about 6 months to live. She was in
terrible pain, but she was so weak that a good dose
of a pain killer like ether or morphine would make
her die sooner. She was delirious and almost crazy
with pain, and in her calm periods she would ask Dr.
Jefferson to give her enough ether to kill her. She
said she couldn’t stand the pain and she was going
to die in a few months anyway. Although he knows
that mercy killing is against the law, the doctor thinks
about granting her request.
Evaluating Kohlberg
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Morality is cognitive?
Bias (Culture & Gender-Carol Gilligan)
Overlap in people’s stages
Attitude vs. Action