Kohlberg's Moral Stages Research Articles

Out of sight out of mind: Psychological distance and opinion about the age of penal majority.

The growth of urban violence in Brazil, as in other countries, has led citizens to demand more severe and punitive measures to solve the problem of juvenile crime. One motion submitted to the Brazilian parliament, for instance, proposes to reduce the age of penal majority (APM) from 18 to 16 years. Our hypothesis is that popular opinions about this proposal are largely constrained by construal levels and psychological distance. Accordingly, we expect that the knowledge and proximity to the circumstances associated with juvenile transgression will influence opinions about the proposal. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated how opinion against or for the proposal can be explained by psychological distance and moral development theory. We studied two samples, composed of people who do not have a deep experience with the subject (passersby in a public square (N = 77) and workers from a juvenile justice court (N = 157). After collecting socio-demographic information from the subjects and their answer to moral dilemmas, the data was subjected to a multivariate analysis by multimodal logistic regression for socio-demographic characteristics, Kohlberg moral stages, and opinion on the reduction of APM (agree, indifferent, and disagree) as dependent variables. Our findings suggest that 1) opinion about the APM depends on psychological distance and 2) socioeconomic variables may influence the average construal level of adolescent transgressors in the public’s perspective.

A mechanism for gratitude development in a child

Most scholars consider gratitude as a moral emotion, with only few seeing it as a character trait. As a result, no systematic mechanism has ever been attempted to develop gratitude in children. Given the social issue of widespread lack of gratitude in the one-child generations of China, this article attempts to outline a mechanism of parental moral education for gratitude development. The mechanism is underpinned by love, induction and discipline; and theoretically justified in accordance with key psychological and sociological theories, such as Piaget's theory of moral development, Kohlberg's moral stages theory, attachment theory, Hoffman's internalisation theory, Rest's social justice theory and Baumrind's parenting styles theory. The benefits and potential risks of each strategy of the mechanism are addressed.

A Stage Is a Stage Is a Stage: A Direct Comparison of Two Scoring Systems

L. Kohlberg (1969) argued that his moral stages captured a developmental sequence specific to the moral domain. To explore that contention, the author compared stage assignments obtained with the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby & L. Kohlberg, 1987a, 1987b) and those obtained with a generalized content-independent stage-scoring system called the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (T. L. Dawson, 2002a), on 637 moral judgment interviews (participants' ages ranged from 5 to 86 years). The correlation between stage scores produced with the 2 systems was .88. Although standard issue scoring and hierarchical complexity scoring often awarded different scores up to Kohlberg's Moral Stage 2/3, from his Moral Stage 3 onward, scores awarded with the two systems predominantly agreed. The author explores the implications for developmental research.

The DIT and the 'Dark Side' of Development

Effective moral education must address roadblocks in moral thinking, not merely urging moral development forward. Seen in a certain way, Kohlberg's moral stages plot a course of immoral judgement, marked by bias and manipulation, not a steady march toward justice. The Defining Issues Test bodes an even more useful glimpse into the nefarious, focused on ideological content and commitment. These may prove the greatest obstacles to moral growth and accord. We consider these prospects along with the promise of converting alleged DIT deficits into assets.

Ethical dilemmas of relationship building in china

AbstractWe analyze and discuss some ethical dilemmas of doing business on the Chinese Mainland, referring to detailed accounts of the gift‐giving and contract‐getting experiences of two overseas Chinese managers in dealings with Mainland Chinese managers in the sporting and leisure industries. We compare these cases with accounts of transactions in worldwide ship repair, and with a newspaper report of a sport‐related case in Hong Kong. Using a version of Kohlberg's moral‐stages model, and identifying key differences between guanxi and rational‐legal ethics, we explain how guanxi can become entangled with corruption in China. We link our explanations to the absence of rational‐legal moral governance, and to the sociological phenomena of anomie and relative deprivation. We conclude with suggestions about the conduct of China business. � 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The relationship between moral decision making and patterns of consolidation and transition in moral judgment development.

Following models that describe intraindividual correlates of stage transitions (S. S. Snyder & D. H. Feldman, 1984), this study assessed the relation between a measure of consolidation and transition in moral judgment development and the utility of moral concepts in sociomoral decision making. The study extends previous research in suggesting that individuals use moral concepts differently as they cycle through periods of consolidation and transition. With multiple cross-sectional and longitudinal samples, findings indicate that participants' reliance on a Kohlbergian moral framework as measured by the Defining Issues Test is highest during periods of consolidation and lowest during transitions. As participants move into periods of consolidation, the utility of moral stage information increases. Thus, this study indicates that the consolidation and transition model can be used to help identify individuals who are more or less likely to use Kohlberg's moral stages in their moral decision making.

Moral dilemmas, moral reasoning, and genital herpes

The moral reasoning of 30 persons with genital herpes and 29 persons with no sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) was examined. Participants with herpes were recruited by advertising in the community, whereas participants in the non‐herpes group were recruited from an introductory psychology class at a local junior college and from a pool of community members who volunteered to participate in paid psychological experiments. Moral reasoning was examined by assessing reactions to dilemmas about STDs and Kohlbergian moral dilemmas. The participants' Kohlbergian level of moral reasoning was assessed using the Kohlberg moral stage model. The moral orientation of the participants was assessed using Gilligan's moral orientation model, which distinguishes between justice and care reasoning. Based on Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories, the hypotheses of the study were that participants would respond with the same moral reasoning level and the same moral orientation across all dilemmas, persons with genital herpes would reason at the same level of moral reasoning as those who have not experienced genital herpes, and women would score lower in moral stage and would use a moral orientation of care to a greater extent than men. Results indicate that, in general, people reasoned at a consistent moral stage across all dilemmas. Also, participants were more likely to use a care orientation in the STD dilemmas than in the Kohlbergian dilemmas. Persons with genital herpes had higher moral reasoning scores on the STD dilemmas than did persons without any STDs and were more likely to use a care orientation in their responses to these dilemmas. No gender differences were found.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION: A REVIEW OF KOHLBERG'S AND GILLIGAN'S MODELS OF JUSTICE AND CARE

Issues of moral development and moral action have been explored by psychologists by both empirical and nonempirical methods. Lawrence Kohlberg's moral stages have been of particular interest and scrutiny since his longitudinal study of boys was first published in 1969. Harvard's Carol Gilligan contests Kohlberg's findings in her 1982 book In A Different Voice, as well as other publications, claiming that girls' morality developed differently from boys' and that Kohlberg's stages were not universal as he asserted. The debate over gender differences in moral development has focused primarily on these two theories. Numerous studies and articles have been published deliberating about both Kohlberg's and Gilligan's theories with most concluding there is no significant difference in the way the sexes make moral decisions. This article reviews the current literature of both theories, providing a context in which to view morality, and offers suggestions for future research.

Values affecting the criminal justice functionaries decision‐making

In sanctioning the criminal, there is little factual information about what factors affect the criminal justice functionaries’ different penal decisions. A theory with which the study started was that the criminal justice functionaries’ penal‐decisions were a function of their value‐orientations. Value‐orientations in this study were conceptualized to mean criminal justice functionaries’ moral judgment according to Kohlberg's moral stage theory and professionalism and bureaucratism defined by H. Wilensky. Therefore, the major thrust of this study was to ascertain whether significant relationships exist between criminal justice functionaries’ different penal‐decisions and their value‐orientations. The results of the data analyses indicated that a statistically significant association existed between the level of moral judgment and the criminal justice functionaries’ penal‐decisions at the .001 level. It was also found that in sanctioning the criminal, the functionaries’ penal‐orientations were not influenced by their identifications with professionalism and bureaucratism. Occupation variables were also shown to have a high statistical association in explaining the variance of functionaries’ penal‐orientation at the .05 level. The study findings indicated that the criminal justice functionaries’ value‐orientation (the level of moral judgment, professionalism, and bureaucratism) did not seem to be significant individually. However, when combined in a regression model that included demographic characteristics, the model accounted for 45 percent of variance in explaining the criminal justice functionaries’ penal‐orientation.

Moral reasoning about sexually transmitted diseases.

The purpose of this research was to investigate moral reasoning related to sexual behavior that could lead to the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Using hypothetical dilemmas about situations in which STDs can be transmitted, respondents were asked to explain why they believed the characters should or should not engage in risky behaviors. 40 college freshmen (M = 18.3 years) and 32 college seniors (M = 22.3 years) participated. Using Kohlberg's moral stage theory and Gilligan's moral orientation model, the interviews were scored for moral stage and moral orientation. Results indicated that the older age group had a significantly higher stage of moral reasoning than the younger age group when responding to dilemmas about STDs. There was a significant difference in moral stage between dilemmas, reflecting the possible effect of dilemma content on moral reasoning. The overall pattern of results shows nonsignificant gender differences in stage of moral reasoning and moral orientation. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings for understanding the role of moral reasoning in sexual risky behavior are discussed.

Four pathways in the analysis of adult development and aging: Comparing analyses of reasoning about personal-life dilemmas.

Four systems for analyzing thinking about 2 personal-life dilemmas, as discussed by 29 men and 35 women (ages 35-85), were compared. Kohlberg's (1976) moral judgment stages, Kegan's (1982) ego-development stages, Gilligan's (1982) moral orientation system, and Suedfeld and Tetlock's (1977) integrative complexity scoring were used. Subjects completed Kohlberg's (Colby & Kohlberg, 1987) standard moral judgment measure, a self-concept description, and several questionnaires. The Kohlberg, Kegan, and integrative complexity codings of the dilemmas were positively related to each other and to the standard Kohlberg moral stage scores. There were no age-group differences and few gender differences on the measures. However, education, role-taking skills, and greater sensitivity to age changes in the self positively predicted higher stage scores across maturity.

A longitudinal study of moral reasoning.

Several issues concerning Gilligan's model of moral orientations and Kohlberg's models of moral stages and moral orientations were examined in a longitudinal study with 233 subjects (from 78 families) who ranged in age from 5 to 63 years. They participated in 2 identical interviews separated by a 2-year interval. In each interview, they discussed hypothetical dilemmas and a personally generated real-life dilemma, which were scored for both moral stage and moral orientation (both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's typologies). Results revealed few violations of the stage sequence over the longitudinal interval, supporting Kohlberg's moral stage model. Sex differences were almost completely absent for both Gilligan's and Kohlberg's moral orientations, although there were clear developmental trends. Hypothetical and real-life dilemmas elicited different moral orientations, especially in terms of Kohlberg's typology. The interrelations between the 2 models of moral orientations were generally weak, indicating that they are not synonymous.

Moral Stages and Moral Orientations in Real-Life and Hypothetical Dilemmas

WALKER, LAWRENCE J.; DE VRIES, BRIAN; and TREVETHAN, SHELLEY D. Moral Stages and Moral Orientations in Real-Life and Hypothetical Dilemmas. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1987, 58, 842-858. We examined 2 influential theories of moral reasoning: Kohlberg's moral stage model and Gilligan's moral orientation model. 3 issues were of particular interest: (a) the relation between reasoning about hypothetical and real-life dilemmas, (b) the validity of Gilligan's notion of sex-related moral orientations (response vs. rights), and (c) the relation of moral orientation to moral stage. Participants were 80 family triads (mother, father, and child, total N = 240), with children drawn from grades 1, 4, 7, and 10. In individual interviews, they discussed hypothetical dilemmas and a personally generated real-life dilemma, which were scored for both moral stage and moral orientation. Content analyses were also conducted for the real-life dilemmas. Results indicated consistency in moral stage between responses to hypothetical and real-life dilemmas, supporting the notion that stages are holistic structures. However, few individuals showed consistent use of a single moral orientation. The evidence regarding the relation between sex and orientation was inconsistent. Among other results, sex differences were evident in dilemma content but were not evident in orientations when dilemma content was controlled. The sexes did not differ in stage of moral development; however, there were moral stage differences as a function of moral orientation.

Assessment of Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development in Two Cultures

Abstract This study examines possible relationships between moral judgements of 40 subjects from two cultures. The cognitive developmental theory of moral development proposed by Kohlberg was used both as a theoretical framework and as a basis for measuring moral reasoning. The population sample consisted of 40 students, male and female, between the ages of 14 and 15, 20 from Algeria and 20 from the United Kingdom. Each subject in the study was individually interviewed on two of Kohlberg's moral dilemmas. The interviews were tape‐recorded, transcribed and then coded for moral maturity scores (MMS) and moral stages of the subjects. The results showed significant differences in the mean scores of moral maturity between the two groups. Important differences were also found between the two groups in the level of the content of the subjects’ responses. The data support the prediction that the cultural and religious values had an impact on Kohlberg's moral stages.

Kohlberg's moral stages as a critical tool

Lawrence Kohlberg's pioneering research into moral development has resulted in a theory of moral development based upon six stages. This essay introduces the reader to Kohlberg's moral stages theory, and offers a suggestion for the application of that theory to rhetorical criticism.

Evolution of a moral-developmental theory

An evolutionary view of Kohlberg's moral stage definitions and scoring systems, with an exploration of structural and functional distinctions.