1. Kohlberg’s Moral Development

2. Kohlberg’s Theory How do we develop a sense of right and wrong?
Tied to Piaget and cognitive development
We use REASON to decide our morality, and as we change, so does our reasoning.

3. Big IDEAS
Morals are based off what a person believes is right or wrong in a given situation.
Right and wrong for human’s changes over the course of a life time.
Essential questions:
How do we develop across the life span?
Explain and apply Kohlberg’s theory of moral development from prenatal development to death.

4. Who is Lawrence Kohlberg?
Lawrence Kohlberg – in the 1970’s proposed most influential theory of moral development
Case study approach (like Piaget) – posed moral dilemmas to children, adolescents, and adults to compare their reasoning for moral decisions (didn’t care about actual decision).
Found predicable, age-related stages.
Wrote the Heinz Dilemma to record the answers people would give to assess their morals.

5. The Heinz Dilemma
In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2,000, ten times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about 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" and that he discovered the drug and intended to make money on it. The husband got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.
(Kohlberg, 1969)

6. STAGE 1- Obedience (Birth-9)
Moral Reasoning- Guided by external consequences. No internalization of rules or values.
What is right? Whatever actions will help avoid punishments.
Answer to Heinz’s Dilemma?

7. Stage 2- Self-interest (Birth-9)
Moral Reasoning-I will do whatever helps ME, as long as it doesn’t hurt others.(rewards)
What is right? Things that will get me a reward and not hurt others.
Answer to Heinz’s Dilemma?

8. -most adults who understand they are a part of society and follow social norms
Stage 3- Conformity- Good boy/girl (Adolescence-adulthood)
Moral Reasoning- I will do what is right because that is what is what people want me to do.
What is right? Following through with expectations placed on me.
Answer to Heinz’s Dilemma?

9. Stage 4- Law-and-Order(Adolescence-adulthood) Moral Reasoning-These are the rules and I will follow them. What is right? The rules are right and I have to follow them. Answer to H.D.?

10. Stage 5- Human Rights (10-15% OF ADULTS ONLY)
Moral reasoning-Doing what is right because I want to be a successful, functioning person in society
What is right? The rules are right because they are there to maintain social order.
Answer to H.D.?

11. Stage 6- Human ethics(10-15% of adults ONLY)
Moral reasoning-individual realization of the universal principles of right and wrong.
What is right? Whatever is best for HUMANITY, and whatever is fair for everyone. If the rules are unjust, I will break them for a good cause. (MLK JR)
Answer to H.D.?

12. Listen with your eyes and ears!
Kohlberg for the visual learners!

13. Criticisms of Kohlberg
Evidence of several stages at one point in development
Too much focus on dilemmas created by Kohlberg
Only tested white males -_-

14. A Real Life Example
As a young woman, Kathleen Soliah was involved with the radical movement known as the Symbionese Liberation Army, best remembered for the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. In 1976, Soliah was indicted with others for planting pipe bombs under two Los Angeles police cruisers. The bombs were discovered before any damage was done, but Kathleen went "underground" and was never captured. She settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, changed her name to Sara Jane Olson, married, raised three children, and was an active and much-admired member of her community.
In 1999, after the television show "America’s Most Wanted" featured the crime, Olson was captured in her hometown on her way to give English lessons to immigrants studying for their U.S. citizenship examination. On January 18, 2002, she was sentenced to a twenty-year-to-life prison term after entering a plea of guilty. (She says she agreed to the plea only because she did not believe she could get a fair trial in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.)
Was Sara Jane Olson’s arrest, conviction, and punishment fair, moral, and/or just? Why or why not?