1. By Jessica Jancose and Ketan Jain-Poster
How Moral are you?
By Jessica Jancose and Ketan Jain-Poster

2. Background
Morals: attitudes and beliefs that help people decide what is right and wrong
Influenced by culture, parental influences and peer influences
Humans are born without morals

3. Hypothesis Lawrence Kohlberg built off of Jean Piaget’s work
Question: “How does the amoral infant become capable of moral reasoning?”
Hypothesis: Human ability to make moral judgments develops in a predictable way – specific stages

4. Theoretical propositions
1) Each stage is uniquely different
2) Stages always occur in same step-by-step sequence
3) Children comprehend all stages below their own

5. Method
Interviewed young boys of varying ages (10,13,16) 10 hypothetical moral dilemmas
The Heinz Dilemma
The Brother’s Dilemma

6. What the boys said….
10 year old boys’ responses focused on what was best for the individual
13 year old boys’ responses focused on considering relationship roles
16 year old boys’ responses focused on individual needs vs. society

7. Results
Discovered six stages of moral development, six types of motives to explain reasoning
Categorized into 3 “moral levels”:
Premoral Level- Egocentrism and personal interests
Level 2- Recognition of one’s role in relationship
Level 3- Own views on morality and judgment

8. Six stages of moral development
Level 1 – Premoral Level
Stage One
Punishment and obedience orientation
Stage Two
Satisfaction of one’s own needs defines what is good
Level 2 –Conventional Role-Conformity
Stage Three
What pleases others is good
Stage Four
Maintaining law and order
Level 3 – Self-Accepted Morals
Stage Five
Society values and individual rights determine right and wrong
Stage Six
Individual philosophy which is shaped by universal principles.

9. Discussion
Children actively organize the morality of the world around them in steps
Morality – emergence of cognitive moral structures influenced by social and cultural environment
Morality is not learned, it is constructed

10. Criticisms Moral reasoning = not the same as moral behavior
Study didn’t address situational factors
Six stages of moral reasoning are not universal
Western individualistic societies
Stages do not apply equally to both men and women
Women – care orientation

11. Applications Law and criminal justice Child eye-witness testimonies
Criminals understand moral issues but ignore them
Child eye-witness testimonies
Their understanding of secrecy