Download Kohlberg`s theory

Erikson & Freud Info.:
Erik Erikson
•Revised and expanded his mentor Sigmund Freud’s
theory of development
•proposed an 8 stage theory of personality development.
•His theory covers the entire life-span
•Underlying his theory are the beliefs that:
development is a combination of social, biological, and
personal experiential factors.
People can achieve a state of happiness/satisfaction during
their lives.
Freud developed a segmented model
of the self:
The Id- our primal/instinctual urges (biology)
The Ego- our conscious self (psychology)
The Superego-our moral code(social).
In the healthy person these three segments are relatively integrated.
In the neurotic individual these parts are in conflict/out of balance.
SUPEREGO
ID
ego
Erikson’s 8 stages:
1. Trust v. Mistrust-developing a basic sense of trust
in the world based on your basic needs being met.
2. Autonomy v. Shame -development of self confidence
and self-control based on healthy encouragement and limit setting.
3. Initiative v. Guilt - testing of personal power through
exploration/manipulation of the environment based on encouragement.
4. Industry v. Inferiority-desire to become productive based on
success and recognition.
5. Identity v. Identity Confusion-attempt to answer “who am I ?”
6. Intimacy v. Isolation - ability to relate intimately to others.
7. Generativity v. Stagnation-act of caring extended to future.
generations based on a satisfying personal life and freedom from
self pre-occupying pressure.
8. Integrity v. Despair-adjustment to aging and approaching death
based on satisfaction with one’s past.
Focus on Stage 5-Identity v. Diffusion
Attempt to answer “who am I?” and achieve a satisfying
sense of identity based on personal success and
satisfaction combined with peer acceptance.
James Marcia’s (1966) work keyed in
on Stage 5 (identity development
in adolescence)
as the key to understanding the self.
Marcia’s identity status paradigm:
Foreclosed
Achieved
Moratorium
Diffused
(*Notice the date Marcia developed his theory)
Kohlberg/Gilligan Info:
• In Piaget’s The Moral Judgment of the Child (1932) he argued children’s
moral thinking fits the pattern of the 4 stages of cognitive development.
• Lawrence Kohlberg expanded Piaget’s work in this area.
• Kohlberg conducted his research in the late 1950s-1970s
• Conducted longitudinal studies (interviewing same subjects every 3 years)
• Focused on the development of principles of justice
• Focused on Moral Reasoning-the thinking processes involved in
judgements about questions of right and wrong.
• Used Moral Dilemmas to assess a person’s stage- situations in which no
choice is clearly and indisputably right.
Heinz’s Dilemma (Updated):
Heinz’s wife is dying of cancer. He learns of a drug that can
Cure his wife. He goes to the pharmacist who invented the drug
and asks to buy some.The pharmacist tells Heinz the drug will
cost him $1,000,000 (It cost the pharmacist $100,000 to create the
drug.)
Heinz, doesn’t have $1,000,000.
Heinz goes to banks, holds fund raisers, does everything he can
think of to raise the money. In the end he can only raise
$200,000.
Heinz goes back to the pharmacist, tells him he only has
$200,000 for the drug and that time for his wife is running out.
Heinz asks the druggist to sell him the drug at half price or let him
pay back the remainder later.
In response the pharmacist says, “The price is still $1,000,000.”
What should Heinz do?
Why? (i.e. explain your reasoning)
Kohlberg’s theory:
PreconventionalLevel-Good/Bad (Pre-operational)
stage 1: obedience/punishment orientation, rules are to avoid
punishment.No consideration of the interests/needs of others.
stage 2: hedonistic orientation. Fulfillment of personal needs still
determines right or wrong but now individual recognizes that others have
needs too.-“you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”.
Conventional Level- Following the Social Order (Concrete)
stage 3:Living up to what is expected of you. Doing good to please othersConformity (family,society,peers etc.).
stage 4: orientation to authority/duty- Individuals must conform to the law.
Authority must be respected.
Postconventional Level (Formal)
•stage 5: social contract- Good is determined by socially
agreed upon standards.
•stage 6: Following universal ethical principles- justice,
human dignity, and equality of human rights.
•Stage 7?: Agape- love is extended to all ‘regardless of merit’-forgiveness
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Gilligan’s theory
Gilligan’s theory focused on gender biases in Kohlberg’s theory (i.e.
Kohlberg based his stage model on his study of a male conception of
morality- which he then used to judge both males’ and females’ stage of
moral development). Freud wrote,” I cannot evade the notion (though I
hesitate to give it expression) that for women what is ethically normal is
different from what it is in men…they show less sense of justice…they are
more often influenced in their judgements by their feelings.”
Gilligan turns Freud’s judgement upside and makes feelings (i.e.
care/compassion) the basis for her conception of morality.
Conducts her work in the mid 1970’s-early 1980s
Her book In a Different Voice (1982) electrifies the Social Science
Community.
Still a stage model.
Still uses Moral dilemmas to assess. But she situates her dilemmas in
authentic problems facing her subjects.
Controversial Methodology-Talked to women about their decisions to
have/ not have abortions
A high school girl’s parents are away for the weekend and she’s alone
In the house. Unexpectedly, on Friday evening, her boyfriend comes
Over. They spend the evening together in the house and after awhile they
Start necking and petting.
1. Is this right or wrong? Are there circumstances that would make it right
or wrong?
2. What if they had sexual intercourse? Is that right or wrong? Why?
3. (if applicable) Why do you think petting is okay but sexual intercourse
is wrong?
4. Are there any circumstances that would make sexual intercourse right (wrong)?
5. …The girl thinks sex before marriage is OK for boys but not for girls.
What reasons does she have for thinking that way?
6. The girls parents return and find out the couple had intercourse-what should
the parents do?
7. Do you think these issues about sex have anything to do with morality
And immorality?
8. Where do you think your ideas about what’s right and wrong come from?
9. There’s a lot of talk these days about the new morality and the sexual revolution.
What do you think about this?
Gilligan’s Model
Level 1: Orientation toward Self-Interest
like Kohlberg’s stage 1 and 2 pre-conventional morality is about fulfilling
one’s own needs at any cost.
Level 2: Goodness=Responsibility for Others
like Kohlberg’s stage 3 and 4 conventional. Morality is a matter of
subordinating your own needs to fulfill the needs of others.
Level 3: Focusing on the dynamics between Self and Others
Morality is the quest to find a balance between your own needs and those
of others.