Analysis Of Kohlberg Moral Development Theory

731 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social norms and their consequences on society

Opinion 1: Theresa
Theresa based her opinion on the fact that the druggist will be charged with an unfair amount of money for a cheap drug and will not budge on the price. She feels the importance of getting the drug for Heinz’s wife outweighs what’s right or wrong. Theresa is the type of person that views the moral importance of a situation and makes the adjustments for personal gain. Based on the Kohlberg Moral Development theory, we can assume that Theresa falls under the post conventional level of development, which means her age ranges from 13 years and up (Dacey, 2009, p. 248).
This information was gathered based on Theresa’s’ conjecture about how Heinz should react and the basis being her own internalized moral standard, which falls …show more content…

Instead, Jose thinks that Heinz should deter from stealing and understand that he needs to find another way to get the drug. After reading Jose’s opinion, we can conclude that his age ranges from 10 to 13 years old and falls under stage four. This conventional stage shows “that children are concerned with authority and maintaining the social order. Correct behavior is doing one’s duty (Dacey, 2009, p. 248).” Jose has a good head on his shoulders and seems to be the type of person that follows the law to the best of his ability therefore he fits that category perfectly. Jose knows what is right and wrong as a consequence he shoots to stay on the right path and out of trouble. Being the type of person that follows the law will help Jose keep a clean police record as well as keeping his job opportunities in …show more content…

Although Darnell is aware that stealing’s wrong he understands the importance of obtaining it for Heinz’s wife Heinz. According to Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development we can assume that Darnell falls under Level III, post conventional which ranges from 13 years and older (Dacey, 2009, p. 248). I can conclude that he falls under stage six, which, states, “that the individual believes that the best values are supported by the law and if the human need conflicts this the law should be changed. They begin to judge behavior by intention” (Dacey, 2009, p. 248). With this type of mentality we can assume that Darnell is not afraid of punishment, yet he is aware that in order to get what he wants he has to break the law. This case can be very problematic when it comes to dealing with the punishment. Not only will Darnell have a record that shows he is a thief, he could lose his standing as a good person. On the other hand, from Darnell’s perspective Heinz’s wife would have the medicine and the short amount of jail time or the fine would be miniscule in comparison to having her

Show More
Related

  • My Ethical Framework: Bernard Lonergan And Robert Kegan

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    In everyday experience one is likely to encounter ethical dilemmas. This paper presents one framework for working through any given dilemma. I have chosen to integrate three theories from Ruggerio Vicent, Bernard Lonergan and Robert Kegan. When making a deceison you must collabrate different views to come to a one conclusion. Ruggerio factors in different aspects that will take effect. Depending on which order of conciousness you are in by Kegan we can closely compare this with Ruggerio's theories also. As I continue I will closely describe the three theories with Kegan and how this will compare with Lonerga's theory combining the three. While Family,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kohlbergs And Piaget's Morality

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    She has a high sense of trying to maintain order and does not believe that Heinz should not steal to drug to break the law. According to Piaget’s stages of morality she is in Heteronomous Morality. She believes that we have to obey the laws of this land since they are the absolute and that emanate from morally correct people and God himself. My Hypothesis for Kohlberg we wrong due to the fact that I believed that she only did things she thought was expected of her from her family and society as a whole which means she is in conventional not the post conventional stage.. She does not do things based on what her parents and what is expected of her because she herself believed in upholding society’s laws since she believed that they were the right thing to do. My Piaget’s Hypothesis was correct since she falls in Heteronomous morality where she seems to be heavily influenced by the authority people in her life to base her morality stance. Norma did not fall under the normal teenager stages for morality in america for both Piaget and Kohlberg. She was not in autonomous morality where she did what she herself believed was right according to Piaget and she was not in postconventional where she thought of her own standered of

    Read More

  • Sally's Prescriptive Moral Theory

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin the assessment of Sally’s moral theory we must look at the strengths of the theory, I have chosen to focus on autonomy, as it is vital when defining a prescriptive ethical theory particularly when individuals interact with each other. The purpose of the state is to promote the welfare of its citizens. When the individual has the ability to pursue autonomous desires they thereby allow humanity to develop while promoting their personal goals. Challenges arise when the individual has no goals or that their goals are not recognized. Communist societies where the...

    Read More

  • Social Care Ethics Case Study

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    At this point we consider the different ethical theories and how to understand the situation. I believe Erickson’s theory that explains the eight different stages of life that contribute to development would help explain why Lori is not at the right age to make such a complex decision. Since Lori is only 14, she would fall in adolescent stage where identity is at confusion and she has not fully matured yet. At this stage of Lori’s life this theory helps her explain that although Lori may think she is mature her cognitive thinking is probably not at its full capacity and needs help with such a difficult

    Read More

  • Psychosocial Development Theory Essay

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning of this paper I mentioned that there are eight stages in the psychosocial development theory starting with trust vs. mistrust. This stage begins at birth to one year of age. This is when I should have formed a trust with my primary caregiver or caregivers. My dad was absent most of this stage, so my mother was my primary caregiver. Since she never taught me good behavior, right from wrong, and was uncaring when I was born, I did not feel safe or secure around her. I was told through family members that she was unable to hold me without me screaming all the time, and that the doctor said I suffered from anxiety at infancy because I could feel the tension of my mother’s stress, anger, and anxiety towards me. The beginning of me learning to mistrust, and feeling

    Read More

  • Family: What It Means To Me

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    In result, Bebe’s mother told her she was disappointed in her, then sent her to her room, leaving her alone with her own consciousness, and leaving her alone to think about what she had done. On her way to her room she stopped to watch her neighbor, who was beating his son for something that was seemingly less important than what Bebe had done herself. She recalls a time when all the kids, the neighbors, her siblings, and herself, had all gotten in trouble together and the neighbors had said he was going to beat them all (128). Even though the neighbors boys were beaten and spanked they continued to get into trouble and do the things that caused them punishment, knowing they would get into trouble for it. Yet, even before Bebe's mother told her she was disappointed in her, she felt guilt and remorse, due to the way her mother had raised her, instilling values in her that saying and doing certain things wasn’t acceptable. This is one of the main examples of how there is no specific set of values, and that each family gets to choose their own values and how they instil them in their family.

    Read More

  • A Satisfactory Moral Theory

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Rachels expresses his thoughts on what a satisfactory moral theory would be like. Rachels says a “satisfactory theory would be realistic about where human beings fit in the grand scheme of things” (Rachels, 173). Even though there is an existing theory on how humans came into this world there is not enough evidence to prove the theory to be correct. In addition to his belief of knowing how our existence came into play, he also has a view on the way we treat people and the consequences of our actions. My idea of a satisfactory moral theory would be treating people the way we wish to be treated, thinking of what results from our doings, as well as living according to the best plan.

    Read More

  • Personality And Kohlberg's Theory Of Moral Values

    1716 Words  | 4 Pages

    Individuals are not born with an ability to understand moral values and apply moral standards. As people mature, their physical, emotional, and cognitive abilities develop and so does their ability to deal with moral issues. Aristotle, an early Greek thinker who proposed one of the most influential theories of ethical thinking in the West, argued that our moral abilities which he called virtues or morally good habits, develop solely through constant practice and repetition, in the same way, he argued, humans acquire their moral abilities and when they are taught and habituated by their families and communities to think, feel and behave in morally appropriate ways. Such vitally important human values as courage, generosity, self-control, temperance,

    Read More

  • Criminological Theories Explaining Behaviors of The Cocaine Kids

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring is an intriguing narrative of the experiences Terry Williams witnessed first hand while observing the lives of “The Kids” and their involvement in the cocaine trade. Throughout this piece, there are numerous behaviors displayed by the drug dealers that are each examples of and can be attributed to well-defined criminological theories. This paper will explore how such criminological theories are associated with how and why individuals are introduced into the world of drug selling, as well as, why they leave it. I will elaborate on this by revealing the motivations and conditions that seem to pressurize these individuals to be drug dealers. Although there are multiples shown, the specific theories I will explore are all based on the same idea that an individual becomes a criminal by learning how to be one through experiences, examples, role models, etc. Such theories include the theory of Differential Association, Subculture of Violence Theory, and the Social Learning Theory.

    Read More

  • Stages Of Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory Of Moral Development

    2339 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lawrence Kohlberg is known for his Theory of Moral Development. The method that Kohlberg used was that of “moral dilemmas”. Kohlberg studied Piaget but developed his own theory. He would give individuals of different ages these dilemmas and survey their answers to see what the reasoning behind their answers were. An example of a dilemma is the “Heinz Dilemma”. In this dilemma there is a man whose wife is very sick and needs a certain type of medication. There is only one man who sells this drug in the area and he is charging more than the man can pay for. The husband of the wife decided to steal the drug in order to save his wife. At the end of this scenario, it asks if the husband should’ve stolen the medicine. This provides an example of how he went about creating these moral dilemmas. They are situations in which there are multiple answers and reasoning that could be provided. There was no “right” answer in the moral dilemma questions (as the answer to each question was solely based off of the individual’s opinion and moral reasoning). The reasoning that the individuals presented help develop levels of reasoning. These levels are also known as stages. In Kohlberg’s stages, sub stages are also included. The stages are: Preconventional, Conventional, and Postconventional. Each stages had two sub stages that helped determine what level of moral reasoning a person was at. In the preconvnetional stage the two sub stages are: Reward and punishment orientation and Naive reciprocity orientation. The preconventional stage begins at about age five and decreases with age. The sub stages in the conventional stage are: Good boy/girl Orientation and Authority and social order maintenance orientation. This stage increases ...

    Read More

  • Lawrence Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

    2169 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kohlberg’s theory of the stages of moral development has gained some popularity despite being controversial. The claim that the levels form a “ladder,” the bottom being the immature child with a pre-conventional level and the top being a post conventional ethical individual. The sequence is unvarying and the subject must begin at the bottom with aspirations to reach the top, possibly doing so. (7) Research confirms that individuals from different cultures actually progress according to Kohlbergs theory, at least to the conventional level. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development continue to provide a foundation for psychology studies of moral reasoning. (6)

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Ethical Blindness

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unit I In the article "Ethical Blindness", the writers examine how sometimes choices are frequently made without the individual notwithstanding knowing about it. The choices can be a consequence of an association between individual qualities of the person and attributes of the circumstance. Most research on ethical decision making still expands on the suspicion that choices are made by reasonable people. The rationality presumption is shown different ways. The traditionally moral logic, business ethicists more often than not expect that there is an ethical perspective from which ethicality of a choice can be assessed. It is comprehended that the ethical perspective can be translated in an unexpected way, contingent upon the particular background philosophy, yet they share the presumption that there is a target and unprejudiced line that individuals can use to measure contentions and achieve an answer. An example of this would be that some managers use different philosophical lenses when making a decision – reflecting

    Read More

  • Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory Of Cognitive Development During Childhood Development

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s politically correct world, gender identity plays a very controversial role. There are instances where people are criticized for saying or doing certain things that may offend the other gender. These gender sensitive events can be rooted from childhood development. There are several theories that have been supported throughout the years, which aims to explain how gender roles are developed. I personally believe out of all the theories that the Cognitive-Development Theory is the philosophy that accurately explains how gender is developed during childhood.

    Read More

  • Moral Development Case Study

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moral Development defined as how oneself has to treat another. Based off the article provided, Stephanie is having some issues in class, such as cheating. Her teacher has become concerned that these behaviors are caused by uses in the home, her teacher is trying to talk to her mother to figure something out so she ends these behaviors. Although her mother believes that Stephanie herself is the issue and that she is a horrible child and doesn’t listen, she is doing the best she can. There are many different theories in which could be the reasoning for the issues Stephanie is having in her class. The theories are Social- learning theory, cognitive development theory, psycho- analytic perspective, and behaviorism operant condition. Three of these

    Read More

  • Piaget's Stages Of Cognitive Development

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    But, it is unattainable because of its price, so Heinz steals it. The question is whether or not he should have broken into the lab to steal the drug, and why it is or is not justified. My sister showed that she is in the conventional stage of morality, because she was focused on the law and the fact that his actions were illegal, despite the fact that the drug was necessary for Heinz’s wife’s survival. Being older, my dad and grandma appeared to be in the postconventional morality stage, because they both argued that his wife’s life was more important than the law and that it was unfair of the scientist who priced the drug to make it so unaffordable in the first

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Kohlberg Moral Development Theory

Open Document