OCR Psychology For A Level Book 1 sample

Age Richard’s comments Stage of reasoning 13 years ‘If she requests it, it’s really up to her. She is in such terrible pain, just the same as people are always putting animals out of their pain.’ A mixture of Stage 2 and Stage 3 reasoning. 16 years ‘I don’t know. In one way, it’s murder, it’s not a right or privilege of man to decide who shall live and who should die. God put life into everybody on earth and you’re taking away something from that person that came directly from God, and you’re destroying something that is very sacred, it’s in a way part of God and it’s almost destroying a part of God when you kill a person. There’s something of God in everyone.’ Stage 4 reasoning Richard sees the concept of life as sacred and universal, it is true for all humans. It is still, however, dependent on what ‘someone’ else says is right – in this case on God’s authority. 20 years ‘When a person is kept alive by an artificial lung or kidney it’s more like being a vegetable than being a human. If it’s her own choice, I think there are certain rights and privileges that go along with being a human. I am a human and have certain desires for life and I think everybody else does too. You have a world of which you are the centre, and everybody else does too and in that sense we’re all equal.’ Stage 5 reasoning The value of life is defined in terms of equal and universal human rights. In addition the consequences of such principles are considered. 24 years ‘A human life takes precedence over any other moral or legal value, whoever it is. A human life has inherent value whether or not it is valued by a particular individual. The worth of the individual human being is central where the principles of justice and love are normative for all human relationships.’ Stage 6 reasoning The value of human life is seen as absolute in representing a universal and equal respect for the human as an individual. Age Tommy’s comments Stage of reasoning 10 years ‘All the people that aren’t important because one man just has one house, maybe a lot of furniture, but a whole bunch of people have an awful lot of furniture and some of these poor people might have a lot of money and it doesn’t look it.’ Stage 1 reasoning Tommy confuses the value of a human being with the value of the property he possesses. 13 years ‘Maybe it would be good to put her out of her pain, she’d be better off that way. But the husband wouldn’t want it, it’s not like an animal. If a pet dies you can get along without it – it isn’t something you really need. Well, you can get a new wife, but it’s not really the same.’ Stage 2 reasoning The value of the woman’s life is judged partly in terms of what her life means to her – but more importantly in terms of what it means to her husband who can’t replace her as easily as he can a pet. 16 years ‘It might be best for her, but her husband – it’s a human life – not like an animal; it just doesn’t have the same relationship that a human being does to a family. You can become attached to a dog, but nothing like a human you know.’ Stage 3 reasoning Tommy’s view is not yet based on any sense of the universal value of the woman’s life – it is still seen in terms of how her life matters to others. Developmental core study 3: Kohlberg on Moral development The detailed version Read the original article You can read Lawrence Kohlberg’s article at tinyurl.com/y9zxh2zf Read other accounts of similar research Read more of his dilemmas: tinyurl.com/y9awsd2h Read an analysis of responses: tinyurl.com/ydyl7fuo Read in more detail about his research continuing for 20 years (Colby et al. 1983): tinyurl.com/yal26a6o Watch a video There are many versions of the theory, e.g. tinyurl.com/ybbwarb9 Results: How values change The longitudinal study enabled Kohlberg to observe how an individual’s reasoning changed over time, as they got older. In the article Kohlberg focuses on just two of the boys (Tommy and Richard) and how their thinking changed over time. The moral concept being considered is the ‘value of human life’ (one of Kohlberg’s 25 moral concepts). In order to test this he asked, ‘ Should the doctor “mercy kill” a fatally ill woman requesting death because of her pain? ’ [A slightly different question was used for Tommy when he was 10: ‘ Is it better to save the life of one important person or a lot of unimportant people? ’] Both boys clearly move through the stages as they get older though Tommy is a rather slow developer despite being bright (IQ 120). Chapter 4: Developmental psychology 200 A level only