OCR Psychology For A Level Book 1 sample

Patterns of moral thinking in different countries. On the x-axis are the three ages of testing (10, 13 and 16). The y-axis shows what percentage of the children were at each stage at each age. So you can see, for example, in the USA at age 10 nearly 40% were at Stage 1 but this dropped to about 10% by age 13 and this remained fairly level at age 16. In Taiwan at age 10 about 50% were at Stage 1 and this dropped to about 15% by age 13. Stage 1 70– 60– 50– 40– 30– 20–– 10– Age: 10 13 16 10 13 16 10 13 16 10 13 16 10 13 16 USA Taiwan Percentage of total moral statements Mexico Turkey Yucatàn 0– Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stages 5,6 Stage 1 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 6 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stages 5,6 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stages 5,6 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stages 4 5,6 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stages 4,5,6 Discussion Trading up Why should there be an invariant sequence of development in all countries? The answer may be related to the fact that, at each higher stage, the moral concept is further differentiated and becomes more general or universal. Each step of development requires a better cognitive organisation than the previous step. Children easily comprehend the stages they have passed through and also the one beyond their current stage – in fact it seems from other research by Kohlberg that children even prefer the stage beyond the one they are at. Moral discussion classes indicate that children move forward when confronted with the views of a child who is one stage further along. The role of society All societies appear to have the same basic institutions – family, economy, law, government. They also share the fact that they are societies – systems where people play complementary roles. In order to play a social role in the family, school or society in general children must learn to ‘see’ the world from the viewpoint of others. At preconventional and conventional levels morals are culture-bound, for example ‘honesty’ and ‘courage in battle’. But at the highest postconventional level we find people such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King who have developed ideal and universal principles most of which are related to justice. Behaviourists and psychoanalysts have upheld the view that what a person says and what they actually do are quite different. However, the idea of principles is different. Having principles are not the same as using ‘fine words’. ‘ The man who understands justice is more likely to practice it. ’ Kohlberg claims that, in his studies, he has found that youths who understand justice act more justly. Results: Across cultures Atayal and Taiwanese boys Many of the Taiwanese boys said, ‘ He should steal the food for his wife because if she dies he’ll have to pay for her funeral and that costs a lot. ’ Kohlberg classed this as a Stage 2 response. However, analysis depended on the local knowledge of the Chinese researcher. In the Atayal village, funerals weren’t such a big thing, so the Stage 2 boys would say, ‘ He should steal the food because he needs his wife to cook for him. ’ How values change The five graphs below show longitudinal data for four of the countries studied: USA, Taiwan, Mexico (including Yucatán) and Turkey. Stage classifications were made for 10-, 13- and 16-year-olds. The results include: • There is cultural universality in the sequence of stages. In all countries at age 10 the most common stage was Stage 1 followed sequentially by the other stages. • At age 16 in the USA the order had reversed so Stage 5 was the most common, followed by 4, etc. • The results in Mexico and Taiwan were similar, going from highest to lowest, except development was a bit slower. This showed that the stage sequence was not purely an American phenomenon. • The results from isolated villages in Turkey and Yucatán showed a steady progress but Stage 1 was still the most common at 16. • Stage 6 was rarely found in any culture but didn’t seem to be an alternative to Stage 5. Class and religion Middle-class children were found to be more advanced than matched lower- class children. This was not because of any special abilities but because they developed faster. There were no important differences in the development of moral thinking among Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists. Religious values seem to go through the same stages as all other values. 201 A level only Developmental core study 3: Kohlberg on Moral development