Moral development and dilemma This paper aims to analyze the theory of Lawrence Kohlberg of moral development. For such purposes a brief case study has been made interviewing (in person) a 37 years old Caucasian woman, which identifies herself as having strong Christian religious beliefs. The questions were based on the Heinz dilemma (see Appendix A).
State of moral development According to the interview, this woman fits the characteristics of the Conventional level at stage 4, and also the Postconventional level at stage 5. According to Kohlberg’s theory, people at the conventional level, stage 4, have a strong orientation for “law and order”. The orientation towards authority is fixed and maintenance social order must be preserved. …show more content…
53). Taking this premise into reflection, we are inclined to consider that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development t may have a significant value and can be applied in many psychological and educational settings. An area in which this theory shows its validity is to explain how people who have strong religious orientations, tend to behave in accordance with their dogmas. A study by MacLean and colleagues (2004) found that moral reasoning was positively correlated identity integration and an intrinsic religious orientation (people who fully has integrated religion into all aspects of their life, and religion serving as an …show more content…
While this might be a relative moral thing when it comes doing good to others, it could also indicate that the people who reasoning based of extremist religious dogmas can end up engaging in extreme behaviors such as terrorism. In this sense, psychologist may use moral dilemmas to decipher people’s motives and forecast possible behaviors. Another setting in which this theory can be useful is in the prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency. It has been studied that relative older children (4 to 5 years old) experience noticeable difficulties forestalling moral emotions of shame or guilt in context of moral wrong doing. During this period, children typically expect a moral wrongdoer to feel positive emotions when disobeying a moral rule (e.g., happiness for stealing a wanted object). Normally, it was believed that it was not until 7 to 8 years that children begin to anticipate negative or mixed emotions after committing a moral wrongdoing (Krettenauer et al.,
State of moral development According to the interview, this woman fits the characteristics of the Conventional level at stage 4, and also the Postconventional level at stage 5. According to Kohlberg’s theory, people at the conventional level, stage 4, have a strong orientation for “law and order”. The orientation towards authority is fixed and maintenance social order must be preserved. …show more content…
53). Taking this premise into reflection, we are inclined to consider that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development t may have a significant value and can be applied in many psychological and educational settings. An area in which this theory shows its validity is to explain how people who have strong religious orientations, tend to behave in accordance with their dogmas. A study by MacLean and colleagues (2004) found that moral reasoning was positively correlated identity integration and an intrinsic religious orientation (people who fully has integrated religion into all aspects of their life, and religion serving as an …show more content…
While this might be a relative moral thing when it comes doing good to others, it could also indicate that the people who reasoning based of extremist religious dogmas can end up engaging in extreme behaviors such as terrorism. In this sense, psychologist may use moral dilemmas to decipher people’s motives and forecast possible behaviors. Another setting in which this theory can be useful is in the prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency. It has been studied that relative older children (4 to 5 years old) experience noticeable difficulties forestalling moral emotions of shame or guilt in context of moral wrong doing. During this period, children typically expect a moral wrongdoer to feel positive emotions when disobeying a moral rule (e.g., happiness for stealing a wanted object). Normally, it was believed that it was not until 7 to 8 years that children begin to anticipate negative or mixed emotions after committing a moral wrongdoing (Krettenauer et al.,