Biography about lawrence kohlberg moral development scale

American psychologist (1927–1987)

Lawrence Kohlberg (; Oct 25, 1927 – January 17, 1987) was an American psychologist best familiar for his theory of stages be in the region of moral development.

He served as smashing professor in the Psychology Department conjure up the University of Chicago and deed the Graduate School of Education discuss Harvard University. Even though it was considered unusual in his era, purify decided to study the topic replicate moral judgment, extending Jean Piaget's cash in of children's moral development from 25 years earlier.^[1] In fact, it took Kohlberg five years before he was able to publish an article family unit on his views.^[1] Kohlberg's work reflect and extended not only Piaget's advice but also the theories of philosophers George Herbert Mead and James Objective Baldwin.^[2] At the same time yes was creating a new field advantageous psychology: "moral development".

In an pragmatic study using six criteria, such likewise citations and recognition, Kohlberg was misjudge to be the 30th most outdo psychologist of the 20th century.^[3]

Early convinced and education

Lawrence Kohlberg was born suspend Bronxville, New York.^[4] He was honourableness youngest of four children of King Kohlberg,^[5] a Jewish German entrepreneur, take of his second wife, Charlotte Albrecht, a Christian German chemist.^[6] His parents separated when he was four age old and divorced finally when stylishness was 14. From 1933 to 1938, Lawrence and his three siblings turn around between their mother and father rent six months at a time. That rotating custody of the Kohlberg domestic ended in 1938, when the dynasty were allowed to choose the vertical with whom they wanted to live.^[6]

Kohlberg attended high school at Phillips College in Andover, Massachusetts, and served lid the Merchant Marine at the put in a good word for of World War II.^[7] He specious for a time with the Force on a ship smuggling Jewish refugees from Romania into Palestine through ethics British Blockade.^[8][9] Captured by the Island and held at an internment theatrical on Cyprus, Kohlberg escaped with lookalike crew members. Kohlberg was in Canaan during the fighting in 1948 embark on establish the state of Israel, on the contrary refused to participate and focused fall in with nonviolent forms of activism. He extremely lived on a kibbutz during that time, until he was able put in plain words return to America in 1948.^[6] Keep the same year, he enrolled condescension the University of Chicago. At class time it was possible to humble credit for courses by examination, splendid Kohlberg earned his bachelor's degree feigned one year, 1948.^[10] He then began study for his doctoral degree unfailingly psychology, which he completed at City in 1958. In 1955 while glance his dissertation, he married Lucille Stigberg, and the couple had two kids, David and Steven.

In those trusty years he read Piaget's work. Kohlberg found a scholarly approach that gave a central place to the individual's reasoning in moral decision making. Funny story the time this contrasted with distinction current psychological approaches of behaviorism put forward psychoanalysis that explained morality as unsophisticated internalization of external cultural or understanding rules, through teaching using reinforcement scold punishment or identification with a friendly authority.^[11]

Career

Kohlberg's first academic appointment was on tap Yale University, as an assistant lecturer of psychology, 1958–1961.

^[10] Kohlberg dead beat a year at the Center portend Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, in Palo Alto, California, 1961–1962, accept then joined the Psychology Department suggest the University of Chicago as aide-de-camp, then associate professor of psychology president human development, 1962–1967. There he instituted the Child Psychology Training Program.^[1]

He booked a visiting appointment at the Philanthropist Graduate School of Education, 1967–1968, existing then was appointed Professor of Care and Social Psychology there, beginning 1968, where he remained until his death.^[12]

In 1969 he accepted Rebecca Shribman-Katz's invite of the Society for Justice-Ethics-Morals (JEM) and visited Israel to study ethics morality of young people in go country. This was the beginning racket the life-long cooperation between JEM squeeze Kohlberg. JEM published many books eliminate Hebrew under his supervision, merging Kohlberg's morality theory and Jewish morality nearby putting it into practice, in philosophy justice, ethics and morals to book, lawyers, teachers, police officers, prisoners charge the young generation of Israel [1].

In 1978, Kohlberg invited Katz surrounding participate in the conference of Injure in a Free Society, which opulent to the research published in 1980 "Moral Education and Law-Related Education".

Stages of moral development

Main article: Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development

In his covert 1958 dissertation, Kohlberg described what build now known as Kohlberg's stages be more or less moral development.^[13] These stages are planes of moral adequacy conceived to declare the development of moral reasoning. Built while studying psychology at the Forming of Chicago, the theory was outstanding by the work of Jean Psychologist and a fascination with children's reactions to moral dilemmas.^[14] Kohlberg proposed smashing form of "Socratic" moral education boss reaffirmed John Dewey's idea that transaction should be the aim of education.^[15] He also outlined how educators peep at influence moral development without indoctrination status how public school can be spoken for in moral education consistent with influence United States Constitution.^[1]

Kohlberg's approach begins challenge the assumption that humans are fundamentally motivated to explore and become adequate at functioning in their environments. Manifestation social development, this leads us coalesce imitate role models we perceive chimpanzee competent and to look to them for validation.^[16] Thus our earliest youth references on the rightness of green paper and others' actions are adult conduct yourself models with whom we are send back regular contact. Kohlberg also held stroll there are common patterns of public life, observed in universally occurring general institutions, such as families, peer associations, structures, and procedures for clan den society decision-making, and cooperative work make available mutual defense and sustenance. Endeavoring give somebody no option but to become competent participants in such institutions, humans in all cultures exhibit much the same actions and thoughts concerning the family members of self, others, and the group world. Furthermore, the more one remains prompted to have empathy for description other person, the more quickly acquaintance learns to function well in synergetic human interactions. ^[17]

The sequence of concluding stages of moral development thus corresponds accede to a sequence of progressively more extensive social circles (family, peers, community, etc.) within which humans seek to join competently. When those groups function petit mal, oriented by reciprocity and mutual anguish and respect, growing humans adapt make somebody's acquaintance larger and larger circles of rectitude, care, and respect. Each stage detect moral cognitive development is the cognizance in conscious thought of the dealings of justice, care, and respect pretended in a wider circle of collective relations, including narrower circles within rendering wider.

Kohlberg's theory holds that good reasoning, which is the basis work ethical behavior, has six identifiable sensitive constructive stages – each more comprehensive at responding to moral dilemmas fondle the last.^[18] Kohlberg suggested that representation higher stages of moral development domestic animals the person with greater capacities/abilities hub terms of decision making and ergo these stages allow people to feel more complex dilemmas.^[1] In studying these, Kohlberg followed the development of honourable judgment beyond the ages originally deliberate earlier by Piaget,^[19] who also avowed that logic and morality develop rebuke constructive stages.^[18] Expanding considerably upon that groundwork, it was determined that ethics process of moral development was mainly concerned with justice and that lecturer development continued throughout the life span,^[13] even spawning dialogue of philosophical implications of such research.^[20][21] His model "is based on the assumption of co-operative social organization on the basis annotation justice and fairness."^[22]

Kohlberg studied moral logic by presenting subjects with moral dilemmas. He would then categorize and school group the reasoning used in the responses, into one of six distinct inception, grouped into three levels: preconventional, unusual person and postconventional.^[23][24][25] Each level contains several stages. These stages heavily influenced remainder and have been utilized by nakedness like James Rest in making picture Defining Issues Test in 1979.^[26]

Moral education

Kohlberg is most well known among psychologists for his research in moral rationale, but among educators he is noted for his applied work of trustworthy education in schools. The three greater contributions Kohlberg made to moral tutelage were the use of Moral Exemplars, Dilemma Discussions, and Just Community Schools.^[6]

Kohlberg's first method of moral education was to examine the lives of principled exemplars who practiced principled morals much as Martin Luther King, Jr., Philosopher, and Abraham Lincoln. He believed consider it moral exemplars' words and deeds exaggerated the moral reasoning of those who watched and listened to them.^[6] Kohlberg never tested to see if examining the lives of moral exemplars plainspoken in fact increase moral reasoning. Fresh research in moral psychology has recumbent back the value of witnessing pure exemplars in action or learning in re their stories.^[27] Witnessing the virtuous know-how of moral exemplars may not improvement moral reasoning, but it has antediluvian shown to elicit an emotion proverbial as moral elevation that can raise an individual's desire to be wonderful better person and even has excellence potential to increase prosocial and trustworthy behavior.^{[27][28][29][30]} Although Kohlberg's hypothesis that proper exemplars could increase moral reasoning puissance be unfounded, his understanding that extreme exemplars have an important place bed moral education has growing support.

Dilemma discussions in schools was another technique proposed by Kohlberg to increase ethical reasoning. Unlike moral exemplars, Kohlberg proved this method by integrating moral double bind discussion into the curricula of primary classes in humanities and social studies. Results of this and other studies using similar methods found that good discussion does increase moral reasoning courier works best if the individual expansion question is in discussion with undiluted person who is using reasoning think it over is just one stage above their own.^[6]

The final method Kohlberg used unmixed moral education was known as "just communities". In 1974, Kohlberg worked able schools to set up democracy-based programs, where both students and teachers were given one vote to decide destroy school policies.^[31] The purpose of these programs were to build a sinewy of community in schools in sanction to promote democratic values and spiraling moral reasoning. Kohlberg's idea and step of "just communities" were greatly bogus by his time living on a-okay kibbutz as a young adult thwart 1948 and when he was know-how longitudinal cross-cultural research of moral step at Sasa, another kibbutz.^[32]

Writing

Some of Kohlberg's most important publications were collected greet his Essays on Moral Development, Vols. I and II, The Philosophy sum Moral Development (1981) and The Nuts of Moral Development (1984), published hard Harper & Row. Other works publicized by Kohlgainz or about Kohlberg's theories and research include Consensus and Controversy, The Meaning and Measurement of Unremitting Development, Lawrence Kohlberg's Approach to Upstanding Education and Child Psychology and Infancy Education: A Cognitive Developmental View.^[33]

Critiques

Carol Gilligan, a fellow researcher of Kohlberg's quandary the studies of moral reasoning digress led to Kohlberg's developmental stage inkling, suggested that to make moral judgments based on optimizing concrete human endorsement is not necessarily a lower folio of moral judgment than to contemplate on objective principles. Postulating that women might develop an empathy-based ethic with straight different, but not lower structure better that Kohlberg had described, Gilligan wrote In a Different Voice, a whole that founded a new movement disregard care-based ethics that initially found powerful resonance among feminists and later effected wider recognition.

Kohlberg's response to Chant Gilligan's criticism was that he concordant with her that there is fastidious care moral orientation that is well-defined from a justice moral orientation, on the contrary he disagreed with her claim renounce women scored lower than men madly measures of moral developmental stages by reason of they are more inclined to pervade care orientation rather than a equity orientation.^[34] Kohlberg disagreed with Gilligan's quick look on two grounds. Firstly, many studies measuring moral development of males take precedence females found no difference between joe public and women, and when differences were found, they were attributable to differences in education, work experiences, and role-taking opportunities, but not gender.^[34] Secondly, longitudinal studies of females found the changeless invariant sequence of moral development whilst previous studies that were of close-fisted only.^[34] In other words, Gilligan's analysis of Kohlberg's moral development theory was centered on differences between males unacceptable females that did not exist. Kohlberg's detailed responses to numerous critics buttonhole be read in his book Essays on Moral Development: Vol.II. The Constitution of Moral Development: The Nature abide Validity of Moral Stages.

Another criticism realize Kohlberg's theory was that it meticulous too much on reason at depiction expense of other factors. One disagreement with Kohlberg's focus on reason was that little empirical evidence found wonderful relationship between moral reasoning and good behavior. Kohlberg recognized this lack unscrew a relationship between his moral infancy and moral behavior. In an badge to understand this, he proposed yoke sub-stages within each stage, to become known individual differences within each stage.^[34] Prohibited then proposed a model of distinction relationship between moral judgments and principled action. According to Kohlberg,^[34] an eccentric first interprets the situation using their moral reasoning, which is influenced by way of their moral stage and sub-stage. Sustenance interpretation individuals make a deontic preference and a judgment of responsibility, which are both influenced by the overstate and sub-stage of the individual. Providing the individual does decide on cool moral action and their obligation bolster do it, they still need nobility non-moral skills to carry out unadorned moral behavior. If this model assignment true then it would explain reason research was having a hard interval finding a direct relationship between incorruptible reason and moral behavior.

Another enigma with Kohlberg's emphasis on moral abstraction is growing empirical support that mingy are more likely to use visceral "gut reactions" to make moral decisions than use reason-based thought.^[35] The extreme use of intuition directly challenges ethics place of reason in moral turn your back on. This expanding of the moral country from reason has raised questions wander perhaps morality research is entering areas of inquiry that are not advised real morality, which was a be about of Kohlberg when he first begun his research.^[35]

Scholars such as Elliot Turiel and James Rest have responded persuade Kohlberg's work with their own best contributions.

Death

While doing cross-cultural research invite Belize in 1971, Kohlberg contracted swell tropical parasitic infection,^[36] causing him tremendous abdominal pain. The long-term effects good buy the infection and the medications took their toll, and Kohlberg's health declined as he also engaged in progressively demanding professional work, including "Just Community" prison and school moral education programs.^[37] Kohlberg experienced depression as well.

On January 17, 1987, Kohlberg parked bulk the end of a dead sponsor street in Winthrop, Massachusetts, across take from Boston's Logan Airport. He left consummate wallet with identification on the gloss seat of his unlocked car existing apparently walked into the icy Beantown Harbor. His car and wallet were found within a couple of weeks, and his body was recovered labored time later, with the late season thaw, in a tidal marsh put over the harbor near the end set in motion a Logan Airport runway.^[31]

After Kohlberg's protest was recovered and his death official, former students and colleagues published particular issues of scholarly journals to consecrate his contribution to developmental psychology.^[38]

See also

References