JUVENILE VIOLENCE

Kohlberg's theory of moral development

Kohlberg's theory of moral development

Introduction

Kohlberg's theory of moral development is consistent with both ego and cognitive psychology. With psychodynamic ego developmental psychologists (e.g., Jane Loevinger), Kohlberg shared the notion that the ego becomes more mature with age. With cognitive psychologists (e.g., Jean Piaget), his writings held that the structure of one's reasoning or thought processes is fairly consistent across situations. Thus, if one type of moral decision (e.g., whether to steal) is viewed in self-serving and instrumental ways. The other decisions will be justified in a similar manner. Piaget and Kohlberg also asserted that these cognitive templates (of sorts) changed with the evolution of one's perspective-taking abilities. Piaget's work, however, focused upon children, whereas Kohlberg's developmental perspective extended across the life span.

Discussion

A large body of research supporting the implications of the theory emerged during the late 1970s and 1980s. For example, the stages were found to be relevant to (1) one's thought processes in deciding whether and under what circumstances police officers should use deadly force (Scharf et al., 1979); (2) disapproval of the Watergate conspirators (Candee, 1975); (3) justifications for capital punishment (Kohlberg & Elsenbein, 1981); (4) decisions regarding when to disobey the authority of a commanding officer (Candee, 1976). Theological scholars later explored the theory's relevance to personal conceptualizations of faith and spirituality (Fowler, 1981; Marion, 2000). Most of these studies placed special focus on the higher stages of moral judgment, and found that individuals at the higher stages, usually stage 5, were more likely than those at lower stages to support actions which were more consistent with the rights and well-being of others. Moreover, individuals assessed at higher stages tended to support such principled stances, even in situations that provided no incentive or perhaps even punished one for doing so.

Although the moral development, perspective was supported by many empirical studies, the popularity of the theory was later supplanted by social learning, cognitive-behavioral, and neurological approaches to criminal behavior. Kohlberg and his associates maintained that development in moral reasoning occurred through exposure to environments that challenge existing ways of thinking, as when adherence to an ancient creed simply does not help us to cope with a new experience or when the well-reasoned challenge of another individual causes us to re-evaluate our definitions of events. This is not inconsistent with social learning theories that maintain that individuals learn by imitating and being reinforced or punished by others in social situations or being consistently parented by good role models with an understanding for role modeling, monitoring, and contingencies. Moreover, this learning process extends to the learning of cognitions and cognitive processes. Although more recent social learning and cognitive-behavioral theorists might see thinking patterns as more malleable than Kohlberg, neurological and brain sciences would surely go far toward formulating alternative explanations for cognitive stability.

Methodology

One hundred and fifty randomly selected male adolescents between the ages of ten and sixteen were selected in order to determine if the increase in age causes an increase in morality ...