Kohlberg's Theory (AQA A Level Psychology): Revision Note

Kohlberg's theory of morality & offending behaviour

• Kohlberg was the first researcher to apply the concept of moral reasoning to criminal behaviour, proposing that offenders operate at a lower level of moral reasoning than non-offenders

  • Kohlberg et al. (1973) used his moral dilemma technique and found that a group of violent youths were significantly lower in moral development than non-violent youths, even after controlling for social background

• Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is a stage theory, as it sees the development of morality as linked to key developmental stages in a person’s life 

• The theory presents three levels of moral development, each subdivided into two stages, giving six stages in total

  • Each stage denotes a more advanced and sophisticated level of moral reasoning

Measuring morality

• Kohlberg measured moral development using a series of moral dilemmas designed to test how each individual responds to a specific scenario and how they use reasoning to determine the most appropriate/desirable course of action per dilemma

• Kohlberg thought that the justification given by each individual per dilemma was more interesting than their ultimate decision, as it is the reasoning which demonstrates the level of morality most clearly

• The most famous of Kohlberg’s moral dilemmas is the Heinz dilemma as outlined below:

  • Heinz had a wife who was dying from cancer

  • There was one drug that might save Heinz's’ wife

  • The drug was expensive to make, but the pharmaceutical company was charging ten times the cost of the drug

  • Heinz was not able to raise the money to pay for the drug, even after asking friends and family to help

  • Heinz went to the local pharmacy and asked the pharmacist to sell him the drug at a lower price or to allow him to pay later once he had found all of the money, but the pharmacist said no

  • Heinz's dilemma is: should I break into the pharmacy at night and steal the drug which will save my wife or should I follow the law which means that my wife will probably die?

  • The person who is presented with this dilemma then has to reason as to whether Heinz should/should not steal the drug and why/why not

• The results of the research on moral dilemmas led to Kohlberg producing his stage theory as follows:

• Offenders are more likely to be classified at the preconventional level (stages 1 and 2), which is characterised by a need to avoid punishment and gain rewards, and is associated with less mature, childlike reasoning

  • They may commit crime if they think they can get away with it or if they stand to gain rewards such as money or increased respect

  • Individuals reasoning at higher levels tend to sympathise more with the rights of others and exhibit conventional behaviours such as honesty, generosity and non-violence

Research which investigates Kohlberg’s theory

• Palmer & Hollin (1998) compared moral reasoning in 210 female non-offenders, 122 male non-offenders and 126 convicted offenders using the Socio-Moral Reflection Measure-Short Form, which contains 11 moral dilemma-related questions such as not taking things belonging to others and keeping a promise to a friend

  • The offender group showed less mature moral reasoning than the non-offender groups, which is consistent with Kohlberg's predictions

• Palmer (2007) conducted a review of research and concluded that it may be that the development of moral reasoning is strongly influenced by children's early socialisation experiences

Evaluation of Kohlberg’s theory

Strengths

• Kohlberg’s theory could be applied in rehabilitative settings, e.g., as a basis for incorporating moral reasoning into effective interventions with offenders

• Blackburn (1993) suggests that delinquents may show poor moral development due to a lack of role-playing opportunities in childhood, which indicates that such opportunities should be provided as part of rehabilitation

Limitations

• Thornton & Reid (1982) found that offenders who committed crimes for financial gain such as robbery were more likely to show preconventional moral reasoning than those who committed impulsive crimes such as assault, where reasoning of any kind tended not to be evident

  • This suggests preconventional reasoning is linked to crimes where offenders believe they can evade punishment, rather than to offending generally

• Gibbs (1979) proposed a revised two-level version of Kohlberg's theory, with immature reasoning guided by avoidance of punishment and personal gain, and mature reasoning by empathy, social justice and conscience

  • He argued the postconventional level should be abandoned as it is biased towards Western culture and is not a natural maturational stage, a view supported by Piaget's finding that egocentric child-like reasoning gives way to concern for others as children get older

Issues & Debates

• Kohlberg’s theory is deterministic, as it suggests that individuals offend due to low levels of moral reasoning

  • This implies that their actions are determined by their stage of cognitive development rather than free choice

  • This deterministic view may undermine the notion of personal responsibility in legal or moral terms, as it implies that offenders may not be fully capable of moral reasoning

• Kohlberg’s theory has been criticised for gender bias, as it was developed using a male-only sample, yet the stages of moral development were generalised to both men and women

  • The theory is androcentric, as it treats moral reasoning based on rules and justice as the most advanced form, e.g., Gilligan (1982) argued that women's morality is based on care and relationships, which Kohlberg's model places at a lower stage

  • As a result, female offenders may be unfairly judged or misunderstood when their moral reasoning doesn’t fit Kohlberg’s male-oriented model