Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg used which of the following techniques to illustrate the stages of his theory?

• Presenting people with the three mountain task

• Presenting people with a conservation task

• Having people solve moral dilemmas

• Having people study a law case

• Having people think about how they felt about a certain issue

In trying to replicate Lawrence Kohlberg’s research, several college psychology students observed four-year-olds in five prekindergarten classes. Their observations most likely indicated that these children were

• preconventional

• preoperational

• conventional

• postconventional

• postformal

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning is best described by which of the following?

• Personal conscience is innate and all human beings develop it at the same rate.

• By adulthood, all people judge moral issues in terms of self-chosen principles.

• Ethical principles are defined by ideals of reciprocity and human equality in individualistic societies, but by ideals of law and order in collectivistic societies.

• Children grow up with morals similar to those of their parents.

• Children progress from a morality based on punishment and reward to one defined by convention, and ultimately to one defined by abstract ethical principles.

A conscientious objector refuses to engage in combat because he cannot support the taking of human life. His reasoning best illustrates which stage in Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

• Authoritative

• Postconventional

• Concrete operational

• Conventional

• Egocentric

Carol Gilligan, in her criticism of Lawrence Kohlberg, proposed that the moral reasoning of males is primarily based on

• male repression of females, whereas the moral reasoning of females is based on economics

• rational abstract principles, whereas the moral reasoning of females is based on relationships and the social context

• legalistic ideals, whereas the moral reasoning of females is based on more humanistic ideals

• observational learning, whereas the moral reasoning of females is genetically determined for the most part

• physical strength, whereas males start developing morally later than females but surpass them soon afterward