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Kohlberg Evaluation - Coggle Diagram
Kohlberg Evaluation
Reliabilty
It would be hard to repeat due to the longitudinal aspects.
Cross sectional research did support original study so high external reliabilty
Internal reliabilty might be an issue as each question might not have measured moral reasoning consistently
Validity
Researsher bias - manipulate the answers from the boys to fit his theories. May have gotten close to the boys over the longitudinal study
Attrition studies- when people drop out of studies partway through usually because longitudinal studies are so long
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Lacked ecological validity becasue they boys were young and didnt experience marriage or anything of the same scenario
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Lacks internal validity due to social desirabilty. PPs may change their answers in the interview to seem more acceptable
Lacks ecological validity as it was hypothetical dilemmas and so they may answer differently if they were faced with the real life dilemma
Ethics
Could make people uncomfortable if the moral dilemmas is difficult for them in term of psychological harm
The right to withdrawl as they may feel they cant leave as they have been it for so long
Issues and debates
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nomothetic as it tries to set benchmarks for human behaviour which people can be judged against and measured
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Japan is a collectivist culture and an American individualist is trying to generalise findings, he sees American culture as the normal and the stadard
Ethnocentric - even though kohlberg changed dilemmas to be culturally specific he is still applying american culture to other cultures
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The sample was biased as it was only males participating. Only males perspective of morality. - gender bias
Social implications
It has just shown that our morality changes throughout our lives and so criminals may use it to prove they cannot be blamed for their crimes
Different research
Burton (1976) found that people only behave consistently with their moral principles on some kinds of moral behaviour, such as cheating. Factors other than moral principles affect moral behaviour, such as the likelihood of punishment
Male morality may be different from female morality. The findings cannot be generalised to females because they were given the questions. Carol Gilligan suggested that male morality may be different to female morality. It is based on justice rather than caringness
Individuals do not always progress through the stages and Rest (1979) found that one in fourteen actually slipped backward. This shows that there may not be distinct stages of moral devlopment.
Economical implications
If people have higher moral reasoning after leaving prison they are less liekly to commit a crime and less of the government spending would be on prisons