Moral Development Kohlberg S Original Study Of Moral Development

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was one of the key figures in generating theories of human development. Following James Mark Baldwin and Jean Piaget, he designed a research program in order to understand moral development – which he viewed as justice development -, during the life-span. With the help of dilemma-interviews and a comprehensive scoring manual, Kohlberg looked into the stage of development and the moral point of view of children, adolescents and adults both in the United States and abroad. Related herewith, he discussed central topics, such as the relationship be¬tween judgment and action, the transnational universality of moral development, and gender-related morality. His innovative interdisciplinary work embraced the fields of developmental psychology, philosophy, and education among others. His research was inspiring in many aspects and will be inspiring for the years to come.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The first part of the book offers a survey of current approaches to the development of moral reasoning: those of Freud, ego psychology, Piaget and Kohlberg. The approach of Kohlberg has been popular because he was able to give an impressive account of findings from the key method of interviews, the other crucial method being naturalistic observation of moral discourse. The accounts of interview evidence given by ego psychology and Piaget were less comprehensive and less impressive. Naturalistic studies have either been impressionistic or less detailed in their methods of analysis. The second part of the book argues that the impressive nature of Kohlberg's later evidence for his view that moral reasoning passes through a sequence of stages is in part illusory, because his theory predicts that specific types of reply will show specific developmental patterns. However, as data are always reported in terms of stages, which amalgamate very disparate types of reply, it is impossible to know whether the specific types of reply follow their predicted developmental courses or not. Reasons given for assigning given types of reply to a stage are also often doubtful. This leads to discussion of studies that have reported findings in terms of specific types of reply (weakly interpretive methods), as opposed to Kohlberg's stage-based and strongly interpretive methods. Findings from these disconfirm Kohlberg's theory at several crucial points. The second and third parts of the book also examine findings from non-Kohlbergian interviews and other methods, again advocating that weakly interpretive and largely descriptive presentation of findings is preferable to strongly interpretive techniques. It is argued that a wide variety of mechanisms suggested by the theories outlined in the first part of the book, as well as others drawn from general theories of personality development, are able to explain existing descriptive developmental findings. The task for the future is to assess the relative importance of these mechanisms.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2014! This class-tested text provides a comprehensive overview of the classical and current theories of moral development and applications of these theories in various counseling and educational settings. Lively and accessible, this text engages students through numerous examples and boxes that highlight applications of moral development concepts in today’s media and/or interviews from some of today’s leading theorists or practitioners. Dilemma of the Day boxes help readers apply theory to real world situations. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions and further resources. Summary tables of theory strengths and weaknesses (Part 1) and tables that connect applications to their theoretical roots are provided in Part 2. Other highlights include: Provides an excellent resource for courses addressing the CACREP program objectives for Human Growth and Development. Emphasis on application helps readers make the connection between theory and moral issues of our time. Examines changes across time and experience in how people understand right and wrong and individual differences in moral judgments, emotions, and actions. Demonstrates how theory is used by today‘s helping professionals (Part 1). Integrates issues of gender and ethnicity throughout to prepare readers for practicing in a global culture. Chapter on global perspectives (ch. 6) reviews theories on the cultural aspects of morality including examples from China, Islam, Latin America, and Africa. Reviews the latest research methods techniques used in the field. Integrates classic work with contemporary guidelines for assessment and treatment. Highlights research on the moral and empathic development of antisocial youth, psychopaths, and individuals diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. Each chapter in Part 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the theory under review, its strengths and challenges, and examples of how the theory applies to helping professionals. The theories covered include those by Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg, Rest, Gilligan, Nodding, Bandura, Turiel, Nucci, Haidt, and Shweder. Part 1 concludes with a summary of the key points and the strengths and weaknesses of each of the theories reviewed. Part 2 highlights promising applications of moral development theory in education and counseling. These include coverage of character education programs based on sound developmental theory and examples of how drawing on a deep grounding in moral development theory can help future counselors better evaluate their clients’ cognitive, emotional and behavioral challenges. The text explores specific approaches to helping clients with a variety of dysfunctional or developmental behavior problems like conduct disorder and psychopathy. Ideal as a text for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses on moral development or moral psychology or as a supplement in courses on human and/or child and/or social and personality development taught in psychology, counseling, education, human development, family studies, social work, and religion, this book’s applied approach also appeals to mental health and school counselors.

Psychology has been shaped by a set of key ideas, some of which are theories while others are more general topics or specific concepts. This handbook reviews a selection of the most important ideas that span the major branches of the discipline.