1 Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology Lecture 17

2 Morality 1.What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? 2.Are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development universal? 3.What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures?

3 1. describe Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 2. review evidence for and discuss criticisms of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. 3. describe Shweder’s codes of ethics.

The Kargar Case In 1996 in Maine, USA (State of Maine v. Mohammed Kargar, 679 A. 2d 81), an Afghani immigrant was charged with child molestation after he was seen kissing the genitals of his infant son. Mohammed Kargar provided baby-sitting services to local families. One of these children saw Mohammed Kargar place a kiss on the genitals of his own 18-month-old son. Disturbed by this behavior, the child that Kargar was babysitting reported Kargar’s behavior to her parents, who then reported the incident to the police. Kargar claimed that his gesture is customary and familiar to members of his family and within the Afghani community, where it is understood as a display of love and affection for baby boys. Was Kargar’s behavior immoral?

● When judging the morality of the behaviours of members of other cultural groups, we are prone to adopt an ethnocentric perspective. ● Given our tendency to exhibit ethnocentrism, appreciating the moral priorities of other cultural groups can be challenging.

What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? ● Kohlberg proposed that: there are three levels of moral development, each characterized by two stages. individuals progress to higher levels and stages as a consequence of cognitive development.

7 people progress through the levels and stages in the same order across cultures, provided that the cultural context allows for moral capacities to develop (an evolutionist perspective). ● Kohlberg levels and stages are as follows:

8  Level 1: The Preconventional Level Moral reasoning is based on internal standards—in particular, the physical or hedonistic consequences of the action. Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Stage 2: Self-Interest and Reciprocity

9  Level 2: The Conventional Level Moral reasoning is based on external standards—in particular, the maintenance of social order. Stage 3: Interpersonal accord and conformity. Stage 4: Social order and system maintenance.

10  Level 3: The Postconventional Level Moral reasoning is based on internalized standards—in particular, abstract ethical principles regarding justice and individual rights. Stage 5: Individual Rights Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

● Kohlberg used moral dilemmas to assess participants’ level of moral development. Example: The Heinz Dilemma

12 In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz break into the drugstore?

13 Stage 1: “Heinz shouldn’t steal the drug because it’s illegal and he may go to prison.” Stage 2: “Heinz should steal the drug because the druggist is trying to rip him off.”  Level 1: The Preconventional Level

14 Stage 3: “Heinz should steal the medicine because his wife expects it; he wants to be a good husband.” Stage 4: “Heinz should follow the law, because the law is what is right. If everyone did what they wanted to do, there would be chaos.”  Level 2: The Conventional Level

15 Stage 5: “Heinz should not steal the drug because the druggist has the right to determine the compensation he should receive.” Stage 6: “Heinz should steal the drug because the preservation of life must always take priority over the property rights of an individual.”  Level 3: The Postconventional Level

Judy was a twelve-year-old girl. Her mother promised her that she could go to a special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to the concert. She managed to save up the fifteen dollars the ticket cost plus another five dollars. But then her mother changed her mind and told Judy that she had to spend the money on new clothes for school. Judy was disappointed and decided to go to the concert anyway. She bought a ticket and told her mother that she had only been able to save five dollars. That Saturday she went to the performance and told her mother that she was spending the day with a friend. A week passed without her mother finding out. Judy then told her older sister, Louise, that she had gone to the performance and had lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders whether to tell their mother what Judy did. 16 Should Louise tell her mom that Judy lied?

Are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development universal? ● Snarey (1985) conducted a meta-analysis of 27 studies that investigated the universality of Kohlberg’s model. Participants recruited from: Alaska, Bahamas, Canada, Finland, Germany, Guatemala, India, Kenya, New Guinea, Turkey, U.S. Found:

18 Most Children: Demonstrated preconventional reasoning. Most adults: Demonstrated conventional reasoning. Western urbanized cultures: Some adults demonstrated postconventional reasoning. Village folk and tribal societies: NO adults demonstrated postconventional reasoning.

19 ● These findings suggest that Kohlberg’s model does not adequately describe moral reasoning in non-Western cultures.

What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures? ● Richard Shweder (see Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2007; Shweder et al, 1997) maintains that there are three codes of ethics that guide moral reasoning across cultures:

21  Ethic of Autonomy Concerned with harm, rights and justice. Moral issues include: Whether or not someone was harmed. Whether or not someone suffered emotionally. Whether or not someone cared for someone weak/vulnerable. Whether or not someone was cruel. Whether or not someone was denied his/her rights. Whether or not someone acted unfairly. Whether or not some people were treated differently than others. Whether or not someone tried to dominate someone else.

22  Ethic of Community Concerned with duty, loyalty, and hierarchy. Moral issues include: Whether or not someone showed a lack of loyalty. Whether or not someone did something to betray his/her group. Whether or not the action affected your group. Whether or not someone’s action showed love for his/her country. Whether or not someone failed to fulfill the duties of his/her role. Whether or not someone conformed to the traditions of society. Whether or not someone showed a lack of respect for authority. Whether or not an action caused chaos or disorder.

23  Ethic of Divinity Concerned with sacred order, purity, and sanctity. Moral issues include: Whether or not someone violated standards of purity and decency. Whether or not someone was able to control his or her desires. Whether or not someone acted in a way that God would approve of.

24  Examples (Haidt, 2007 ) stick a pin into the palm of a child you don't know. slap your father in the face (with his permission) as part of a comedy skit. How much would you have to be paid to …..?

25 attend a performance art piece in which the actors act like animals for 30 min, including crawling around naked and urinating on stage. say something slightly bad about your nation (which you don't believe to be true) while calling in, anonymously, to a talk-radio show in a foreign nation. accept a plasma screen television that a friend of yours wants to give you. You know that your friend bought the TV a year ago from a thief who had stolen it from a wealthy family.

However, in other cultural contexts, the ethics of community and divinity are as important or more important than the ethic of autonomy. ● According to Shweder, the ethic of autonomy is most important in Western cultures.

27 Morality 1.What are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? 2.Are Kohlberg’s stages of moral development universal? 3.What codes of ethics guide morality in non-Western cultures?