The purpose of this research was to investigate how adolescents form and express their moral orientations in the context of moral dilemmas they may encounter. Historically, research on moral reasoning has focused on how people view hypothetical dilemmas and situations, such as those exemplified by Kohlberg's scale of moral development (1984; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987). This research was prompted by the observation in the literature that there is very little data relating to the moral development of children and young people in the context of South Africa.
Kohlberg's six stages of moral development (Kohlberg 1969), for example, have been criticized for elevating Western, urban, intellectual (upper class) moral understandings while discrediting rural, tribal, working class, or Eastern moral understandings.
The Psychological Development of the Adolescent
Levels of education, general socioeconomic status of the family, and psychosocial factors all influence the way adolescence is experienced. Interrupting all of the above is gender: girls' needs and experiences are very different from boys'. In summary, adolescence is characterized by changes of many kinds - in physiology, cognitive functioning, personal identity, social relationships with family and peers, often occurring within a changing cultural context.
Caregivers and Moral Development
They would like their children to be secure as well as socially responsible, and self-regulated as well as cooperative" (Baumrind, 1991). Uninvolved or neglectful parents tend to keep their children at a distance, responding to children's demands only for Little is known about this parenting style, and research on this population of parents is lacking because they are usually not very responsive or involved in their children's lives and, therefore, do not volunteer to be studied.
Just as authoritative parents seem to be able to balance their conformity demands with their respect for their children's individuality, so children from authoritative homes seem to be able to balance the claims of external cohesion and performance demands with their need for individuation and autonomy.
Theoretical Perspectives on Moral Development
Piaget's theory
Piaget's assumptions that moral development is complete by about age 12 and that children move from a morality based on constraints to a morality based on mutual respect have both been challenged. Research by Schweder, Mahapatra & Miller (1990) has shown that some people never make the transition from a morality based on constraints to a morality based on mutual respect. Laupa & Turiel (1986) argue that young children do not show unilateral respect for adult authority figures.
The main finding in the study of Kuwaiti children by Nazar (2001) is that Piaget's timeline for the moral development of Muslim Kuwaiti children does not hold and this is consistent with the findings of Laup & Turie1 (1986).
Social Learning Theories
Social learning theorists (Bandura & McDonald 1963) emphasize the importance of the rules governing behavior and behavior changes. Kohlberg developed a theory of moral development, which shared Piaget's sense in which moral reasoning is fundamentally a cognitive process. Kohlberg argued that children developed a sense of moral understanding specifically by resolving cognitive conflicts within the individual's mind.
Kohlberg proposed that through their experiences, children develop ways of thinking that include an understanding of moral concepts such as justice, rights, equality, and human well-being. Research into these stories of moral dilemmas and responses led him to discover three levels of moral development with two stages (Colby & Kohlberg 1987), as presented below. People can exercise their judgment at the highest level of moral development; but they still act immorally (Damon 1985, Malinowski & Smith 1985).
AI-Shehab (2002) strongly believes that domain researchers should try to reorient moral psychology by taking culture and religion more seriously. In his work on moral development, Gilligan (1982) made a particularly compelling case for the existence of separate patterns of moral development for men and women. In doing so, she departed from the model of moral development devised by Kohlberg (1969), which has dominated the field for many years.
In summary, Kohlberg described three stages of moral development that describe the process through which people learn to distinguish between good and bad and develop an increasingly sophisticated appreciation of morality. According to Kohlberg, moral development is a lifelong task and many people fail to develop more advanced levels of moral understanding.
GiIIigan's Theory
When they come to light, the woman begins to think about the consequences for herself and others (Belknap 2000). Each child's interpretation of the Heinz Dilemma reveals two different conceptualizations of the moral domain. Different cultures have quite different views on gender and on the roles and expectations of men and women.
In their 1997 study, the aim was to find out whether the gender of the characters in the fables affects children's reasoning. Second, the content of the fables is standardized so that all children respond to the same problem. When cartoons illustrating the stories were presented to reinforce the characters' gender, the children's reasoning was still unaffected by the characters' gender, and no gender differences were found in their moral orientations.
In summary, (Beal et.al. 1997) third graders were interviewed after reading two fables in which animal characters are confronted with a problem to determine whether gender differences exist in children's reasoning and whether their reasoning about moral dilemmas is influenced by gender. the characters involved. The results showed that almost all children's responses reflected the care or rights orientation. In summary, the study by Wark and Krebs examined the extent to which people interpret real-life moral dilemmas in terms of an internal moral orientation, as suggested by Gilligan, or in relation to the content of the dilemma, as reported by Wark and Krebs. .
Moral dilemmas differed in the extent to which different participants viewed them from the perspective of the same issues. By listening to women's experiences, Gilligan proposed that a morality of care can serve instead of the morality of justice and rights advocated by Kohlberg.
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
- The Research Context
- Participants
- Research Methods and Procedure
- Scenarios
- Ethical issues
- Analysis of data
- Summary
It also gives the researcher the opportunity to observe, record and interpret non-verbal communication as part of the participants' response, which is valuable during interviews or discussions and during analysis. The same can be said for local State Hospitals, but they should be referred from clinics, unless there is an emergency such as a suicide attempt. Some of the children have tuberculosis and 1 tries to help by making sure they attend the Clinic regularly and on time to receive medication and perform saliva tests.
These are some of the issues we deal with on a daily basis and I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share some of the burden of our problems. Bless & Smith (1995) argue that purposive sampling is based on the researcher's judgment about the characteristics of a representative sample. In order to reduce the possibility of bias, the following steps were taken: (a) students were not exposed to the constructs of moral orientation, caring, or justice thinking; (b) students were assured that participation in the interview was voluntary and not related to their class work; (c) one third of the interviews were coded by a second independent coder.
The length of the interview did not cause any problems for the participants to be out of class, as not much class work was done as the exam was already written. There was extensive probing to ensure that participants' moral reasoning was explicit. The taped recordings of the interview must be typed and then they can be analyzed in the same way as for content analysis.
Written informed consent was sought from school principals, parents/guardians and students (see Appendix 2–8) who were informed of the nature of the research. To check the reliability of the coding process, a second independent coder who was familiar with the process coded one third of the interviews.
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Analysis according to Kohlberg's levels and stages of moral reasoning
The most famous example of a moral dilemma that Kohlberg presented to his subjects is known as Heinz's dilemma. Kohlberg's research included subjects from many cultures, so he believed he was uncovering a universal innate developmental structure of the human personality. In Heinz's dilemma, the participant usually says that Heinz was wrong to steal the drug because "it's illegal" or "it's bad to steal," as if that were all.
When asked to explain, the participant usually responds in terms of the consequences it brings, explaining that stealing is bad "because you will be punished". Heinz should steal the medicine because he will be much happier if he saves his wife, even if he has to go to jail. At this stage, some participants realized that there is not just one correct position conveyed by the authorities.
They see individuals exchanging favors, but there is still no identification with the values of the family or community. The individual begins to get an idea of the social structure and the roles that people should fulfill in society. They believe that people should meet the expectations of the family and community and behave in "good" manners.
Heinz should not steal the medicine because the law forbids stealing and if you let the man get away with it then everyone will want to steal. Heinz must steal the medicine, because everyone has the right to live, regardless of the law.
Universal Principles
In Heinz's dilemma, this means that all parties, the pharmacist, Heinz and his wife take on the roles of others. This small-scale exploratory study investigated adolescent moral reasoning about real-life dilemmas within the framework of moral orientations defined by Lawrence Kohlberg (1984) and Carol Gilligan (1993). When Gilligan first challenged the field of moral psychology, she argued that moral psychology's traditional and exclusive focus on justice had obscured another dimension to people's moral concerns (Gilligan.
59% (fifty-nine) of the youth used justice reasoning, placing 41% (forty-one) of the youth in care-oriented categories. As mentioned above, the majority of young people expressed a justice orientation in their proposed solutions. A cross-sectional study of levels of moral reasoning in a sample of Kuwait university faculty members.
1986) Gender differences in moral reasoning: a comparison of the use of justice and care orientations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Culture, Ethnic Conflict and Moral Orientation in Bosnian Children. The heart has its reason and the reason has its heart: Kohlberg and Gilligan's insights into moral development and counseling. Sexual and Moral Development of Israeli City and Kibbutz Female Adolescents: Perspectives of Kohlberg and Gilligan.
The development of moral judgment and its relationship to family environmental factors in Indian and American families. Gender differences in moral development and acquisition: A review of Kohlberg and Gilligan's justice-concern model.
Letter of consent to parents
Consent form for parents
Letter of consent to learners Dear learners
Letter to Provincial Department of Education
Consent form for provincial Department of Education
Letter to school principals
Consent form for principals
Scenarios and interview questions
