Kohlberg’s Model of Moral Development
4. Psychoanalytical Approach to Moral Behaviour
Freud’s Psychoanalytical approach to Moral Development
The unconscious mind: we are not aware of our unconscious thoughts but they play the most important part in our thinking and we can get access to these thoughts via dreams, hypnosis and other routes.
The Id: we are born with a collection of biological needs and these needs are driven by the force of the Id, which expects immediate gratification.
The Ego: our ego develops as part of our mind that organises our thoughts and behaviours in such a way as to satisfy the desires of the Id but in a socially acceptable way.
The Superego: this is the part of our mind that causes us to ask ourselves whether what we are doing is morally the right thing to do. It contains the conscience, which administers guilt when we do something it disapproves of and boosts our pride and self-esteem when we do something it approves of.
The superego is developed during the Phallic Stage of Psychosexual Development when the Oedipus complex needs to be resolved. This complex results with the child falling in love with its opposite-sex parent. The child therefore internalises with the same-sex parent in hopes of winning over the love of the opposite-sex parent. The child also internalises the moral code of the parent and so the child’s superego can be seen as of the internalized parent’s.
Evaluation:
- It does not seem to fit with everyday experience that children don’t have a conscience until the age of 5 years and that it suddenly appears as a finished product. Rather, it seems to be something that develops and changes over time well into adulthood.
- Children are experienced to many other sources of influences on what is right and wrong apart from parents. The media and school probably play a part in this development.
- It is difficult to establish that unconscious thoughts exist, let alone a separate part of our self devoted to moral behaviour – the conscience.
- There is no evidence that girls are less moral than boys.
- The Oedipus complex is controversial (castration anxiety).
- Poor evidence to support; based on only one case study of a young boy.
Studies used to criticize Freud and Kohlberg.
Carol Gilligan
There is a difference in the way that men and women think about morals but not in the way that Freud suggests. Men tend to make moral decisions around the notion of justice. For men, the right thing to do is what is ‘just’ and fair. Women tend to be more concerned with the care of others.
Kohlberg’s experiment was more biased towards males. His views always left women at a lower stage than men’s when their morals were ‘measured’.
Einserberg’s contribution
He pointed out that Piaget and Kohlberg’s studies always involved consideration of some form of rule or law, but he felt that most real dilemmas did not concern breaking rules. Instead they concerned balancing our own needs with the needs of other people.
She conducted investigations where she gave the participants little stories that were little dilemmas, asking them what they think the characters should do.
- should I eat the last biscuit in the tin or leave it for George, who’s has none?
- Should I spend time helping this elderly person carry luggage up the steps when I may miss the train?
- Should I offer to pay my friend for the lift home?
From the answers, she constructed a theory based on a series of stages:
