Comparative Analysis of Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan

• Emma Haslam

Moral Reasoning

“Human well-being is not a random phenomenon. It depends on many factors – ranging from genetics and neurobiology to sociology and economics. But, clearly, there are scientific truths to be known about how we can flourish in this world. Wherever we can have an impact on the well-being of others, questions of morality apply.” Sam Harris (2015)

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In many respects, the cognitive-developmental paradigm within moral psychology has had an unstable record. First introduced by Baldwin (1906), then taken up but quickly abandoned by Piaget (1932, 1965), many years passed before it was reintroduced and fully delineated by Kohlberg (1971, 1984). The limitations of the moral domain have now been extended well beyond those of Kohlberg’s justice research to include other orientations to moral understanding such as Carol Gilligan’s ‘Care’ research (1982).

The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two theories of moral reasoning with reference to empirical research. Named theories include Lawrence Kohlberg’s ‘Justice’ and Carol Gilligan’s ‘Care’. This piece will focus on the studies individually as well as comparing the similarities and differences for both and will also look into some critical reviews from other research that has been conducted since regarding care and justice. The reason for choosing Kohlberg and Gilligan’s pieces of research are because both are leading researchers in the field of cognitive development and the research is known and used by academics worldwide.

Lawrence Kohlberg was a developmental psychologist who studied Piaget’s constructivist theory and continued to base his own work around the model constructed by Piaget. This led to Kohlberg developing his own cognitive developmental model known today as ‘Justice’. Kohlberg had a direction for his research and that was to focus on the reasoning behind answers. Feminists (among other) have criticised the hegemony of justice reasoning in Kohlberg’s theory, proposing that a more relational, “care and response” orientation is an equally valid conception of morality and one that is more often representative of the moral experience of a woman (e.g. Gilligan 1982; Noddings, 1984).

Carol Gilligan became a student and research assistant of Lawrence Kohlberg in 1970 and provided her own justifications from Kohlberg’s original addition and proposed considering gender identity and therefore made another discovery within the field of cognitive developmental psychology that Kohlberg did not consider.

Kohlberg began his research looking into how children develop from birth and continued the research to span an entire lifetime. ‘The founding principle of development was the recognition of the value of justice, acceptance of justice as a governing factor of an individual’s own actions and also a philosophical understanding of justice’ (Kohlberg, 1971). This shows very early on that everything was based around understanding justice and how it applied to an individual’s understanding towards moral reasoning. The first questions provide evidence for this and it is stated “How to avoid punishment from a punitive point of view” (Kohlberg, 1984). This statement highlights the fact that the empirical research is justice based. There are three main stages to Kohlberg’s research with six sub-sections. ‘The first is the Pre conventional stage Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?), Self-interest orientation, (What’s in it for me?), (Paying for a benefit). The second stage is Conventional, Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms) (The good boy/girl attitude), Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality) and the final is Level 3, Post-Conventional, Social contract orientation, Universal ethical principles, (Principled conscience).’ (Kohlberg, 1971).

Gilligan would go on to criticise Kohlberg’s theory as Kohlberg only studied privileged white men and boys, Gilligan felt this caused a bias opinion against women. Gilligan designed a paradigm of female development centralised on the subject of caring as a formative virtue. This was based around Kohlberg’s original ideas and structure. Gilligan wanted to outline that women were not “moral midgets” and was also against many psychological opinions such as another great theorist, Erikson who believed that the tasks of development were separation from the mother and family. If women did not succeed on this scale then those individuals were “obviously lacking”. Therefore Gilligan’s goal was seen as a good case for feminism and psychology as a whole. The view focused on the individual’s growth to care for and better understand others. Gilligan’s earliest transition for the stages of development suggests a move from self interest to a responsibility for others (Arnold, 2000). The male life form was seen as a norm. Psychologists that performed research before for example Freud, Piaget and Erikson; all had male points of view and focused mainly on male cognitive development. “The previous views are shown to be neither neutral nor impartial. There is no room for care or human relationships which are essential parts for morals of maturity” (Gilligan, 1977).

Kohlberg’s study group subjected only male participants to the research, whereas Gilligan’s study group was subject to only female participants. Early constructivist views of cognitive development show little between genders. Gilligan observed that the alienation felt from Kohlberg’s views were the result from his studies having a skewed perspective towards male development as most of the research conducted in the field prior to Kohlberg. The result of this was a formative foundation for male cognitive development. Kohlberg discovered that male subjects develop in relation to the understanding of justice, from simple punitive evasion to a satisfied philosophical acceptance for the meaning of justice. Gilligan’s study group was a duplicate study of Kohlberg’s work with, alternate focus that allowed for comparison for any significant differences in gender development. Females follow a different trend of cognitive and that focuses around caring and a respect for life. Gilligan discovered that female subjects develop in the understanding of humanity, developing from simple obedience to a universal philosophical understanding of morality. ‘Gilligan also discovered that a morality of care can also serve in place of the morality of justice and rights earlier theorised by Kohlberg. Gilligan views morality of care and morality of justice as distinct yet also connecting’. (Young, 1999). Gilligan believed that the care based morality was prominent in women. Co-operation, compromise makes levels of overall happiness much higher in women. This is partially due to how men and women are socialised. Unlike Kohlberg’s three main and six sub stages, Gilligan’s research only comprised of three stages, Pre-conventional where one learns to care for oneself, Conventional, this shows that and individual put their own needs behind them to care for others and finally the post-conventional stage. This is when a balance is reached and the individual learns to care for themselves and others at the same time.

All of the research conducted by both Kohlberg and Gilligan has had critical reviews by other researches in the field however, the basis of the research is crucial to knowing a basing around the moral foundation of an individual.

In conclusion, most moral psychologists accepted that there are two types of moral reasoning which are Kohlberg’s justice and Gilligan’s care, although Kohlberg’s vast legacy to moral psychology is widely acknowledged to far outweigh the shortcomings of his theory, in recent years there has been a growing sense within the cognitive-developmental paradigm that a more comprehensive theory of morality is long overdue. By more closely attending to the contextual and subjective features of morality of everyday life, this contemporary work lays the foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of the moral person. Further research within this field is widely anticipated to gain greater knowledge around how and why people view and practice moral behaviour in society and within oneself.

References

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