The Internal Dilemma
A look into Kohlberg and Gilligan
Brad Charbonneau
Marcus DeBruno

Born 1927, Bronxville, NY.

Andover Academy in MA

Helped Israeli cause with refugees

1948, attended University of Chicago

Graduate work at University of Chicago

Taught at Chicago and Harvard

Foundation based on Piaget

Moral reasoning in young children

6 stages of Moral Reasoning

Level 1: Preconventional



Level 2: Conventional



Stage 1: Punishment and Reward
Stage 2: Hedonism/Reciprocity
Stage 3: Good boy/Bad girl
Stage 4: Rules of Society
Level 3: Postconventional


Stage 5: Individual Rights
Stage 6: Universal Principles
Moral reasoning is based on laws and punishments
from authority figures.
Moral reasoning is based on reciprocity. Help
others because it benefits us, “scratch my back, I
scratch yours”.
Moral reasoning is based on good interpersonal
relationships.
Moral reasoning based on well-being of all and
maintaining a social order.
Moral reasoning is concerned with individual
moral rights within social contract.
Moral reasoning is based on universal principles
of justice. Considering others perspectives.
We believe that age and gender will not be a
significant factor in moral stage placement.
Boys and girls, in respects to their ages, will be
placed in similar moral reasoning stages.




The study consisted of 40 participants from a
3rd grade class and a 7th grade class.
The answers were recorded on the surveys
using pencil and paper.
Several of the younger students had questions
for further explanation of the questions and/or
dilemma.
Misunderstanding of drug.

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 is the same
town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to
make, but the druggist was charging 10 times what the drug
cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged
$4,000 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 $2,000, 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.

1. Should Heinz steal the drug, Yes or No? ______


2. Is it actually right or wrong for him to steal
the drug, Yes or No? ______


Why or why not?
Why or why not?
3. Suppose the person dying is not his wife but a
stranger. Should Heinz steal the drug for the
stranger, Yes or No? ______

Why or why not?



No, "Because he has to obey the laws he could be
charged and payed a fine" – Participant 1, age 8,
Male, Score: 1
Yes, "He should because the wife is dying and he is
caring about her and how she feels" – Participant 8,
age 8, Female, Score: 3
No, "Heinz should not because stealing is wrong.
Another thing is that death is part of life. If Heinz's
wife dies he would be sad. If his wife goes to
Heaven and he goes to Heaven then he will see her
again." – Participant 4, age 8, Male, Score: 4


Yes, "He married his wife and made the vow to
help them in illness so he should do everything
possible to help his wife" - 23, age 12, Male,
Score: 5
No, "Because it might be a bad drug" –
Participant 3, age 8, Male


Misunderstanding of the term “drug.”
No, "Because it is not good to have drugs" –
Participant 11, age 9, Male

Misunderstanding of the term “drug.”

Heinz did break into the store. He stole the
drug and gave it to his wife. In the newspapers
the next day there was an account of the
robbery. Mr. Brown, a police officer who knew
Heinz, read the account. He remembered
seeing Heinz running away from the store and
realized that it was Heinz who stole the drug.
Mr. Brown wonders whether he should report
that Heinz was the robber.

4. Should Officer Brown report Heinz for
stealing, Yes or No? _____


Why or why not?
5. Suppose Officer Brown were a close friend of
Heinz; should he then report him, Yes or No?
_____

Why or why not?

Joe is a 14-year old boy who wanted to go to camp
very much. His father promised him he could go if
he saved up the money for it himself. So Joe
worked hard at his paper route and saved up the
$100 it cost to go to camp and a little more besides.
But just before camp was going to start, his father
changed his mind. Some of his friends decided to
go on a special fishing trip, and Joe’s father was
short of the money it would cost. So he told Joe to
give him the money had had saved from the paper
route. Joe didn’t want to give up going to camp, so
he thinks of refusing to give his father the money.

6. Should Joe refuse to give his father the
money, Yes or No? _____


Why or why not?
7. Does the father have the right to tell Joe to
give him the money, Yes or No? _____

Why or why not?


"He is his father and he should have the right"
– Participant 5, age 8, Female, Score: 3
"Once again, Joe worked hard for the money
and should receive the price for his labor" –
Participant 35, age 13, Female, Score: 4




Two participants decided not to participate in
the study.
There were 20 participants ages eight and nine
and 18 participants ages 12, 13, and 14.
In order to keep the names of the participants
confidential, they were labeled individually 138.
The researchers divided the survey into the
three main dilemmas and determined the
overall reasoning scores of morality for each
one.
16
14
12
10
Age
8
Moral Placement
6
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38


In regard to the overall
modes of morality scores
for each participant, the
older children generally
scored higher on their
levels of reasoning.
The levels of reasoning for
males versus females were
slightly different, but
overall were similar and
consistent with the age of
the participant.


Discipline: If a parent can understand how his
or her child reasons morality, he or she will
know how to best discipline his or her child.
Education: By identifying the times that one
develops morally, an educator may help a
student further his or her development.

Example: Teaching Civics or Government





Sample size was only 38 people.
Many students in the third grade skipped or
misunderstood certain questions.
The second question, “Is it actually right or
wrong for him to steal the drug, Yes or No?”
appeared confusing to many students.
A few minor grammatical errors in the survey.
The survey was not timed, and some students
thought long and deliberately about certain
questions.


Evaluate the moral reasoning ability
of teenagers in high-school, young
adults, middle-aged adults, or older
adults.
Determine a better system for
measuring differences in moral
reasoning between males and
females.


“justice” versus “care” orientation
Compare different lawyers’ moral
reasoning ability to that of another
profession, such as medical doctors.

There may be differences in how the
people from these careers view justice in
relation to law and the human person.