Moral Reasoning Through Kohlberg’s Dilemmas Research Paper 2022

Running head: MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
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1MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
Introduction
The moral reasoning of humans through judgments of hypothetical dilemmas enhance
their emotions which make them take a moral judgment in future (Sevinc & Spreng, 2014).
This paper aims to study the two dilemmas of Kohlberg both having relevance in terms of
family relations to reflect on the contrasting moral codes of me and my friend (“Kohlberg
dilemmas,” 2020).
Discussion
According to my friend in Dilemma I, as Joey has earned the money with his toil and
effort in the paper industry in order to save the amount for his camping trip, keeping the
money for himself instead of giving it to his father will be the most responsible action to
commit (“Kohlberg dilemmas,” 2020). Instead of keeping the promise, the father asks his son
to provide him the money earned in hard work to utilize in his fishing trip with friends which
is not justified at the end. This falls under the scale 2, second stage of moral development
called Instrumental Orientation where the moral behavior is oriented as serving one’s own
best interests on the cost of other’s needs (Malti & Ongley, 2014). Judging as per external
consequences, the fulfillment of personal needs is given due importance. My friend suggests
that it is not necessary to always meet and obey our parents by sacrificing our passions even
that demands us to be selfish in certain situations (Margoni, 2017).
According to me in Dilemma II, as Judy has earned a fair amount of money and kept
it a secret from her mother for the sake of attending the concert, the most responsible action
for Louise will be tell her mother that her sister lied regarding the money (“Kohlberg
dilemmas,” 2020). In a mother-daughter’s relationship, although a mother being an elderly
figure promises but fails to keep it in future, lying to your mother for fulfillment of certain
desires is not appreciated by me (Rizzo, Burkholder and Killen, 2019). This falls under the
scale 4, third stage of moral development called Law and order orientation where the
morality lies in conforming to rules supposed to be obeyed as a norm. As per my opinion, the
moral decision should not hold any bias be it your blood relation or others. The punishment
or the reward should be same for everyone. Louise being an elder sister should never support
this intolerable behavior of her sibling. (Mercier et.al, 2017).
My moral reasoning is influenced by my age where I have a reached a certain period
of maturity in adulthood to distinguish between the right and wrong from a non-biased
perspective. It is also influenced by the culture of my family through values of love, trust,