An Analysis of Moral Reasoning Through Kohlberg's Dilemmas

This essay examines moral reasoning through an analysis of Kohlberg's dilemmas, focusing on two scenarios involving family relationships. The author explores the contrasting moral codes of themselves and a friend, discussing the application of Kohlberg's stages of moral development, specifically instrumental orientation and law and order orientation. The essay further delves into the factors influencing moral reasoning, including age, family culture, parenting styles, education, income level, geographic location, and gender. The conclusion highlights how these elements shape an individual's moral development from childhood, emphasizing the impact of environment and personal experiences on ethical decision-making. The paper emphasizes on how these concepts influence the individual's perspective and decision-making capabilities in various situations.

Running head: MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
Name of the student:
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Author Note:

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).

2MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
The two different dilemmas although sharing similarity in terms of showing the
parent-child relationship, yet the decision taken by the subject here is different. The first
dilemma reveals how the boy takes the decision and the second dilemma portrays the
reasoning of elder sibling in the family.
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. The norms and laws are followed in the adulthood with a goal of meeting justice.
It is also influenced by the culture of my family through values of love, trust, loyalty and
cooperation towards each other. The protective nature of parenting style as well as guidance
in every crucial stages has evolved my decision-taking capability at any situations. The
environment of school where I have learnt principles of sincerity and honesty in every action
has taught me to take moral decisions in the right direction without compromising the ethics.
The friends and social groups I dwell with has influenced my reasoning through control of
negative emotions like anger, jealousy, greed and encourage more positive emotions like
care, dependence and gratitude towards others.
The moral development gets hugely formed by the size of family in which an
individual lives. The joint families with grandparents make the children at an early age adopt
the spiritual and traditional values than nuclear and single-parent families. The parenting
style and the environment of home frame the moral development too. Individuals having an
abusive childhood develops negative reasoning skills and take decisions which can offer
harmful consequences in future. The children raised in discipline and rules follow the strict
conduct of the house and in future take better informed decisions. In terms of geographic
location a child from rural and poverty ridden background will have different moral
reasoning than an urban child residing in a good lifestyle. Also, a person with low income
will resort to crimes to fulfill his desires than a high income-earning individual who is
already satisfying the present desires. The hunger of satisfying of the desires is seen more in
people with low income, money being the most dominant factor here. The level of education
also play a crucial role in proper reasoning of situations in front of us. A minimum literate
individual as compared to highly knowledgeable person will base his or her reasoning in
terms of limited information and values.

3MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
The gender being the most dominant factor in moral development suggests that
women are more matured in taking moral decisions than men. The moral values varies
between these two types of gender- the men seek self-justice at their own terms while the
women put other’s preferences at first to go for decisions on moral grounds.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my moral code is more of a care orientation to create a harmonious
relationship be it mitigating the differences in a family whereas the moral code of my friend
is concerned more on achievement of personal desires than showing care for family. Finally,
the paper presents the fact that level of education, size and culture of family along with
parenting styles, income-level, geographic location and gender play crucial roles in shaping
the moral development of an individual right from childhood.

4MORAL REASONING THROUGH KOHLBERG’S DILEMMAS
References
Kohlberg dilemmas. (2020). Retrieved January 15, 2020, from Haverford.edu website:
http://ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/p109g/kohlberg.dilemmas.html
Malti, T., & Ongley, S. F. (2014). The development of moral emotions and moral reasoning.
Handbook of moral development, 2, 163-183.
Margoni, F. (2017). Expectations of Obedience and the Development of Moral Reasoning
(Doctoral dissertation, University of Trento).
Mercier, H., Castelain, T., Hamid, N., & Marín-Picado, B. (2017). The power of moral
arguments. In Moral Inferences (pp. 115-130). Psychology Press.
Rizzo, M. T., Li, L., Burkholder, A. R., & Killen, M. (2019). Lying, negligence, or lack of
knowledge? Children’s intention-based moral reasoning about resource claims.
Developmental psychology, 55(2), 274.
Sevinc, G., & Spreng, R. N. (2014). Contextual and perceptual brain processes underlying
moral cognition: a quantitative meta-analysis of moral reasoning and moral emotions.
PloS one, 9(2), e87427.