Moral Reasoning Analysis: Advanced Psychology Assignment

This assignment delves into the moral reasoning of a 7-year-old child and a 14-year-old adolescent through interview transcripts, analyzing their responses based on Kohlberg's stages of moral development. The child's adherence to eating vegetables is attributed to parental influence and the desire for rewards, aligning with the law and order orientation (Stage 4). In contrast, the adolescent demonstrates a more advanced moral understanding, adopting vegetarianism based on ethical considerations, reflecting a social-contract orientation (Stage 5). The assignment highlights the contrasting levels of moral development, illustrating the shift from rule-based compliance to principled reasoning. References to relevant literature are provided to support the analysis.

Running head: ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
Transcript between me and he child of age 07
A child of age 7 was interviewed about his likings. Through a detailed conversation, a crucial
fact got identified which is reported in the following transcript.
Me: so you do not like vegetables at all?
C07: not at all. It is mummy who forces me to have
Me: so why you do not say to her that you do not like them?
C07: What can I do? She tells me that if I do not complete my veggie platters, she would not take
me to the park ride.
Me: you love park rides?
C07: Yes, I love them a lot and she tells me that if I want to ride in the park, I also need to be as
strong as daddy and for that veggie is very important.
Me: so when you complete your veggie meal, she takes you to the park?
C07: yes, she is very strict and only after I finish my meal on veggies she tales me to the park. So
every day I have to take the veggie meal. Otherwise she does not take me to park.

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ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
Transcript between me and the adolescent of age 14:
Me: So you like vegetable in your diet?
A14: it is not that I really love vegetable but yes my diet comprises of them only.
Me: so it is a custom in your family or you are only vegetarian.
A14: No….Not at all…they are lovers of meat. It is only me who is strictly vegetarian.
Me: Don’t they say anything to you?
A14: I don’t understand why they feel bad for me. They pity me on my choices as they cannot
accept my choices.
Me: why do you take veggies only as all around you are meat lovers?
A14: this is solely because I do not like the fact of killing animals for having good food. I
believe that they have equal rights to survive and hence they should not be killed. We are
human’s beings and we are the most developed beings on the earth. However, we cannot use that
power to literally hurt other beings.
Me: that is a really good thought.

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ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
The child has been identified to be present in level 2 where his sense of morality has been
linked to that of personal as well as societal relationships. He is present in stage 4 which mainly
concerns about law and order orientation. Here the child is seen to eat vegetable as a daily part of
the meal along with meat as his mother had taught him that eating veggies are important for the
body growth. The child has accepted the fact as a rule and believes that easting vegetable will
help him to grow and be string like his father. He had said that whenever he wastes vegetable, his
mother gives him punishments and whenever he completes his meal properly, he is rewarded
with rides around the park which he loves. Hence, form this conversation, it is clearly understood
that he is a blind follower of the rules which have been fixed by the families as well as the
societies. In this stage. Kohlberg has mainly described an individual who sees rules in the same
way by which others also looks at it (Cherry 2014). Children obey rules by doing what one is
taught or advised to do as they are imposed on them to be important as well as valuable (Araki
2014). The individual learns that if he violates any law, he would be punished and therefore he
holds an obligation to perform any task as it is demanded from him by society and family (Krebs
et al. 2014). Therefore the child also learns that it is good habit to have vegetable also if they are
not tasty. Otherwise, he may not be taken to the park which is his perceived punishments.

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ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
A marked difference in moral reasoning was noticed in the adolescent who was found to
be falling in the category of level 3 in the stage 5 of social-contract orientation. In the interview,
the adolescent boy stated that he had chosen himself to vegetarian not because he is forced or is
advised by his parents. He had taken up vegetarian and morally he thinks killing lives for food is
not ethical enough for human being who thinks himself as the brained and emotional soul’s n the
earth. From the matured discussion, it is clearly seen that he has proved his moral reasoning
beyond the shackle of rewards and punishments notions of the society and parental monitoring
(Gibbs 2013). He has clearly learnt o understand the good and bad in each of the social customs
and lifestyles mannerisms. He had learnt to judge on every aspect of lifestyles and pick up an
opinion which according to him is the bet to develop the future world. In this way a marked
difference was noted in the moral reasoning of the two individuals.

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ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY
References:
Araki, N., 2014. AN APPLICATION OF KOHLBERG’S THEORY OF MORAL DILEMMA
DISCUSSION TO THE JAPANESE CLASSROOMAND ITS EFFECT ON MORAL
DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE STUDENTS. Handbook of Moral and Character Education,
p.308.
Cherry, K., 2014. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. About. com Psychology.
Gibbs, J.C., 2013. Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman,
and Haidt. Oxford University Press.
Krebs, D.L., Vermeulen, S., Carpendale, J. and Denton, K., 2014. Structural and situational
influences on moral judgment: The interaction between stage and dilemma. en: WM Kurtines et
JL Gewirtz (eds.): Handbook of moral behavior and development, 1, pp.139-169.