Childhood: Discussing Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development and Methodologies

1.Discuss one theory of moral development considering the methodologies used. 

One of the theories of moral development is the Kohlberg’s theory. Lawrence Kohlberg is widely known as the psychologists that developed a theory of moral evolution and hence initiated by Jenny Paget’s early work on the moral judgment (Kohlberg, Levine & Hewer, 2016). The Kohlberg’s theory of moral development was mostly dependent on Jean Piaget’s thoughts who is the Swiss psychologists along with the America Philosopher John Dewey. According to the Kohlberg’s theory, the moral development proceeds within a linear stepwise fashion that is in an ordered sequence (Simpson, 2014).

The stages of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development are as highlighted below. Level 1. Preconvention Morality consists of the first two stages. Stage 1-Obedience and Punishment are mostly standard in young children, but adults can also express this kind of reasoning (Murphy, 2016). They see rules are permanent and absolute and it is essential for them to follow the rules to avoid being punished. Stage 2- Individualism and the exchange is the stage where children begin to rationalize individual points of view and how it affects their own needs. Level 2, Conventional Morality consists of steps three and four. The third stage is referred to as “good boy-good girl” orientation or Interpersonal Cooperation which is based on behaving to social expectations and roles (McCrae & Costa, 2016).

The fourth stage is called Maintaining Social Order. This usually happens at the time individuals start to take into consideration society as a whole when makings judgments. They focus on being strict to the rules, carrying out their duties and respecting authorities (Lyons, 2015). Level 3. Post-conventional Morality is the last level. It also consists of the last two stages. Stage 5 is the Social Contract orientation which is when people take differing values into account, such as the opinions and beliefs of others. People can think of to their social order and hence emphasize fair procedures for interpreting and changing the law (Vaillant, 2014). The sixth Stage is called Universal Ethical Principles orientation which is Kohlberg’s last and highest stage. “Right action is termed as self-chosen ethical principles of conscience that are valid for all people, regardless of law and social agreement. As people get older, their moral reasoning begins to mature (Abram, 2016).

Kohlberg has three moral reasoning theories that develop through three levels.

Pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional are the three levels of moral reasoning. Pre-convention level is driven by external forces such as rewards for good work or good behaviors, punishments for wrongdoings or dangerous behavior, and the laws of justice is a good example. Law abiding citizens know that if he or she breaks the judge that he or she will be punished and held accountable for the actions that took place. The conventional level is where an individual is aware of the rules and laws that are outlined in to maintain order and “preserve positive human relationships and societal order (Vaillant, 2014).

 The conventional post level of moral is elaborated by abstract, universal principles of justice. The post-conventional level is the third level of moral and the level where people enter the highest level of moral development. The individuals that reach this level or moral development are more aware of the innate rights of humans and are led by his or her ethical beliefs. The moral is the completed perception of the actions take place before and during any wrongdoings and the rewards for the good doings that take place in society and human nature.

Adolescence: Critically Analyzing the Impact of Deprivation/Privation

Critically discuss the impact of deprivation/privation on adolescence. 

Deprivation is termed as the state or act of being kept away from possessing or enjoying something or losing something in which a person once had. On the other hand, it is the lack of what is required for existence. Accordingly, Privation is defined as never having something. In that case, the adolescents from different areas of high deprivation are usually assumed to have shallow aspirations for their future (Abram, 2016). As an illustration, the recent research depicted a relationship between poverty together with desire. However, this paper elaborated the levels along with variations in aspiration from male and female adolescents who are living in areas of high deprivation. The strength of this paper is the diverse population of low socioeconomic status adolescents comprising a different kind of people such as white British, black Americans, Pakistan, Black Caribbean and mixed ethnicity (Abram, 2016).

The females are more likely to report higher educational aspirations than male adolescents. Accordingly, the minority ethnic adolescents from the low socio-class backgrounds are usually less successful to convert high ambitions into top achievements. Furthermore, the social deprivation might have negative impacts on adolescents which results to lower expectations.

Sleep deprivation can too result in adverse impacts to the adolescents. For instance, it can affects mood states in health adolescents with the females having the heightened vulnerability. That is insufficient sleep might result to mental health problems which comprise of anxiety. Depression along with low self-esteem. Deprivation of sleep has detrimental effects on the academic performance along with daytime functioning.

In conclusion, the sleep deprivation has great impacts on adolescent physical along with mental health. Issues related are day-time sleepiness, poor appetite, memory deficit along with decreased levels of attention.

Critically evaluate Levinson’s theory of adulthood concerning research.

Daniel Livingston is known to be a developmental psychologist that pioneered the theory on developmental stages of adulthood. Levinson developed a comprehensive theory of the adult’s development which is called Seasons of life that identifies the stages along with growth that occurs well into adult life. The theory he developed comprises of stages.

As an illustration, the first one is the early adult transition. This is the stage in which an individual leaves adolescence and hence begins to make decisions about the adult life (Walrath, 2014). This comprises of choosing to go to university or to enter the workplace. The second stage is Entering the Adult World. At this stage, people usually make a concrete decision in regards to their occupation, values along with lifestyles. Furthermore, at this stage people usually moves from high dependence to high independence.

The third stage of Levinson theory is Age 30 transition. This stage involves lifestyle changes which could be more severe. For instance, marriage usually causes impacts to a person’s life which also comes with different consequences on how to develop depending on how they embrace the event (Duska & Whelan, 2014). The fourth stage is called Settling Down. This usually happens at the age of around 33 to 40 years. It usually begins to establish a routine, makes progress on goals and hence begins to behave like adults. In this stage, people are often parents or possesses more responsibilities (Shweder, Mahapatra & Miller, 2017). Additionally, this is usually a stage of stress where individuals have to pursue the life passions, career goals along with starting families.

Adulthood: Critical Evaluation of Levinson’s Theory of Adulthood Based on Research

The fifth stage is a mid-life transition. This stage is at the age of 40 to 45 years. At this stage, people start to make drastic life changes such as career change. Furthermore, most of the people at this stage usually think of death along with leaving a legacy. The sixth stage is entering middle adulthood which starts at the age of 45 to 50 years. Individuals typically commit to the new tasks as they continue to think about the legacy (Turiel, 2016). This is also called midlife crisis in case the individual is unhappy with life. Accordingly, the individual may become more reflective, compassionate and loving towards themselves along with others

The last stage is late adulthood which is at 60 years and above. This stage is usually about reflection on what one might have done. Accordingly, he indicated that in every step there is a staple period and a transition period (Walrath, 2014).

3. Critically evaluate the association between anxiety/depression and old age.

Anxiety is the general term for different disorders which causes nervousness, fear along with worry. On the other hand, it is the feeling of dread along with apprehension about what’s about to come. Depression, on the other hand, is defined as the common disorder and a serious medical illness which negatively affects how people feel. It is recorded that anxiety usually decreases with age in older adults. On the other hand, depression remains constant with the increasing age (Murphy, 2016). This implies that as age increases, the anxiety diminishes. As an illustration, the older adult has increased emotional regulation which results in more passive coping. Accordingly, older age is usually more internally focused and less overtly active time. Therefore, this increased wisdom regularly assists the older adults to put their situation into broader context and copes better with the challenges of life (Ernst & Angst, 2014).

Depression along with anxiety are usually associated with poorer treatment outcomes, reduced ability to make treatment outcomes along with reduced ability to make treatment decisions. Accordingly, the hypothesis of researchers is that anxiety decreases with age as depression increase.

The third reason why anxiety usually decreases with age is that adults have different trajectories and experiences that young people. In that case, they have developed enough coping mechanism along with life lessons. In that case, they are better equipped to deal with anxiety. Older adults are also reported to possess better emotion regulation, and hence they are more successful in their problem-solving strategies (Lyons, 2015). Last but not least, the older people are more likely to focus on what matters and therefore benefit from a shortened time perspective. In regards to depression, it recorded that increased age is associated with higher depressive symptoms.

References

Abram, J. (2016). The language of Winnicott: A dictionary of Winnicott’s use of words. Karnac Books.

Duska, R., & Whelan, M. (2014). Moral Development: A Guide to Piaget and Kohlberg.

Ernst, C., & Angst, J. (2014). Depression in old age. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 245(6), 272-287.

Kohlberg, L., Levine, C., & Hewer, A. (2016). Moral stages: A current formulation and a response to critics.

Levinson, D. J. (2014). A theory of life structure development in adulthood.

Lyons, N. P. (2015). Two perspectives: On self, relationships, and morality. Harvard Educational Review, 53(2), 125-145.

McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (2016). Personality in adulthood: A five-factor theory perspective. Guilford Press.

Murphy, E. (2016). Social origins of depression in old age. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 141(2), 135-142.

Shweder, R. A., Mahapatra, M., & Miller, J. G. (2017). Culture and moral development. The emergence of morality in young children, 1-83.

Simpson, E. L. (2014). Moral development research. Human development, 17(2), 81-106.

Turiel, E. (2016). The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention. Cambridge University Press.

Vaillant, G. E. (2014). Loss as a metaphor for attachment. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 45(1), 59-67.

Walrath, R. (2014). Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development. In Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development (pp. 859-860). Springer, Boston, MA.