The YouTube video on Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development portrayed how people throughout all different ages and stages of life would respond to a moral dilemma that was posed by Kohlberg. After watching the video, I jotted down a few ideas and then I went through the blog and read what my classmates had to say. Most of my thoughts were fairly similar to that of my classmates, so instead of reiterating I am going to try and expand on what everyone else has stated.
I felt that the video did a good job of showing how people respond to this moral dilemma at various ages, but of course there are always some drawbacks. I understand that this was just a YouTube video and probably nothing that was to be too professional, but I think this video demonstrates how important it is to be unbiased or leading in both your questions and responses as the interviewer so as to not "feed" your subjects the answer or response that you are looking for, as Julie put it. The interviewer made a point to use phrases such as "the husband broke the law" or "should he turn himself in." These comments alone lead the subject to believe that the husband is indeed wrong or immoral in stealing the medicine for his sick wife.
This leads me to my next point. I was actually surprised that all of the adults in the video were so quick to say that the husband was wrong in what he did. I guess if you are answering the question strictly based on morals, then it is not so surprising, but as adults who have had the opportunity to go through some difficult life experiences, I am a little shocked that they were not more empathic towards the husbands situation. I also noticed that although everyone in the video responded that the husband was wrong for stealing the medicine, there were major differences in the responses from the children and responses from the adults. As Kohlberg theorized, as you progress though the stages of moral development, you are able to not only consider multiple points of view, but you are also able to offer more than one solution or offer several options. All of the adults in the video stated that the husband should have looked into other "resources" before turning to stealing. The adults also considered the social conventions invoved. The older gentleman mentioned the idea of a "chaotic world." If we just let everybody steal there would be no social order. Many of the kids said it was wrong, but although a few kids offered solutions, such as having a garage sale or going to organizations, most of them just said they thouht the husband was wrong because you are not "supposed" to steal.
As everyone has already mentioned, including individuals of various gender, race, ethnicity, SES, etc. would benefit the research much more. I also believe that considering the life experiences of these people may affect their answers. I feel that someone who has had a terminally ill wife, husband, mother, father, sister, brother, friend, significant other, etc. might answer differently. Politcal views may also alter responses.
Final Exit Ticket
Congratulations! You have completed your course on Affective Education. How quickly the time has passed. Each week there was something new to read, process, analyze and evaluate. Believe it or not, I was learning right along with you. How could I not? Considering that many of you provided such rich professional insight. I am a firm believer that it is always good to look at material, theories, and educational frameworks from different perspectives. For that, I thank you. Nonetheless, every course has its highlights; those moments whereby things simply stand-out and make a lot of sense, which leads to our final exit ticket. Please answer the following questions, what was the “ah ha moment for you”? And as a result, what new knowledge have you constructed through our eight week dialogue on Affective Education that strengthened your confidence about teaching moral education?
Video Link to the Bobo Doll Experiment
Review the video depicting Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment, which looks at aggression, observational and imitative learning. Share your opinion on how or why this experiment fits (or does not fit) into a discussion about affective education. Be sure to support your opinion. This counts as exit tickets for weeks 5 & 6. I look forward to reading your posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI
The Stages of Moral Development
It has been noted that the Domain Theory was established in an attempt to "categorize behaviors into either a moral or social domain"(Freday, 2009), however prior classification systems, such as Kohlberg's theory of moral development, placed morality and social convention in the same developmental domain. Domain theory separates the two and goes on to highlight the differences in a child's development of each (Freday, 2009, para. 2). Do you agree or disagree? Post your views.
With that noted, click on the You Tube link provided. View the Kohlberg video that explores the stages of moral development and post your views and reations to the video in no less than a 100 words. You may use the book or any other reading from class to support your views. Just be inclined to cite your sources. I look forward to reading your post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4etXWYS84
With that noted, click on the You Tube link provided. View the Kohlberg video that explores the stages of moral development and post your views and reations to the video in no less than a 100 words. You may use the book or any other reading from class to support your views. Just be inclined to cite your sources. I look forward to reading your post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4etXWYS84
Thursday, November 19, 2009
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Danielle, I liked what you mentioned about suprise at the subjects' seeming lack of empathy towards the husband's situation. I also wonder whether this is how they really felt, or if they said what they did know ing that their answers might be scrutinized. Being self aware and know the difference between right and wrong certainly may have played a role in the way each subject answered. I think fear of being judged could also cause one to answer according to what they thought the "right" answer was or what the experimenter was hoping to hear rather than what they truly felt.
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