CRITICISM'S OF KOHLBERG'S THEORY (Woolfolk, 1993)

Moral development may not occur automatically instages.

This development may be more related to the rewarding or punishing of achild for certain behavior. The home environment, according to somepsychologists, may be more closely related to moral development than a naturalprogression of stages.

Is MORAL REASONING the same thing as MORAL BEHAVIOR?

For example, a person may say he will do something when given a moraldilemma. Will that person behave in a way that is consistent with what he saysin a real life dilemma?

Reliability of Kohlberg's testing.

Will a child evaluated one day by a particular researcher be assessed atthe same moral level a few days later by a different researcher?

The validity of Kohlberg's model in terms of the decision the person makesbased on the moral dilemmas.

Critics question the fact that whatever solution a person picks is okay,as long as the person can base his/her solution on reasons. Basically, criticswonder if the reasoning a person uses should be enough. "Doesn't theanswer have anything to do with the stage of development, instead of just thereasoning?"

Kohlberg is biased against women.

This challenge is due to the fact that Kohlberg doesn't take into accountthe differences between men and women. For example, women are more likely tobase their explanations for moral dilemmas on concepts such as caring andpersonal relationships. These concepts are likely to be scored at thestage three level. Men, onthe other hand, are more likely to base their decisions for moral dilemmas onjustice and equity. Those concepts are likely to be scored atstage five orsix.