Answer 1.
According to the theory of Gilligan, if Anika would be in the first stage i.e. the preconventional stage, then she would have decided to accept Darius’s proposal. In the first stage of Gilligan’s theory, the primary goal of a person is individual survival that means the person would try to survive himself from any case of confusion. As we can see in Anika’s case, her friend Hope also had a crush on Darius, and she was in confusion whether to choose her friend or the proposal of Darius. But in the preconventional stage, a person wants to care only for them self in order to ensure survival. Anika would have chosen Darius proposal in this case for the survival for her self. But if she would be in the second stage defined by Gilligan’s theory i.e. the conventional stage then she would have sacrificed her happiness for the sake of her best friend, Hope. As Gilligan defined in her theory, in the conventional stage the person develops a responsibility for his surroundings and shows more care towards other people. In this stage, the person’s behaviour is self-sacrificing. In our case of Anika, she would have self-sacrificed her happiness for her best friend Anika.
Answer 2.
Gilligan divided the three stages of psychological behaviour in children according to their age and the atmosphere they live with. Anika, who is a 12 year old student of sixth grade is not supposed to move to stage 3 defined by Gilligan because her cognition is not that strong as that of an adolescent child who get into the third stage. The third stage of Gilligan’s theory called “Morality of non-violence” suggests that a person who belongs to this stage make the decisions of his life depending on the principle of care for self and also others. In this stage, a person develops a principle of non-violence and doesn’t hurt anyone either mentally or physically. If Anika were in this stage, she would have talked to both of them before coming to any conclusion. Darius liked her, but her best friend Hope also liked Darius. Anika would have consulted all of them to come to a decision because in this stage a person doesn’t want to hurt others feelings. As we can see in our case study of Anika, her decision of accepting Darius’s proposal was directly connected to the feelings of her best friend Hope, so she would have told this to Hope first of all and tried to be safe without hurting her best friend’s feelings.
Answer 3.
If we consider Kohlberg’s theory on the basis of Anika’s age, then she falls in the third stage as defined by Kohlberg that suggests that a person belonging to this stage tries to maintain an image of good boy or nice girl. People at this stage shift from pleasing themselves to pleasing others, often parents, teachers, or sometimes friends. In this stage when a person accused of doing something wrong, his behaviour is likely to be justified by saying that “everyone” else is doing it” or “I didn’t intent to hurt anyone.” Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is based on thinking and logic and not feelings for others. Kohlberg believed that morals were based on age and wisdom, rather than real life experience and empathic behaviour with others. If we consider his theory, then Anika would have refused the proposal of Darius. Although the result would be same as suggested in Gilligan’s theory but Gilligan thought that the theory of Kohlberg is based on male centred view. His view about Kohlberg’s theory was acceptable. Gilligan made some necessary changes to the existing theory of Kohlberg and Piaget, and she has connected both the self and the social environment in which a person lives. While as compared to Kohlberg’s theory, Anika’s decision of refusing Darius’s proposal was based on her thinking and logic i.e. she would have decided to refuse the proposal just because she wanted to be nice towards other people. But according to Gilligan’s theory, Anika would have refused Darius’s proposal because she is not only concerned about her self, but also about her best friend Hope.
Answer 1.
According to Kohlberg’s sequence of Moral, Will falls in the second stage of the moral that suggests looking out for self. In this stage, that belongs to the age group of 5-10; a person tends to be self-serving. He lacks respect for the right of others but sometimes he or she tends to give something to others thinking that he would get much or more in return. In this stage self-service is the motto instead of loyalty, gratitude, or justice. Here in our case study of Will, he decided to give the precious ring to her younger sister, thinking that he would get something more in return from his sister. Although Will looked for the real owner of the ring for some time, but still finally he decided to put the ring inside his pocket and give it to his sister as a birthday gift. The circumstances of poverty and misery after his father’s death that Will was going through justify his decision of taking the ring for her sister. But still his main motivation behind this decision was for his self. He should have asked the lady who seemed to be Kaitlin’s mom to him, but he decided to take it for his sister because of his self motivating behaviour as defined by Kohlberg’s sequence of Moral.
Answer 2.
I think that he falls in this level because his decision was not directly related to any kind of moral values that a mature person shows in these kinds of situations. Will was 5th grader child and a child of this age thinks according to the second level of Kohlberg’s sequence theory. Will’s decision of taking the ring as a gift for her sister was also pragmatically right because he was not getting his pocket money, and he was looking for a solution of his problem. He thought that if he would give the ring to his sister then he would get some money in return from her. His decision also holds well according to Kohlberg’s theory of moral where his self-motivation was his primary concern. If he would be an adult person and comes in the 4th stage of Kohlberg’s theory model, then his decision would be different and he would have enquired the real owner of the ring by asking Kaitlin’s mom, who was presented near the garden. Although we can’t conclude anything about Will’s behaviour from this story because his final decision was not given in this story that whether he gave the ring to Kaitlin who was crying in the school or still saved the ring for her sister.
Answer 3.
If we consider Kohlberg’s theory of moral, then Will would not have given the ring back to Kaitlin because Kohlberg’s theory depends on cognition and logic and not connected with the circumstances a person may be going through. In this case of Will, he would have ignored the crying of Kaitlin because his cognition was not developed that much to conclude anything from Kaitlin’s behaviour. But if we consider the circumstances then Will have given the ring back to Kaitlin because he was conscious about the behaviour of Kaitlin. It is mentioned in the last sentence of the story that Will’s heart sank when he saw Kaitlin bursting in tears, that suggests he was conscious about the circumstances and would have behaved differently as explained in the Kohlberg’s theory of moral. This story suggests that Will had a good cognitive behaviour because he didn’t put the ring directly into his pocket after he saw it in the garden. But still as he was a fifth grader child, and he was not matured enough to ignore the circumstances he was going through in his home.
Answer 4.
Robin Hood belongs to the sixth stage of morality according to the Kohlberg’s theory of moral. Kohlberg suggests that in this stage the person considers many values that are not directly related to the Justice. This kind of person does not conform to traditions or beliefs or even to his or her emotions, impulsive notion, or intuitions about right or wrong by himself. A Stage 6 person follows a golden rule of living and carefully chooses basic rules to follow that is concerned with caring and respect for every living being and a common notion that we are all at an equal level and we all deserve to have equal opportunities. This kind of person is strong and determined enough to act on his values even if other people think them to be odd. According to the stories of “The legend of Robin Hood”, Robin Hood is a renegade who steals from rich and to give it to poor. His behaviour defines the common behaviour of stage 6 person of Kohlberg’s theory that suggests that he was thinking about the common good of people and was breaking the laws just to give equal opportunities to poor people and not for his own self.
References
Blum, L. A. (1988). Gilligan and Kohlberg: Implications for Moral Theory. The University of Chicago Press , 472-491.
Carol Gilligan. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2014, from http://humangrowth.tripod.com/: http://humangrowth.tripod.com/id2.html
Chapter 3: Values and Morals:. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2014, from www.psychologicalselfhelp.org/: http://www.psychologicalselfhelp.org/Chapter3.pdf
Gilligan's In a Different Voice. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2014, from www.lfkkb.tripod.com/: http://lfkkb.tripod.com/eng24/gilliganstheory.html
Roberts, K. A. (n.d.). The Social Psychology of Conversion and Commitment. Retrieved October 21, 2014, from www.uk.sagepub.com/: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/rsp5e/study/resources/82986_05pe_1.pdf
