Life Assessment
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What does it really mean to be an adult? PSY 301, Adult Development and Life Assessment, course has helped me to understand that being an adult means that a person has developed enough to understand the relationships they have in their life, why they have them, and the impact those relationships have on themselves and others. Being an adult is also about being in touch with and understanding your feelings and morals and why you have those feelings and morals. My summary paper will focus on the academic constructs of Lawrence Kohlbergs Theory of Development of Moral Reasoning, Kolbs Model of Experiential Learning, and Hudson & McLeans idea of “Old Rules vs. New Rules” to explain how these ideas aid in becoming an adult.
In Lawrence Kohlbergs Theory of Development of Moral Reasoning he argues that children and adults move through a sequence of stages in their moral reasoning, each stage growing out of, but superseding, the one that came before. In this view, each stage reflects a meaning system or model, an internally consistent and pervasive set of assumptions about what is right and wrong and how it should be judged in others (Bee & Bjorklund, 2004). His argument is important because he recognizes not only what a person thinks but why they think it; in essence what is their moral reasoning for that thinking. He believes there are three levels of moral reasoning, with each being broken into 2 stages. The first level of moral reasoning is the preconventional level which is found mostly in children under the age of 9. This level is broken down into stage 1, the punishment-and-obedience orientation and stage 2, naïve hedonism. In stage 1 “what is right is what is rewarded or what is not punished” and in stage 2 “right is defined in terms of what brings pleasure or serves ones own needs” (Bee & Bjorklund, 2004). The next level is the conventional level which is found in most adolescents and adults. This level is broken down to stage 3, the good boy or girl orientations and stage 4, the social-order-maintaining morality. Stage 3 is when the individual accepts the rules and expectations of his or her family and peers and stage 4 is when they accept the rules and expectations of society. The third and final level is the postconventional level. This level is found in fewer adults than the conventional level as it “involves a search for the underlying reasons behind societys rules” (Bee & Bjorkund, 2004). This level is broken down to stage 5, the social contract orientations and stage 6, the individual principles of conscience orientation. In stage 5, the individual recognizes societys laws and rules and generally obeys by them; however they also recognize that these laws and rules do not always reflect moral reasoning. If it comes down to arguing between the laws and moral reasoning, the individual will generally argue on the side of morality. Stage 6 is a deeper belief in stage 5 in which the individual lives their life with their set of moral principles. Kohlberg also thought there may be a stage 7 that develops at the end of life when an adult is facing death. In facing death the individual no longer identifies himself as being the center of the universe but part of the universe as a whole. Very few people ever reach stages 6 and 7.
Kohlbergs Theory of Development of Moral Reasoning allows for the reality that everyone has different external influences in their life, but it is the fact that individuals process those external influences internally and build on them that tie us together. I believe the question of why something is wrong, not just simply that it is wrong, is key to his theory. Developing the “why” is what moves people along the 3 levels of moral reasoning. Most people move from the preconventional to the conventional level, but I can think of my brother, for example, who has never moved to that level. The environment that we grew up in was not typical or ideal. Our father was, and still is, an abusive, alcoholic so most of our home life focused on dealing with him. My father was particularly hard on my brother, to the point that it seemed he could do no right in my fathers eyes. My mother tried to keep the peace and make things as normal as possible for us, but in her efforts to do so, I believe she sheltered and protected my brother too much. She let him exhibit behavior that was unacceptable and went unpunished in order to protect him from my father. Since he was never really held accountable for his actions he never developed his “why”, so as an adult he has never moved into the conventional level. He continues to act as if the morals or rules of his family, peers, and society do not apply to him. This has caused him considerable problems in his adolescent and adult life. He has had multiple problems with the law and has spent time in both jail and court ordered rehab. However, he continues to exhibit the same behaviors that has lead him to get in the trouble in the first place. He is very much in stage 1 and 2 of the preconventional level. He does what he wants, when he wants to without any regard to the rules and expectations of his family, peers, or society. To me this is a perfect example of someone who would technically be considered an adult due to his age, but when you really examine this person you see that in many ways they are still a child and have never really made that development into adulthood.
I believe that Kohlbergs Theory of Development of Moral Reasoning helps to define the adult learner in the simple fact that if you do not learn how to morally develop you are not really an adult. We each have different moral beliefs, and no one can say with any certainty that anyone elses moral beliefs are right or wrong. Beliefs are what they are, simply beliefs. What makes us an adult though is not simply having these beliefs, it is understanding why we have these beliefs. You must take the time to understand not only what you believe, but how you got there, what drove you to have your beliefs, and what the reasoning behind it is. The further you seek to understand that, the more you move along the levels of moral reasoning.
In Kolbs Model of Experiential Learning he breaks down learning into four phases (The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, 2005):
Concrete Experience – learning by experiencing and relating to people and being sensitive to feelings and people.
Reflective Observation – learning by reflecting before making judgments, viewing issues from different perspectives, and looking for the meaning in things.
Abstract Conceptualization – learning by thinking and analyzing, planning systematically, and acting on an intellectual