The Psychology of Post-Conventional Morality and Martin Luther King Jr.

IntroductionMorals, as defined by psychologist, argon the attitudes and beliefs held by individuals that aid in the determination or what is right and what is wrong (Hock 142). It is believed that what is deemed chaste is determined by our culture and the norms present in that culture. It is also believed that we are not born with an schematic set of morals instead, we must gain this outline of what is moral throughout our childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. In order to properly analyze the extent Bandura social scholarship theory plays in the attainment of level three, stage six, of Kohlbergs moral development theory the theories of Kohlberg and Bandura must be properly outlined. The application of these theories will therefore by applied to case of Martin Luther King, Jr. who observed, through texts, the non-violent protest methods of Mohandas Gandhi. Lawrence Kohlberg, focusing his research on Jean Piaget, gained in interest in child development. spot at the Univers ity of Chicago, Kohlberg expounded upon the ideas set forth by Piaget and posed the question how does the amoral infant become capable of moral reasoning (Hock 143)? As a result of his research, Kohlberg created his moral development stage theory. His theory consists of three stages and each stage has two respective levels. In the first level, known as either pre-conventional morality or pre-moral, a person shows only self interest. In the first stage of this level a person will act morally simply because they are motivated by rewards or punishments. In stage two, the best interest of the person is the motivation for moral behavior. Conventional morality, the second level, is where a persons relationship between others plays a larger role in moral beha... ...an be suggested that one can develop morally even in the absence of this direct model-observer interaction if all other conditions are met. These conditions being attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. This essay has attempted at asserting that history can have a direct impact on moral development and can act as the model when applied to situations that contain the combination of factors. Bibliography1)Hock, Roger R. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology Explorations into the memorial of Psychological Research. 5th. Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Education, 2005. 142-50. Print. 2)Weber, Thomas Gandhi as Disciple and Mentor. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2004. 3)Rudolf, Lloyd L., and Susanne Hoeber Rudolf. Post Modern Gandhi and other essays. New Delhi Oxford University Press, 2006. 92-120. Print.