Shopping Together Jill Tried Iowa Lakes Community
Interview a child and an adult with the two situations below. You will need to ask the child’s parents for permission. Then compare the moral reasoning for the two.
1.Read the child the following situation and ask them the following questions. Record their answers in the box below.
Kenny is walking into a store. It is his mother’s birthday on Saturday. He’s feeling bad because he hasn’t been able to save up enough money to get her the present he’d like to get. Then, on the sidewalk, he finds a wallet with $10 in it –just enough to get the present! But there is an identification card in the wallet telling the name and address of the owner.
1. What should Kenny do? Why?
2. What would be a good reason for Kenny to return the wallet? Can you think of any other reasons?
3. Would it be stealing to keep the money? Why is it wrong to steal?
4. What if the owner of the wallet were a rich and greedy person, and wouldn’t even give Kenny a reward for returning it –should he return the wallet then?
5. Age and gender of child you are interviewing.
2. Read the following dilemma to an adult. Then ask the following questions.
Jill and Sharon were best friends. One day when they were shopping together Jill tried on a sweater, and to Sharon’s surprise, walked out of the store wearing the sweater under her coat. A moment later the store’s security officer stopped Sharon and demanded she tell him the name of the girl who just walked out. He told the store owner he’d seen the two girls together, and he was sure the one who left had been shoplifting. The store owner then said to Sharon, “Come on now, come clean. You could get into serious trouble if you don’t give us your friend’s name.”
- Should Sharon tell Jill’s name to the security officer? Why?
- Would it make any difference if Jill had recently done Sharon a big favor?
- Would it make any difference if they were not good friends?
- What factors should Sharon consider in making her decision?
- Is shoplifting wrong? Why? What’s the most important reason why it is wrong?
- Age and gender of adult you are interviewing.
3.How did the responses of the child and the adult differ in terms of maturity of moral judgements? (Do not assume the adult makes more mature judgements than the child.)
4 Evaluate both the child’s and adult’s quality of moral reasoning, using either Kohlberg’s or Gilligan’s systems of moral reasoning. Be sure to state not only the level of moral reasoning but why you place them there.
5 Are there any factors (such as intelligence, education, experience, religion, etc.) other than age or sex that might explain the differences in maturity or complexity of their answers?