versus acquaintance). Priority describes how early the relationship was established; the
earlier the association started the stronger it will be. Duration merely describes the
amount of time spent in the association (Akers, 1998).
When defining what is right and wrong, one’s reinforcement schedule and the
effect of differential associations is also important. As the individual begins to associate
with people outside the family, and through these associations, new definitions are both
introduced and reinforced. Behavior, typically seen as deviant or criminal may be
rationalized and neutralized based on the nature of interaction within the peer group.
Akers (1998:80) describes this ‘neutralizing’ definition in this way:
Exposure to these rationalizations and excuses may be through after-the-fact
justifications for one’s own or others’ norm violations that help to deflect or lessen the
punishment that would be expected to follow. The individual then learns the excuses
either directly or through imitation and uses them to lessen self-reproach and social
disapproval. Therefore the definitions are themselves behavior that can be imitated or
reinforced and then in turn serve as discriminative stimuli accompanying reinforcement
of overt behavior.
Through the neutralizing effects of criminal behaviour within a deviant peer group, and
absent the counterbalance of a secure parental relationship, moral development is further
hampered.
Moral Development (Conventional)
While in pre-conventional development obedience is compelled by the threat or
application of punishment, Kohlberg suggested that as one matures, the individual begins
to understand that right behaviour is often in one's own best interests and people begin to
judge the morality of actions by comparing their actions to societal views and
expectations. Behaviour can more often be described as a result of a calculation about
interests of interpersonal accord and relationships begin to play an increasing role and
one’s obligations expand beyond the self, and the need for individual approval.
Increasingly decisions upon which actions are based are evaluated against a more
community centric calculus.
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Critiques have been advanced based on the gender, cultural and socio-economic bias which appears
inherent in the model, with the highest stages of moral development in the post convention level being
defined as based on a western liberal middle class conception of morality.
In response to various critiques,
Gibbs (1979) provided a revised model reducing the six stages down to four based on a socio-moral
construction of reasoning with an emphasis on affect and empathy.
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Convention