RESEARCH ON ETHICS AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT

So far, we have looked mostly at our traditional Native American views of ethics. Now we turn to some of the more modern research.

Harvard psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg was one of the first people to seriously study whether an older person has the capabilities to learn ethical behavior later on in life. He found the ability to think morally develops in stages.

The first stage develops at a very young age.  Kohlberg called this stage the preconventional level.  At this level a person's view of right and wrong is usually influence by their family, mainly their parents and older siblings, and by the consequences attached to their behavior.  If one of these authority figures is morally and ethically corrupt, there is a good chance the child will be to.  An action is said to be right or wrong in terms of what results in rewards and punishments.  Some people stay at this level all of their lives, for example, those who would lie and cheat to get elected and, as long as they win, conclude that it was the right way to act. 

The individuals who stay at this level often refuse to believe his/her family member did something wrong, even when the evidence is overwhelming.  Parents will defend children, individual will defend siblings, wives/husbands will defend the spouse and children will defend their parent’s unethical behavior. This person may be taking money from the tribe and giving it to relatives to pay their light bills, giving a job, or more accurately, a paycheck to a family member who does no work for the tribe. Those family members will strongly defend their relative because the result of his/her unethical acts is a reward for them, in terms of money or jobs, so that makes it "right".

Kohlberg calls the second level of moral development the conventional level.  Young people have internalized the ethical and morals of their family and the group they associate with. Kohlberg says this is because of loyalty to these groups.  Young people at this stage will often say, my dad said…  (family) or, all my friends are doing it (society) or, I plan to join the army to defend my country (patriotic). Many people remain at this level, continuing to define right and wrong in terms of what society believes or what laws require.

Unfortunately, we now have a situation in some communities where the 'conventional' behavior, what everyone is doing, is unethical. Children raised in a society where the parents missed worked on a weekly basis, where the ones who did work falsified time sheets, where leaders were known to help only their friends and relatives, out of loyalty are more than likely to develop these same values.

To reach Kohlberg’s final level, which he labeled the postconventional level, a person must continue to develop morally.  “A person at this level stops defining right and wrong in terms of group loyalties or norms.  Instead, the adult at this level develops moral principles that define right and wrong from a universal point of view.”  Simply stated, a person at this level makes his/her ethical decisions based on what any reasonable person would know as right or wrong.  These decisions are based on universal ideals of justice or human rights or human welfare.

We all know and admire these individuals.  They are the ones who stand up to tribal council members, program directors, and other tribal members when they are exhibiting unethical behavior.  While we admire these people, we often don’t emulate them mainly because of fear.

Finally, Kohlberg also found that when his took subject took courses in ethics that challenged them to look at issues from a universal point of view they were more likely to change their moral behavior. 

Many rez indians would vehemently disagree with this finding.  One elder said to me, "It seem like they go to school just to learn how to steal more." Indeed, on most indian reservation I aware off having an advance degree does not make a person appear more ethical.  This isn't the only place they would disagree with Kohlberg. He compared groups and found that men scored higher on his ethical dimensions than women, middle class subjects scored higher than poor people and whites scored higher than Indians or other ethnic groups. So, white, middle-class men were the most ethical people according to his studies. Given the long history of broken treaties, we are inclined to disagree. Still, Kohlberg did provide a good beginning for looking at moral and ethical behavior.