Attachment disorder, plagiarism, and moral development

Psychology -- the Development of Behavior

Kohlberg's Moral Development and Plagiarism

Plagiarism can be explained in several different ways under Kohlberg's theory of moral development depending on the stage of individual development at the time of the incident. In adolescence, most people begin to become more aware of and begin to conform to societal expectations of behavior according to Stage 3 of Kohlberg's analysis. However, the same need for social approval can also undermine moral reasoning by resulting in conforming to deviant group values when peers are all doing the same thing (i.e. plagiarizing). By the time most people enter Kohlberg's Stage 4, they would recognize the greater importance of upholding basic ethical principles and of avoiding academic dishonesty in any form, on objective principle.

Once the individual passes from the Conventional levels of moral development to post-conventional levels, the individual may justify plagiarism by rationalizing that certain types of academic dishonesty are not necessarily morally wrong even though they violate explicit rules and agreements. For example, an engineering student might justify plagiarism in a mandatory literature course because no person will ever be harmed by his failing to learn whatever he was supposed to learn in a literature class. He might distinguish the moral insignificance of plagiarism in literature from cheating in his engineering classes because someone could be harmed by his professional engineering incompetence.

Likewise, a person in the post-conventional stages of Kohlberg's formulation of moral development might accept the general benefit of academic honesty but might distinguish overt use of another's work from so-called "accidental" plagiarism because it requires more work and effort and because the lines defining what is original though are subjective anyway.

Helping Teens and Adults Avoid Long-term Consequences of Poor Choices

Some of the decisions that teens and young adults make have the potential to affect the rest of their lives adversely. Among other choices, those related to eating, drinking alcohol, sexuality, and peer group selection are some of the most important. In some respects, those decisions have a lot to do with the way that adolescent brains perceive, process, and react to external circumstances and experiences. The development of eating disorders is one example (Leon, Fulkerson, Perry, & Cudeck, 1993). Specifically, there is empirical cross-sectional data illustrating that specific teenage perception and interpretations of self-image (especially body-image) correspond to eating disorders. That valuable information provides a good strategy for identifying teens at greatest risk of developing eating disorders without knowing anything about their actual eating habits (Leon, Fulkerson, Perry, & Cudeck, 1993).