Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory

Wuornos’s propensity for prostitution and the performance of sexual acts in return for money and cigarettes would strongly provide support to Kohlberg’s Moral Development theory. Becker (1996) identifies that for someone at level one moral development it is the person’s needs that determine right or wrong. Wuornos needed to support herself with money and cigarettes, something she would not get from her family, as a result, by the age of thirty five Wuornos had risen to level three of Kohlberg’s moral development theory. Kohlberg describes an individual at stage six as having post conventional thinking for instance, Kohlberg explains “What is good and right are matters of individual conscience and involve abstract concepts of justice, human
Another explanation for Wuornos’s ability to disassociate herself from a situation would lie in Skinners operant conditioning theory. Skinner suggests that positive reinforcement is received by an individual when they are given something as a reward for their efforts (Cerutti & Staddon, 2003). Wuornos’s received reward by performing sexually to the local boys was the reward of cigarettes and money (Arrigo and Griffen, 2004). It was not until 1986 that Wuornos met Tyria Moore and this union that resulted in a four year long lesbian relationship (Arrigo & Griffen, 2004). Wuornos’s failure to form meaningful attachment relationships indicates that mentally disorganised individuals lack the internal working models to maintain healthy relationships. Fonagy, Redfern and Charman (1997) went a step further to say that these individuals lack the mental requirement to resolve the psychological conflicts and turn to violence as a solution. This would be an accurate observation in Wuornos’s case that would explain the murderous result of her frustration at not being able to adequately support both Tyria and herself financially. Committing murder and stealing provided a justifiable solution to obtain financial reward (Criminal Code