This paper describes the rationale for the Defining Issues Test (DIT), an objective test of moral judgment which attempts to improve upon three aspects of Kohlberg's research: data collection, categorization of moral judgments (the scoring system), and method of indexing a subject's progress in a developmental sequence. In each case, the way in…

This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…

A sample of 245 Chicano, Black, and Anglo children, grades 2-9, from three midwestern states was chosen for a comparative study of moral judgment, to measure differences among the ethnic groups and to determine whether they made the same progression through Kohlberg's three levels of moral development. Subjects viewed video tapes of five moral…