Children, adolescents, and adults responded to a moral judgment interview (to assess moral stage) and participated in a dyadic discussion of moral conflicts (from which observers rated various ego processes); a subsample of students was interviewed again three years later. Findings indicated that ego functioning was predictive of both concurrent…

Examines the issue of developmental consistencies between and within levels of moral reasoning, altruism, and perspective coordination. The relative contributions of perspective coordination and moral reasoning to altruistic behavior were examined in fifth grade. (Author/RH)

Children's moral judgments, attributions of emotion, and their associations were examined in hypothetical, prototypical situations and situations of provocation and peer retaliation. Children judged prototypical and provoked moral transgressions (hitting and teasing). Hypothetical moral transgressions were judged to be more serious and deserving…

Compared the prosocial moral reasoning of Israeli city, kibbutz, and American third graders. Children responded to four moral dilemmas about helping situations. Although there were considerable similarities in reasoning across the three groups, there were also clear differences. (Author/BB)

Reviews what is known and not known about three questions in comparative ethics: What are the ideas and concepts associated with moral thinking in normal Western adults? What are the processes resulting in a judgment that something is a vice or a virtue? Are those ideas, concepts, and processes available in different cultures and at different…

Challenges Carol Gilligan's (1982) assertion that there are two fundamentally different and gender-related orientations to morality, namely a male justice orientation and a female care orientation. Argues that Gilligan's view that these orientations are logically and psychologically incompatible and that their developmental origins are in early…