Researchers have recently argued that utilitarianism is the appropriate framework by which to evaluate moral judgment, and that individuals who endorse non-utilitarian solutions to moral dilemmas (involving active vs. passive harm) are committing an error. We report a study in which participants responded to a battery of personality assessments…

Outlines how one veteran high school teacher wrote up an everyday moral dilemma (obliquely involving drug trafficking) for his students to discuss and solve. Notes problem-solving steps and questions, and how the students worked their way to a solution through discussion. (SR)

In an ongoing longitudinal study that started in 1994, the moral development of business apprentices is being studied. The focal point of this project is a critical analysis of L. Kohlberg's thesis of homogeneity, according to which people should judge every moral issue from the point of view of their "modal" stage (the most frequently…

Fifty school administrators completed Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) and Patterson's Moral Action Choice Test (MACT) as part of a study to determine how Kohlberg's theory of moral development might apply to day-to-day administrative decision-making. The respondents were presented with hypothetical moral dilemmas and asked to explain what they…

This study examined whether male and female adolescents have equal facility in using a response orientation and a rights orientation in solving moral problems. A person using a response orientation in discussing moral dilemmas considers the moral problem as issues of relationships or of response, i.e., how to respond to others in their particular…

A study assessed emotional needs of gifted children (N=46) and matched non-gifted peers by evaluating their responses to vignettes of children in psychosocial dilemmas. Gifted children more frequently assigned internal attributions of blame, reflected heightened sensitivity to protagonists' feelings, and used moral reasoning based on recognition…

Consistency of moral judgment across different dilemmas and social contexts and the relationship between the structure and content of moral judgment was studied for 40 men given hypothetical dilemmas. Findings demonstrate that type of dilemma may affect the structure of moral reasoning and illustrate various stages of moral reasoning. (SLD)

Demonstrates the Toulmin model as a problem-solving approach for administrators considering connecting their schools to the Internet. Using moral reasoning, a proposal to connect the school to the Internet is explored. The Internet in schools today, value judgments and principles, qualifications to the proposition, and media literacy are…

To help counselors assess the morality of counseling decisions, a matrix of influencing is presented that generates morally significant questions for counseling. Alternative answers are considered for each question, and examples are used to clarify moral implications of counseling decisions. (Author/TE)

Four experiments were conducted to explore issues in the development and modification of both moral choices and judgments of achievement using concepts and data from a social judgment perspective. In the first experiment, college students functioning at different reasoning levels indicated on a 20-point scale their strength of belief that an…

A study of 720 dental students in 8 cohorts participating in a problem-oriented dental ethics curriculum over 4 years found that, in 7 of the cohorts, the instruction had a significant effect on students' moral reasoning, in comparison with 265 nonparticipants. In addition, the students valued the instruction. (MSE)

Investigated how children's decisions about allocating money to story characters were affected by the relationship (friends versus strangers) among the characters. Children's rationales for their decisions showed that equality was the most salient principle for decisions at all ages and that older children provided rationales based on benevolence…

Moral choice for educational administrators involves using conventional democratic principles as well as postconventional actions grounded in principles valued by administrators that are not covered by conventional morality. Presents two case studies involving the application of democratic principles and the formation of independent judgment in…

Assesses critical thinking teaching models, including skill development, problem-solving, logical thinking, multiaspect, and information processing approaches. Stresses creating open classroom environments where critical thinking that fosters effective, thoughtful decision making can flourish. Argues that teaching can and should be less…

Research suggests that adolescents as young as 13 years old reason about such abstract rights as freedom of speech and religion. It is unclear whether such reasoning develops earlier. Also unclear is the role of adults as agents in inculating in children the adults' views on such rights. A study examined 184 Canadian students in the first, third,…