Investigates the relationship between empathy and two measures of moral development (Prosocial Moral Reasoning and Helping) and parental socialization practices in a sample of 72 students from grades 9, 11 and 12. (Author/SS)

Damon's positive justice task, Selman's social-moral dilemmas, and a variation of Piaget's intent/consequence stories were administered to 72 elementary school students. Results showed that the level of moral reasoning increased with grade level, but inconsistencies in task performance were found at both the intratask and the intertask levels.…

This paper argues that morality is essentially a matter of rational reflection and judgment and has little to do with feelings or affections. The notions of reason and justification are analyzed. Four types of feelings are defined and shown to provide inadequate bases for moral judgment. (Author/SJL)

Describes Kohlberg's interview test and Rest's Defining Issues Test and indicates that these are usable, reliable ways of assessing an individual's moral judgment development level. Evidence for accepting a developmental sequence in moral judgment is presented. Impressions about educational intervention are offered. (Author/CC)

Presents a synopsis of moral development stages and the rationale for considering the significance of moral stages in group member selection. Moral growth should be facilitated during the productive phase of group process in which members deal with their differences, rather than ignore them. (Author/BEF)

Investigates whether several factors (intelligence, political liberalism, and altruistic behavior) previously found to be related to prohibition moral reasoning (about issues involving laws, rules, authorities, and formal obligations) are also associated with level of prosocial moral reasoning. Students in grades 9, 11, and 12 were tested.…

Challenges studies supporting Kohlberg's claim of invariance in the development of moral judgment which maintain that subjects' preferred responses to moral dilemmas are based on higher stages of thinking. Findings indicate language rather than levels of thinking is a significant factor in subjects' response preferences. (CM)

Builds theory and research propositions by presenting moral stage and family development frameworks as tools for exploring the individual-psychological facet of family dynamics; exploring the interface of the frameworks; and reviewing and proposing research utilizing concepts from both models. (Author/BEF)

The author suggests making the valuing experience a daily part of classroom life through building children's self-concepts, permitting them to make (and live with) many choices, and encouraging active discussion of real moral situations as they arise. (Editor)

Describes how Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development can be used to teach literature. (DD)

Critiques Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Instrument and evaluates reliability and validity data available on the instrument. Concludes that available data do not support the reliability and validity of the instrument and that further research is necessary. Available from: Department of Social Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens,…

Past work in the field is examined at four levels: the social structural, the institutional, that of action and the social psychological in both the psychological and sociological traditions. Moral choice is analyzed into three components with each component applied to moral education in an attempt to indicate worthwhile future directions for…

Argues that the primary function of childrens' fiction, through which a society's mood may be understood, in Jacksonian America was not entertainment but the moral education of a new generation, emphasizing social responsibility in contrast to the spirit of individual aggrandizement. (Editor/RK)

A moral judgment interview was administered to 100 elementary parochial school children. The relationship of intelligence, age, and sex to the quality of response in four areas of moral judgment was assessed. (MS)

A personal area of behavior comprising matters of choice and privacy, and differentiated from convention and moral obligation, is a psychological requirement for the construction of a distinct and bounded self. Accurate investigations of this dynamic require differentiation between cultural ideology and conceptual frames of individuals. (Author)