This study examined the relationship between moral reasoning and altruistic behavior in 120 boys, 4- to 11-years old. Subjects were administered Damon's Positive- Justice Interview, and were presented helping and sharing tasks under five behavioral conditions corresponding to Damon's justice levels. Findings supported cognitive- developmental…

This study investigates the moral development of thirty 5-year-old children in Montessori and traditional preschools. Data for the study were derived from five sources: an intelligence test; a perspective taking task; an altruism/helping task; an altruism/sharing task; and an interview for exploring moral reasoning. Two 30 to 45 minute sessions…

Using Quay's typology, three equal groups (n=12) of adolescent psychopathic, neurotic, and subcultural delinquent males and a matched nondelinquent control group were individually administered Kohlberg's structured moral dilemmas, two Piagetian tasks of cognitive development (pendulum and balance), and an adaption of Flavell's role-taking task.…

This study investigated social interactions and the development of social concepts in preschool children in terms of two conceptual domains, the moral and the societal. The former has to do with concepts of justice and fairness, the latter with social conventions, rules and social organization. Subjects were children 3 to 5 years of age enrolled…

Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, when applied to theories of teaching composition, support any method or material that refers to the age and prior experience of the writer and the newness of the task the writer is attempting. Rhetorical development and maturation in the ability to write and argue persuasively are partly conceptual…

The author is concerned that teaching strategies based on the values clarification approach (VCA) and on Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development might be premature. The VCA has been adopted widely despite concerns about threats to privacy of participating students, infringement on rights of parents to shape their children's values, and…

The performance of 75 congenitally blind and 75 sighted subjects (6- to 18-years-old) was compared on 32 Piagetian measures of reasoning, moral judgment, and moral conduct. Among major findings were that blind Ss did not achieve the reasoning processes characteristic of concrete operational thought with the facility or completion that would be…

This paper describes the development of measures of young children's social thinking, particularly as applied to moral problems. The Kohlberg procedure of presenting problems and dilemmas to children was adopted, but the Kohlberg dilemmas were found to seem remote to children younger than 10 years of age, and incomprehensible to children younger…

This paper presents the position that concern for others is fundamentally a matter of cognitive definition of one's relationship to and responsibility for other human beings. Altruism changes as a function of an individual's overall level of cognitive-moral development. There are six forms of altruism, corresponding to Kohlberg's six sequential…

The study focused on the conflict between good and evil as it was portrayed in selected examples of fantasy and realistic fiction appropriate for children in the 8-to-12-year-old range. Newbery Award books from 1945 to 1972 and the Newbery Honor books from alternate years within the same period were analyzed. In addition, children's literature…

This paper deals with some of the social and educational implications of Piaget's concept of "stages", (as formulated in structural-developmental psychology) and focuses on a basic aspect of interpersonal cognition--social perspective-taking ability. The analysis emphasizes the structure of social understanding rather than the content,…

An instrument to measure various aspects of children's character, including self-esteem, altruism, and integrity or responsibility was developed. The 48-item test was given to 111 4- and 5-year-old Hawaiian children. Test reliability and factor structures were determined. The three factors are discussed. Further development is continuing;…

This document presents a summary of a dissertation concerning the developmental relationship between moral judgment and person judgment. Subjects were 144 middle class male first graders and sixth graders from paroachial schools. The children watched three films of a boy doing damage. The experimentally crucial film showed the same boy…

This study investigated the effects of training on reciprocity judgments in 43 white, middle class children, ages 38 to 68 months. Hypotheses were (1) children trained to make mature responses to interpersonal conflicts would make more mature judgments in illustrated story conflict situations than those receiving no training, (2) children exposed…

This report reviews evidence concerned with age-related aspects of social perception processes and their effects on overt behavior. Focus is on the variability among children in comprehension and evaluation of action, motives, and consequences of modeled behavior. Findings indicated that comprehension of acts in terms of motives and correctness of…