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Education Moral Development
by
Elizabeth C. Vozzola, Sharon Lamb

Introduction

Moral development and moral education are difficult topics to separate, since many individuals who have theorized on and researched moral development have work that extends into moral education. While early-20th-century psychologists and philosophers were interested in altruism and conscience, the field of moral development began after World War II and as a response to fascism and the Holocaust. Its scholars asked what forces influence moral decision making, and how we raise children to grow up resistant to forces such as Nazism. We see this in Piaget’s seminal work, which describes moral growth as arising naturally in interaction with peers who are equals and away from a mere acceptance of the rules handed down by elders. Following Piaget, there were attempts to tie moral development to democracy, attempts to naturalize it, and attempts to look at the context in which this natural development could be produced. Kohlberg applied Piaget’s work to a theory of stages of moral development, using for his first sample adolescent boys. In his theory, children are said to develop from thinking that gives too much sway to external forces to reasoning that is more contractual and autonomous. There also have been several challenges to Kohlberg’s theory, for example regarding the unchangeability of the direction of the stages. Indeed, the work of the anthropologist Shweder is an important challenge to moral development in its entirety. The most discussed and controversial challenge to Kohlberg’s theory of moral development came from Carol Gilligan, who developed the idea of an ethic of care that exists alongside an ethic based on rights and justice. Moral education derived in part from Kohlberg’s work and his development of a school program called the “just community,” where students increased their moral reasoning through democratic participation in the running of the school. As a more Aristotelian, virtues-oriented philosophical approach took hold in the 1990s, the character education movement began to flourish, and for some it existed as an alternative to education that emphasized movement in stages. For some character education programs there is deep knowledge of the processes of development, while for others there is a more didactic approach. Psychological research that investigates empathy, altruism, and prosocial behavior can also be considered part of the field of moral development. New trends in the field come from four sources: evolutionary perspectives, Narvaez’s triune theory, Haidt’s theory of moral judgment, and neuroscience. There are also a number of ways in which moral development theory has become applied—to education in the professions, to sex education, and to anti-racism education, to name a few areas.

General Overviews and Reference Works

The following works provide a range of perspectives on the field of moral development. Of particular use to anyone new to the area, the years 2006–2008 saw the publication of several major handbooks that provide updated and much-needed surveys of current research in this dynamic and rapidly changing field. A handbook directly concerned with moral education is Nucci and Narvaez 2008, described in Moral and Character Education. The more general overview, Killen and Smetana 2006, is composed of review articles by numerous top figures in the field. Essays cover topics such as gender and morality, insights from cultural psychology, moral development in early childhood, delinquency and morality, and educating for positive youth development. An older compendium, Puka 1994, continues to serve as a valuable historical resource because of its treasury of influential work culled from less accessible sources. Works with particular appeal to readers with an interest in moral philosophy include Reed 1997 and Wren 1990. Both examine tensions between moral philosophical perspectives and psychological theory and research. For a more contemporary view of topics that have captured the imagination of thinkers across disciplines, Narvaez and Lapsley 2009 is an edited volume on the moral self and personality, highlighting the diversity of theoretical and research perspectives in a time between major paradigms.

  • Killen, Melanie, and Judith G. Smetana, eds. 2006. Handbook of moral development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    Review articles by multidisciplinary researchers and thinkers represent the field’s wide range of theoretical diversity and research topics. Moral development researchers and doctoral students will appreciate the informed synthesis of topics under the book’s six conceptual themes: Structuralism and Moral Development Stages, Social Domain Theory and Social Justice; Conscience, Socialization, and Internalization; Social Interaction, Sociocultural, and Comparative Approaches; Empathy, Emotions and Aggression; and Moral Education, Character Development, and Community Service.

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  • Narvaez, Darcia, and Daniel K. Lapsley, eds. 2009. Personality, identity and character: Explorations in moral psychology. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    This volume presents cutting-edge ideas of an international group of moral personality theorists and researchers. Readers new to the field might begin with Augusto Blasi’s chapter on the moral functioning of mature adults, which lays out and evaluates two interrelated issues: the relegation of morality to the private rather than the public sphere and implicit processing theories’ challenge to conceptions of reasoned and rational moral decisions.

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  • Puka, William. 1994. Moral development: A compendium. 7 vols. New York: Garland.

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    The hefty price tag made this a library rather than individual reference, but in the days prior to Google and library databases, Puka’s compendium provided an invaluable resource for moral development scholars looking to find classic but hard-to-find articles central to the field. Of particular historical interest, the work includes one of the foundational documents of moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg’s 1958 University of Chicago doctoral dissertation.

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  • Reed, Donald R. C. 1997. Following Kohlberg: Liberalism and the practice of democratic community. Notre Dame, IN: Univ. of Notre Dame Press.

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    This critical overview of Kohlberg’s stage theory provides an insightful analysis of the inherent tension between the individualist concepts in Kohlberg’s psychological theory and the collectivist ones underlying his applied work in creating just communities.

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  • Wren, Thomas E., ed. 1990. The moral domain: Essays in the ongoing discussion between philosophy and the social sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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    While attempting to clarify connections between moral philosophy’s theories and psychology’s empirical research, the collection of papers ultimately highlights the substantial differences between psychologists and philosophers working in the moral domain.

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Textbooks

Most commonly, moral development is covered as a chapter in textbooks on human development, child development, or adolescent development. However, two specific textbooks and several fine books that could be used as undergraduate or graduate texts are noted here. Although out of print, Lickona 1976 offers a treasury of essays articulating distinct theoretical paradigms of morality. Kurtines and Gewirtz 1995 is an updated textbook with contributions from leading scholars representing the cognitive developmental, behavioral, personality, social constructivist, and integrative perspectives. In addition to graduate or undergraduate students studying moral development, helping professionals working with antisocial youth will find Gibbs 2010 particularly useful. The book gives a detailed overview of the development deficits of these youth, as well as of Gibbs, et al. 1995, a description of the EQUIP intervention program cited in Other Applications. Although less current, Lapsley 1996 gives the reader a comprehensive work that masterfully integrates philosophical and psychological theories of morality and moral development.

  • Gibbs, John C. 2010. Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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    Comparing and going beyond the works of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and others, the text explores the full range of moral development from superficial perception to a deeper understanding and feeling through social perspective taking.

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  • Kurtines, William M., and Jacob L. Gewirtz. 1995. Moral development: An introduction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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    It is interesting to note that although the essays representing specific paradigms such as behaviorism and cognitive developmentalism remain useful and historically interesting, the section on integrative perspectives best captures the thrust of the current field. Readers will find here Narvaez and Rest’s clear formulation of the Four Component Model, Eisenberg’s multifaceted model of prosocial development, and Laupa and Turiel’s in-depth description of social domain theory.

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  • Lapsley, Daniel K. 1996. Moral psychology. Boulder, CO: Westview.

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    Lapsley provides an excellent overview of moral development theory at the time of publication. The book is especially valuable for its integration of moral psychology and philosophical ethical traditions. Among many strong chapters, the insightful analyses of Piaget’s theory and work on the moral self provide an excellent guide to those topics.

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  • Lickona, Thomas. 1976. Moral development and behavior: Theory, research, and social issues. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

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    Now out of print, this historically important textbook can be found on the bookshelves of many of the most active scholars in moral development. It provides clear original essays on competing moral development theories and paradigms by such giants in the field as Kohlberg, Aronfreed, Bronfenbrenner, Walter and Harriet Mischel, Eysenck, and Hoffman.

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Journals

In the field of moral development, there is really only one specialist journal, the Journal of Moral Education, an international journal that has existed since 1971. Students and faculty can find work in the development of morality, empathy, prosocial behavior, and rule-abiding behavior in developmental psychology journals such as Child Development and Developmental Psychology. With regard to the educational programs, one might look in the Journal of Educational Psychology or the specialist Journal of Research in Character Education. Some research on moral exemplars and moral motivation will appear in personality and social psychology journals such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Journal of Research in Personality. Philosophical works relating to moral development and education will appear in philosophy of education journals such as the Journal of Philosophy of Education as well as philosophy journals such as Ethics, Journal of Ethics, Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, and Journal of Applied Ethics and Philosophy. Human Development is a general journal that often publishes innovative theory and research on moral development. The Journal of Organizational Moral Psychology is new to the field but promises to include works that apply moral psychology to a variety of institutions. If one were doing research on a particular topic in the field of moral development or moral education, it would be wise to do an Internet search that captures education, philosophy, and psychology journals. The student might also use words such as “values” and “ethics” in addition to “moral” when searching.

  • Human Development.

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    Though not specific to moral development, this journal tends to publish more articles on moral development than any other journal except the Journal of Moral Education. This may be because moral development scholars have traditionally been housed in Human Development departments. The journal holds true to its mission to publish theory and research that flesh out potentially powerful ideas and differentiate key constructs.

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  • Journal of Moral Education.

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    The Journal of Moral Education is an interdisciplinary and international journal that publishes empirical research articles, literature reviews, philosophical analyses, book reviews, educational strategies, and theoretical articles on a variety of topics in moral education and moral development across the life-span. The articles within it are relevant to theory and practice. The journal also publishes special issues, and recently these special issues have focused on moral education around the world.

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  • Journal of Organizational Moral Psychology.

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    A quarterly journal that began in 2010, published by Nova Science. The journal publishes research and theory on organizational ethical behavior, judgment, and decision making. This is a multidisciplinary journal and considers “organizations” that are formal, informal, legal, illegal, private, and public.

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  • Journal of Research in Character Education.

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    The Journal of Research in Character Education defines character education broadly and publishes research that is primarily school-based outcome research on character education programs. Articles in this journal tend to be empirical studies, explanations of new practices, and presentation or critique of the evaluation methods and analyses. They also include papers on moral psychology (self, motivation, identity), first-person accounts and reflections, and philosophy of character theory.

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Classic Philosophical Works

Not all who work in the field of moral development ground their work in moral philosophy. In the classic essay Kohlberg 1984 (cited under Classic Psychological Works), Kohlberg wrote, “My assumption that one needs to orient developmental research to philosophic concepts of morality will not be very controversial to philosophers” (p. 102); however, as implied, it might be controversial to psychologists. In the works presented in this article, the student will see researchers who have very much been influenced by philosophy and others who have not. What follows is a small selection of philosophical works that represent the traditions that provide a foundation for work in moral development over the past half-century. Kohlberg, for example, saw his work on development as the aim of education as “warmed-over” Dewey. Moral development theories in general follow two trends: virtue-based theories focus on what type of person one needs to become to lead a good life in one’s life circumstances, whereas rules-based theories focus on what types of actions one is obliged to avoid or to perform in order to do what is right. While Aristotle is associated with virtue ethics (and MacIntyre 2007 more recently), Plato set out a strand of thinking in ethics that equates ethics with justice. For Plato, good is an abstract, timeless ideal that one must know before really being wise and capable of good practical reasoning (see Plato 1992). For Aristotle, the good is discerned always in specific situations by those who have developed practical wisdom from many experiences trying to choose and act as good people do (see Aristotle 2000). Another way of categorizing ethical theories that underlie moral development work is through the duality of teleological vs. deontological systems. Teleological theories of morality justify morality through “ends” such as happiness. Deontological systems say that there is something simply right about some acts. Arguing against utilitarianism (see Mill 2002), deontologists will say that an act can be wrong even if it is pleasing and useful to the greatest number of people. Deontological theorists also distinguish between decision procedures in individual cases (see Kant 1994 for the categorical imperative as one such a principle) and procedures for establishing fair systems of rules for a society (read Rawls 1971 for a contractarian version). Kant 1995, a must reading for all students of ethics, represents the Enlightenment view of reasoning, and Kant’s categorical imperative is related to the democratic ideals developed in Kohlberg’s moral development theory, as well as in Rawls 1971. The discourse procedure in Habermas 1990 has been discussed as an alternative to Rawls’s “Original Position” procedure. Hume’s account of “sympathy” (not reasoning) as the fundamental basis of morality (Hume 1978) has led some philosophically oriented care theorists and some evolutionary psychologists to claim Hume as their source. Aristotle, by the same token, devoted two of ten books (or chapters) of the Nicomachean Ethics to the crucial role of friendship in the good life, and so care theorists can find much to value in his theory as well.

  • Aristotle. 1999. Nicomachean ethics. 2d ed. Indianapolis: Hackett.

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    Aristotle describes a theory of ethics that is grounded in virtues and asks what kind of person should one become (virtue-based ethics) rather what kinds of acts one should do (duty-based ethics). Written in the 4th century BCE, this classic work describes virtues as characteristics that allow a person to live well with other people and achieve a state of well-being, called eudaimonia.

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  • Dewey, John. 1922. Human nature and conduct. New York: Holt.

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    Dewey’s work on democratic principles for education was influential with regard to Kohlberg’s just community. Dewey stated that individuals act on impulse and custom and develop a system of valuing via the consequences of their acts and the valuing of those consequences. He argued that rather than adhering to principles, individuals should use hypotheses that should be tested in a continuous state of reflection about our valuing.

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  • Habermas, Jürgen. 1990. Moral consciousness and communicative action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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    Habermas’s theory of “discourse ethics” points out the ways in which the rules and principles of morality are actually implicit or embedded in the way genuine communication works when communication is cooperative rather than manipulative or strategic. This yields a procedure for understanding valuing through “practical discourse.”

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  • Hume, David. 1978. A treatise of human nature. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

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    First published in 1739–1740. Hume’s moral theory is based on sentiments and feelings and thus can be considered to form some basis to the Ethic of Care strand in moral development. One needs sentiments to provide moral motivation and to produce feelings of moral blame and guilt. He also describes “benevolence” as natural and claims that humans have a natural feeling for humanity that is a motivation to do good.

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  • Kant, Immanuel. 1994. Ethical philosophy: Grounding for the metaphysics of morals & Metaphysical principles of virtues. Translated by James W. Ellington. Indianapolis: Hackett.

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    In this work Kant describes the “categorical imperative,” a principle by which one can judge the rightness of any act. Every human being has intrinsic worth, according to Kant, so one must treat another person in every case as an end and never as merely a means to one’s own goals. There are two books under this title. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals runs pp. 1–65 and Metaphysical Principles of Virtues pp. 3–171. Originally published in 1785.

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  • MacIntyre, Alasdair C. 2007. After virtue: A study in moral theory. 3d ed. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Univ. Press.

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    MacIntyre critiques the Enlightenment abandonment of Aristotelian concepts and argues for a return to a teleological framework for morality. Every society, he claims, develops a core set of virtues. And without the practice of these virtues, which lead to internalization of virtues and pursuit of excellence, we would all fall prey to lives that lead us simply to seek external goods such as status, power, and money.

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  • Mill, John Stuart. 1979. Utilitarianism. Indianapolis: Hackett.

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    Mill’s utilitarianism presents a teleological ethic that says the rightness of an act is determined by its consequences and its utility. Often stated as “the greatest good for the greatest number,” Mill’s argument is that “good” ought to be defined as happiness, a higher pleasure, rather than mere sensual pleasure, and that a society that enables individuals to pursue their happiness in their own way liberates a diversity of feeling and interest and nurtures moral freedom of reason. First published in 1861.

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  • Plato. 1992. The republic. Edited and translated by G. M. A. Grube and C. D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett.

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    Through his representation of Socrates, Plato describes the ideal of a harmonious society in which justice is the crucial virtue made possible by the intellectual apprehension of the ideal of the good. In his Allegory of the Cave, he describes the natural state of individuals who are satisfied with their illusions and unable to see the light, or, the truth.

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  • Rawls, John. 1971. A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    In Rawls’s theory of justice, justice is fairness. As a political theory, institutions should be set up to help those in the worst positions. In his “thought experiment” (the “Original Position”), individuals design the basic rules of society without knowing how they will benefit, behind a “veil of ignorance.”

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Classic Psychological Works

Classic works in moral development come from four basic paradigms: psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive-developmental, and biological-evolutionary. The psychoanalytic perspective, rooted in Freudian theory, presents an ego trying to work with the demands of the id, which is ruled by the pleasure principle, and the opposing demands of the super-ego, which presents a very harsh conscience that imposes feelings of guilt, shame, and inferiority on an individual to keep him or her moral. Freud’s work explicitly addresses this conception of morality (see Freud 1961). We also selected Freud’s essay on the ego, id, and superego, which presents his revised “structural theory” and is an accessible way for students to get an overview of his theory of moral development (see Freud 1965). In contrast to Freud’s psychodynamic perspective, the behavioral paradigm sees morality as a set of learned habits, attitudes, and values that is dependent on both the social environment and reinforcement contingencies. Within that broad paradigm, Bandura’s social learning theory has been particularly influential in the field of morality. His work on moral disengagement (e.g., Bandura 1999) provides an important perspective for readers interested in applications of moral theory to real-world conflicts and moral dilemmas. He outlines a compelling theoretical explanation for how moral justification and euphemistic labeling lead to immoral conduct such as victimization, torture, and genocide. Until recently, work in the cognitive-developmental tradition dominated moral development research. Accordingly, we list several texts from that tradition, including Piaget’s classic exploration of how children learn and understand their societies’ systems of rules (see Piaget 1965). Piaget’s work deeply influenced Kohlberg’s six-stage theory of moral development, perhaps one of the most heuristic theories in modern psychology. Advanced students interested in a comprehensive understanding of Kohlberg will find extensive discussions of theory and related research in his volume on moral psychology (Kohlberg 1984). As noted in the Introduction, numerous thinkers have challenged Kohlberg’s rationalist and universalist conception of morality. Rest, et al. 1999 builds upon rather than challenges Kohlberg’s theory of moral judgment by situating it within a more comprehensive four-component theory of morality. Carol Gilligan’s influential feminist challenge, articulated in the classic text Gilligan 1982, is discussed in more detail in Ethic of Care. Yet another challenge came when Elliot Turiel developed an alternative and, he claimed, a more culturally sensitive model, Domain Theory, which proposes development across three separate domains: the personal, social conventional, and moral. Teachers, therapists, and educational researchers will find that Domain Theory, introduced in Turiel 1983 on morality and convention and applied specifically to teacher training by Nucci 2009 (cited under Moral and Character Education), provides a useful framework for practical applications such as developmentally appropriate lesson plans or therapeutic interventions. (See also Richard Shweder’s challenge in Shweder 1991, cited under Cross-Cultural and Global Perspectives, as well as various examples of biological and evolutionary perspectives cited under New Directions in Implicit/Explicit Processing, Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Perspectives).

  • Bandura, Albert. 1999. Moral disengagement in the perpetuation of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review 3:193–209.

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    Bandura’s important work on moral disengagement, or how people come to justify inhumane acts through various distancing mechanisms or “moral” rationalizations, is available in numerous scholarly articles and books. This paper, based on his Karen Stone Lecture at Harvard University in 1996, provides a concise overview of his ideas, a brief but helpful reference list, and links to relevant documents. Available online.

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  • Freud, Sigmund. 1961. Civilization and its discontents. Standard edition of the works of Sigmund Freud 21. London: Hogarth.

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    In this work Freud explains why even though civilization protects us, it prevents human beings from happiness through the pursuit of pleasure. Civilization protects us from the harshness of the real world, from our own id impulses, and from one another through moral codes. And in the latter, the super-ego, through guilt, keeps individuals in line with civilization’s goals and in its harshness causes discontentment. First published in 1930.

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  • Freud, Sigmund. 1965. Lecture XXXI: The dissection of the psychical personality. In New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. By Sigmund Freud, 57–80. Translated and edited by James Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton.

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    In this essay Freud describes the role of the ego in relation to id and super-ego with regard to moral development. The ego struggles to maintain a realistic and acceptable morality when the demands of both super-ego and id are great. First published in 1933.

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  • Gilligan, Carol. 1982. In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    This seminal work describes the theory behind the Ethic of Care and provides some of the early research that showed that girls and women approach morality differently from boys and men. See the section The Ethic of Care for a more complete understanding.

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  • Kohlberg, Lawrence. 1984. The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages. Essays on moral development 2. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

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    Now available only in libraries or second-hand, this volume provides an in-depth overview of Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development during the most productive years of his research and reflection. It remains a key work for an in-depth understanding of Kohlberg’s theory.

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  • Piaget, Jean. 1965. The moral judgment of the child. New York: Free Press.

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    This foundational text of the cognitive developmental tradition introduced Piaget’s groundbreaking theory of developmental changes in children’s understanding of, and respect for, society’s rules. Through observational methodology and close interviewing of children to capture their reasoning, he outlined growth from heteronymous to autonomous moral thinking. First published in 1932.

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  • Rest, James R., Darcia Narvaez, Muriel J. Bebeau, and Stephen J. Thoma. 1999. Postconventional moral thinking: A neo-Kohlbergian approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    The neo-Kohlbergian approach situates Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning within the larger picture of development across four components that contribute to moral behavior: moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. The book also provides an excellent overview of research using the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and explores the importance of moral schemas for moral decision making.

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  • Turiel, Elliot. 1983. The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    Turiel finds that children’s and adolescents’ constantly evolving inferences about, and interpretations of, their social world result not only in increasingly complex moral judgments, but also in an increasingly sophisticated understanding of social conventions. Turiel challenges Kohlberg’s conception of social conventional reasoning as a separate stage of development and proposes instead that it constitutes a separate domain.

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Measurement

Although Rest’s Four Component Theory of Morality has garnered widespread acceptance as a theoretical model, research in moral development has frequently focused on the measurement of only one component, moral reasoning or moral judgment complexity. Attempts to develop measures of moral sensitivity, motivation, and character remain limited in use and influence. The Defining Issues Test (DIT), developed by James Rest and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, has proven the test of choice for many researchers owing to its user-friendly computer administration and scoring, and sophisticated subscales and analyses. Thoma 2006 provides an excellent description of the neo-Kohlbergian DIT test and research findings. The first studies of moral reasoning development relied on various iterations of Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) that were scored by trained individuals. Kohlberg and colleagues spent years refining the scoring manual for the test, Colby, et al. 1987, which is still in print and sometimes used by researchers who prefer a production rather than recognition measure of moral reasoning. Gilligan’s methodology was primarily qualitative; in-depth interviews allowed researchers to listen to and hear various strands of reasoning, particularly for those whose voices were not typically welcomed in societal discourse. Gilligan’s colleague Brown developed a guide that provides a good example of using more phenomenological and narrative methods of analysis (Brown 1988). Of particular value to researchers working with younger populations or with adults with limited reading skills, John Gibbs and colleagues have developed short and long forms of two both production and recognition versions of sociomoral reasoning (Gibbs, et al. 1992). The Moral Judgment Test, Lind’s measure of moral reasoning, is notable not only for the years of development and evaluation represented in current versions, but also for his laudable efforts to provide and evaluate versions across a range of languages. Studies in the neuroscience of morality often expose participants to moral dilemmas and use neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) scans to track responses. Interested readers will find descriptions of these methods in many of the neuroscience texts and articles cited in New Directions in Implicit/Explicit Processing, Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Perspectives.

  • Brown, Lyn Mikel, ed. 1988. A guide to reading narratives of conflict and choice for self and moral voice. Cambridge, MA: Center for the Study of Gender, Education and Human Development, Harvard University.

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    Researchers working with Carol Gilligan developed this manual for determining interpretive frames of justice and/or care in people’s narratives of real-life moral dilemmas and choices. The manual provides many helpful examples as well as appendixes with interview questions and reading and scoring worksheets.

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  • Colby, Anne, Lawrence Kohlberg, Betsy Speicher, et al. 1987. The measurement of moral judgement: Standard issue scoring manual. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    Kohlberg and colleagues worked for many years to develop a reliable and valid measure that provides clear and consistent criteria for the assessment of moral reasoning development. This detailed and extensive manual certainly provides a comprehensive, if complex, guide for scoring criterion statements and determining subjects’ moral development stages.

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  • Gibbs, John C., Karen S. Basinger, and Dick Fuller. 1992. Measuring the development of sociomoral reflection. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    The Sociomoral Reflection Measure (SRM), an easily scored, reliable and valid measure that allows subjects to produce spontaneous moral justifications, is particularly useful for those working with youth or with adults with limited reading skills. Although the SRM-SF is designed for a fourth-grade reading level, Gibbs notes in later articles that it can be administered to children as an oral interview.

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  • Moral Judgment Test. Konstanzer Methode der Dilemma-Diskussion.

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    This site will be of particular interest to researchers interested in a test of moral judgment available in languages other than English. First designed by G. Lind in the German format as the Moralisches Urteil Test (MUT), the measure is also available (among other versions) as the Moral Judgment Test (MJT) or Test del Juicio Moral (TMJ). Lind provides extensive information on validation, scoring, interpreting, and cultural fairness.

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  • Thoma, Stephen J. 2006. Research on the Defining Issues Test. In Handbook of moral development. Edited by Melanie Killen and Judith G. Smetana, 67–92. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    This chapter describes one of the most widely used measures of moral judgment development, situates it within its evolving theoretical framework and scoring modifications, highlights research findings, and discusses future directions for research. The chapter’s reference list is an excellent resource for those interested in a deeper perspective on the measurement of moral reasoning.

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Early Moral Development

Included in this section are works by those authors and researchers who have examined the early signs of morality in children and who have made some claim with regard to the sources of that morality. Hoffman 2000 is often cited for doing the earliest work that suggested infants and toddlers showed empathy. Eisenberg 1992 has a substantial body of work on the beginnings of prosocial behavior. Books by each of these scholars are easy to read; however, students interested in their quantitative work should search for their articles in psychology journals. Damon 1988 describes the importance of social relationships in the development of morality. Kochanska and Aksan 2004 has been the empirical center of developmental research on the topic of early morality, particularly the development of a conscience. It examines the role of maternal responsiveness, attachment, child characteristics such as inhibited temperament, and other factors in the development of child responsiveness to others in distress, awareness of standards, and guilt. Carolyn Zahn-Waxler has also been working for over two decades on the development of empathy. Her research on the development of behavioral disorders and their relationship to empathy, as well as the role of genetics in the predisposition to respond empathetically, are important contributions; Knafo, et al. 2008 (on which Zahn-Waxler is second author) provides a summary of her major research in the area of genetics. Bloom 2010 nicely summarizes very recent empirical and neuroscience work on babies and morality. Crick, et al. 2004 will help students to understand that the body of work on relational aggression can also be applied to young children.

  • Bloom, Paul. 2010. The moral life of babies. New York Times Magazine, May 5.

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    Written for the mainstream press by a psychology professor, this article raises important questions with regard to what signs can be counted as signs of moral development and what cognitive and emotional developments are tied to moral development.

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  • Crick, Nicki R., Jamie M. Ostrov, Karen Appleyard, Elizabeth Jansen, and J. F. Casas. 2004. Aggression, antisocial behavior, and violence among girls: A developmental perspective In Relational aggression in early childhood: “You can’t come to my birthday party unless . . .. Edited by Martha Putallaz and Karen L. Bierman, 71–89. New York: Guilford.

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    Crick’s work on relational aggression is here applied to early childhood. Relational aggression, as opposed to physical aggression, includes back-stabbing, name-calling, gossip, exclusion, and other harmful but nonphysical ways to express aggression against a peer.

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  • Damon, William. 1988. The moral child: Nurturing children’s natural moral growth. New York: Free Press.

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    This book reviews the research on moral development and suggests practices for families, schools, and communities to raise moral children. Damon looks at the depth of children’s moral sensibility and writes that their morality arises naturally through their social relationships.

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  • Eisenberg, Nancy. 1992. The caring child. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    Eisenberg reviews two decades of research (including her own substantial body of work) on the prosocial (altruistic) responding of children. She concludes that children’s responding is determined by a number of factors, both individual and situational.

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  • Hoffman, Martin L. 2000. Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    This book includes Hoffman’s theory of the development of empathy and guilt, which was one of the first such theories in the early 1980s. He discusses four empathy-arousing processes important to moral development. Empathic distress, for Hoffman, is the motivation for pro-social behavior.

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  • Kagan, Jerome, and Sharon Lamb, eds. 1987. The emergence of morality in young children. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

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    This volume in some ways solidified a new field in early moral development. Essays by Kagan, Dunn, and Emde directly apply to early moral feelings and reasoning. Other chapters take on larger questions about theories of moral development and transmission. Some of these chapters are recommended under Controversies and Critiques.

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  • Knafo, Ariel, Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Carol van Hulle, JoAnn Robinson, and Soo Hyun Rhee. 2008. The developmental origins of a disposition toward empathy: Genetic and environmental contributions. Emotion 8.6: 737–752.

    DOI: 10.1037/a0014179Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This is a report on a large twin study that examined empathy and pro-social behavior. The authors conclude that empathy is a relatively stable disposition and that environmental effects contribute to its association with pro-social behavior.

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  • Kochanska, Grazyna, and Nazan Aksan. 2004. Conscience in childhood: Past, present, and future. Merrill Palmer Quarterly 50:299–310.

    DOI: 10.1353/mpq.2004.0020Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This article is one of many coauthored by Kochanska in which she presents research about emotional regulation, attachment, awareness of standards, maternal responsiveness, and temperament in relation to early moral development. Students interested in early moral development should consider many of these articles.

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The Ethic of Care

The psychologist Carol Gilligan began her work in moral development by questioning why women were overrepresented in Stage 3 of Kohlberg’s coding system for his six stages of moral development. Gilligan 1982, cited under Classic Psychological Works, presented a theory that girls and women weren’t merely socialized to “be nice” but that they had a different moral voice, one in which an ethic of care dominated over an ethic of justice. Undergraduates can read the beginning chapter of this book; all who write on the ethic of care need to take this important book into consideration. Gilligan’s theory was fleshed out in research by students (e.g., Johnston 1988) who published their work in Mapping the Moral Domain. Gilligan’s work arrived when two complementary theories were taking hold, those of Nancy Chodorow and Jean Baker Miller, both of whom described women’s relatedness as central to their morality. Chodorow’s work is nicely summarized in an essay called “Family Structure and Feminine Personality,” but we refer students to Chodorow 1978 for the whole theory. Most undergraduates will need support in understanding the theory, but they tend to appreciate it once they understand it. On the other hand, Baker Miller 1986 is an easy and inspiring read for undergraduates and should be included because of the claims Baker Miller makes regarding women’s relationality arising from their oppression. Brabeck 1989 includes interdisciplinary thinking about the ethic of care in the 1980s. Siddle Walker and Snarey 2004, an investigation of the voices of African Americans, delineates how the caring perspective is central to their morality. The philosopher Nel Noddings has been the leading theorist in the ethic of care as applied to the field of education. To the extent that schools influence the development of morality in children, her work should be read by pre-service and master’s level teachers. See her original work (Noddings 1984) and her newer work (Noddings 2002). Nussbaum 1990 connects reading to moral development and provides an interesting introduction to Nussbaum’s later work that integrates love and care as political and social goals.

  • Baker Miller, Jean. 1986. Toward a new psychology of women. 2d ed. Boston: Beacon.

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    Appearing in its second edition around the same time as Gilligan’s In a Different Voice, this book reached and influenced similar groups of theorists and practitioners wanting to redefine women’s psychology. What Miller brings to this field is her perspective on how women’s psychology is tied to a psychology of subordination, and how women’s emotional lives are tied to systems of power in society reflected in relationships.

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  • Brabeck, Mary M., ed. 1989. Who cares? Theory, research and educational implications of the ethic of care. New York: Praeger.

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    This edited volume has essays from philosophical, educational, psychological, and theological perspectives. Chapters by Nona Lyons on the moral self, Barbara Houston on the future of caring, Ann Higgins on the just community, Muriel Bebeau and the editor on gender differences in the professions, Eisenberg and colleagues on early moral development, and Nel Noddings on education will be excellent reading for students with particular interests in these categories.

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  • Chodorow, Nancy. 1978. The reproduction of mothering. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

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    Coming from both sociological and psychoanalytic perspectives, Chodorow describes how children’s relationships with same-sex and other-sex parents determine the way they enact femininity and masculinity, as well as their ability to be connected in relationships.

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  • Johnston, D. K. 1988. Adolescents’ solutions to dilemmas in fables: Two moral orientations—two problem solving strategies. In Mapping the moral domain: A contribution of women’s thinking to psychological theory and education. Edited by Carol Gilligan, Janie V. Ward, Jill McLean Taylor, and Betty L. Bardige, 49–71. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    In this chapter, Johnston presents a methodology using Aesop’s fables for determining care vs. justice reasoning in children. (See Garrod, et al. 2003 under Other Applications for the use of these in an elementary school classroom.)

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  • Noddings, Nel. 1984. Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

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    In this work, Noddings writes that caring and having experienced being cared for build morality. Like Gilligan, she argues that rule-based morality can’t be the only basis for moral relationships. She argues that education should not only reward rationality but also enhance caring in individual children.

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  • Noddings, Nel. 2002. Educating moral people: A caring alternative to character education. New York: Teachers College Press.

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    Noddings, an educational philosopher who describes herself as coming from the phenomenological perspective, has advocated for an ethic of care in the practice of education. She writes that through relationship and care in the classroom and elsewhere, children develop their ethics. She focuses on models of caring, “true dialogue,” student practice in caring, and confirmation, by which she means validating others’ perspectives.

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  • Nussbaum, Martha. 1990. Love’s knowledge: Essays on philosophy and literature. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

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    The reading of passionate and subversive literature is a pathway toward moral development. Reading contributes to the ability to care for others in all their particularity.

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  • Siddle Walker, Vanessa, and John Snarey. 2004. Race-ing moral formation: African American perspectives on care and justice. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

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    This work shows the influence of sociocultural factors on moral development. The first section examines the moral development of African American youths and adults, including chapters on how race becomes a part of identity. The second section gives a historical perspective. Five values in African American morality are also developed and explored.

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Cross-Cultural and Global Perspectives

In recent years both the Association for Moral Education and the Journal of Moral Education (JME) proactively reached out to the international community of moral education and moral development scholars and practitioners. Special editions of JME devoted specifically to research from a country, region, or faith provide excellent introductions to global perspectives for students or scholars interested in cross-cultural morality. For example, its 2004 special issue (Maosen, et al. 2004) focuses on changes and challenges of moral education in Chinese societies. The 2009 special issue (Frisancho, et al. 2009) examines the role of moral and citizenship education in transitions to democracy in Latin America. And the 2010 special issue (Swartz 2010) explores both the challenge and the promise of moral education in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2007 special issue (Halstead 2007) on how Islamic values offer a distinctive framework for moral education is an important contribution to understanding morality across cultures and perspectives. In addition, selected books and articles on culture and morality address a range of issues, including methodology, the validity of theories across cultures, the influence of cultural context on moral reasoning, and the tensions of competing conceptions of morality in an increasingly pluralistic world. Gibbs, et al. 2007 represents the cognitive developmental perspective; Haste and Abrahams 2008, a more postmodern take; Shweder 1991, the cultural relativist focus of cultural anthropology; and Turiel 2002, the perspective of domain theory.

  • Frisancho, Susana, Maria Christina Moreno-Gutierrez, and Monica Taylor, eds. 2009. Special issue: Moral and citizenship education in Latin America: Towards reconciliation, community development and democracy. Journal of Moral Education 38.4.

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    Editors faced the challenge of selecting representative work from one of the most linguistically, culturally, and geographically diverse regions in the world. Because of their political histories, many Latin American countries have developed specific moral and civic education programs addressing human rights, conflict resolution, and peacemaking.

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  • Gibbs, John C., Karen S. Basinger, Rebecca L. Grime, and John R. Snarey. 2007. Moral judgment development across cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims. Developmental Review 27:443–500.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.04.001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This article would provide any researcher interested in cross-cultural assessment with an in-depth analysis of the development and use of two sets of moral judgment measures: Kohlberg’s Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) and Gibbs’s Sociomoral Reflection Measure–Short Form (SRM-SF). The comprehensive review of seventy-five cross-cultural studies across twenty-three countries notes continuing research questions but finds a convergence of findings for common moral values and moral judgment development.

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  • Halstead, J. Mark, ed. 2007. Special issue: Islamic values and moral education. Journal of Moral Education 36.3.

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    Essays explain the inextricable link between religion and morality in Islam and draw out the implications of that linkage for moral education and cross-cultural understanding. Editor Halstead provides an insightful introductory analysis of this faith-based ethics.

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  • Haste, Helen, and Salie Abrahams. 2008. Morality, culture and the dialogic self: Taking cultural pluralism seriously. Journal of Moral Education 37.3: 357–374.

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    Readers interested in the discursive social psychology of Foucault and Bakhtin or the developmental psychology of Vygotsky will appreciate this article’s exploration of morality within the framework of contemporary cultural theory. The authors argue that societal systems constrain the narratives available for individual ethical reasoning.

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  • Maosen, Li, Monica J. Taylor, and Yang Shaogang, eds. 2004. Special issue: Moral education in changing Chinese societies. Journal of Moral Education 33.4.

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    Until the publication of this issue, few Western scholars had access to the ethical ideas underlying the moral reasoning and practices of the Chinese people. The editors overcame many significant challenges of language and culture to produce this wide-ranging selection of work by Chinese researchers.

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  • Shweder, Richard A. 1991. Thinking through cultures: Expeditions in cultural psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    Shweder has been a strong critic of Kohlberg’s and others’ universal and rational theories of morality. His work is frequently cited in any discussion of cross-cultural morality and uses an anthropological approach to explore human thinking, including moral reasoning, through the ideas and practices of people from other cultures.

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  • Swartz, Sharlene, ed. 2010. Special issue: Moral education in sub-Saharan Africa—culture, economics, conflict and AIDS. Journal of Moral Education 39.3.

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    This volume begins with a framing editorial that situates the carefully selected range of invited articles in key issues of the region, especially the many challenges of the legacy of colonialism in Africa. Articles range from an examination of the African ethic of Ubuntu/botho to an analysis of cultural practices that undermine HIV/AIDS education.

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  • Turiel, Elliot. 2002. The culture of morality: Social development, context, and conflict. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    Turiel situates moral development within its social and cultural contexts. He argues that position in the social hierarchy influences acceptance of or resistance to cultural norms and rules.

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Moral and Character Education

Moral education remains the most active focus of moral development theory, research, and practice. However, as Berkowitz, et al. 2008 laments, the study of values/moral/character education has suffered for years from a Tower of Babel terminology that varies historically, politically, and geographically. In the United States, “character education” is often viewed as an umbrella term for school interventions that range from intensive just-community structures to limited service learning experiences. “Character education” tends to have a more conservative connotation in the United States, and “moral education” a more liberal one. Little consensus exists on which outcomes should count as “moral” or “character,” with older cognitive developmental studies often measuring gains in moral reasoning complexity, and character education initiatives focusing on improvements in student behavior. Controversy also exists about which educational interventions should be counted under the moral/character umbrella. For example, organizations like Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning promote emotional intelligence rather than strictly defined moral development. What various approaches have in common, however, is the assumption that schools can and must play a role in young people’s moral development and character formation. Durkheim 1961 on moral education represents a foundational historical text. Some theorists and researchers, (see Lickona 2004), focus on how character and morals are best taught. Others, such as Kohlberg and DeVries, focused on how they are best “caught.” Power, et al. 1989 presents a comprehensive discussion of Kohlberg’s approach to moral education that is frequently referenced in many later books and articles. That work focuses on high school–level interventions, while DeVries and Zan 1994 explores best practice for promoting moral development during early childhood. For a more comprehensive view of the field, Nucci and Narvaez 2008 reviews classic and contemporary approaches to moral education both in and out of the classroom. Other texts cited here were selected to provide educators and scholars with a sample of some of the strongest resources from varying theoretical perspectives. For example, Thomas Lickona’s influential and popular books on character education tend to be extremely appealing to classroom teachers because of their concrete examples of classroom practice and guidelines (Lickona 2004). Similarly, Nucci 2009 provides a research-based yet eminently readable account of how teachers can use domain theory to construct specific lesson plans, and Selman 2003 summarizes over thirty years of research into promoting healthy social relationships through various curricular strategies.

  • Berkowitz, Marvin W., Victor A. Battistich, and Melinda C. Bier. 2008. What works in character education: What is known and what needs to be known. In Handbook of moral and character education. Edited by Larry P. Nucci and Darcia Narvaez, 414–431. New York: Routledge.

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    This chapter offers an overview of some of the major attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of character education. It is particularly valuable for its suggestions for key future directions for research. Graduate students in educational psychology in particular should take note of the insightful analysis of the opportunities, challenges, and pitfalls of developing, implementing, and evaluating moral education initiatives.

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  • Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.

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    This interdisciplinary organization is dedicated to promoting social and emotional learning skills: self-management, self-awareness, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. CASEL provides excellent resources for both school practitioners and researchers.

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  • DeVries, Rheta, and Betty Zan. 1994. Moral classrooms, moral children: Creating a constructivist atmosphere in early education. New York: Teachers College Press.

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    This book remains the classic text for practitioners of early childhood education interested in a practical guide to implementing moral education in their classrooms.

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  • Durkheim, Emile. 1961. Moral education: A study in the theory and application of the sociology of education. New York: Free Press.

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    In a work that influenced Kohlberg’s concept of just community schools, Durkheim’s 1902–1903 lectures at the Sorbonne laid out a theory for how a rational morality could be taught in a secular society. He proposes that rules regulating children’s everyday school life should rest on three elements: discipline and respect for authority, connection to a social group, and the ability to interpret laws autonomously.

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  • Lickona, Thomas. 2004. Character matters. New York: Touchstone.

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    Lickona’s works provide teachers with numerous concrete examples of best classroom practice within the character education paradigm. This book updates much of the information presented in his earlier works and provides numerous web links for further information.

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  • Nucci, Larry P. 2009. Nice is not enough: Facilitating moral development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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    This user-friendly and practical text for classroom teachers provides an excellent overview of domain theory as well as specific lesson plans that apply concepts from the theory to elementary through secondary classrooms. Teachers will also appreciate Nucci’s discussion of effective ways to establish a moral classroom or school climate through rules, norms, and procedures.

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  • Nucci, Larry P., and Darcia Narvaez, eds. 2008. Handbook of moral and character education. New York: Routledge.

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    Readers interested in one source that provides a wide and non-ideological overview of the latest educational applications of research in developmental and cognitive psychology may wish to begin with this handbook. They will find updated reviews of most of the major research-grounded moral and character education initiatives of the fifteen years preceding its publication. Many articles (e.g., Power and Higgins-D’Alessandro’s chapter on the just community approach or Battistich’s review of the Child Development Project) provide excellent reviews of evaluative research on specific programs or paradigms.

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  • Power, F. Clark, Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro, and Lawrence Kohlberg. 1989. Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to moral education. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

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    This classic work provides an in-depth explanation of Kohlberg’s just community approach and reports on a series of studies evaluating its effectiveness.

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  • Selman, Robert L. 2003. The promotion of social awareness: Powerful lessons from the partnership of developmental theory and classroom practice. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

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    Selman’s work reports on lessons learned from years of productive educational initiatives developed collaboratively by social scientists and educators. Classroom teachers will find the section on connecting children’s literature and social awareness of particular interest.

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Civic Education

Moral and civic education often overlap, but the works below focus explicitly on educating young people to be good citizens. Colby, et al. 2010 is a major study of citizenship initiatives at American institutions of higher learning, while Oser and Veugelers 2008 presents a collection of studies of initiatives ranging from community service programs to global citizenship education, and represents research across the developmental spectrum. Haste and Hogan 2006 analyzes the moral perspectives that motivate civic engagement and exemplifies a more focused exploration of civic education.

  • Colby, Anne, Thomas Ehrlich, Elizabeth Beaumont, Jason Stephens, and L. S. Shulman. 2010. Educating citizens: Preparing America’s undergraduates for lives of moral and civic responsibility. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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    This work explores efforts of US colleges and universities to prepare students to graduate as thoughtful and socially committed citizens. The authors report on their in-depth study of twelve institutions and describe a range of effective civic and moral education practices. University administrators interested in promoting and evaluating civic responsibility will find the work especially valuable.

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  • Haste, Helen, and Amy Hogan. 2006. Beyond conventional civic participation, beyond the moral-political divide: Young people and contemporary debates about citizenship. Journal of Moral Education 35.4: 473–493.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057240601012238Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    The authors address motivational dimensions of political behavior crucial for crafting citizenship education. They use data from a study of British young people’s involvement with civic issues and actions to explore underlying moral perspectives behind Left and Right and present three different modes of civic engagement—voting, helping, and making one’s voice heard—in which the moral and political play out differently.

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  • Oser, Fritz K., and Wiel Veugelers, eds. 2008. Getting involved: Global citizenship development and sources of moral values. Rotterdam: Sense.

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    This international collection of essays focuses on various perspectives on the personal and societal conditions that promote young people’s involvement in society. Essays such as Higgins-D’Alessandro’s chapter on the judgment-action gap link the field of moral development with social engagement. The work will be of particular interest to scholars in the field of citizenship or civic engagement.

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Other Applications

One of the most important aspects of the field of “moral development” is that it is not just theoretical; these theories and research can result in real differences in the lives of adults and children. The Moral and Character Education section shows one area that has blossomed. In this section are readings that represent a small sample of ways in which scholars have taken moral theory and research and applied these to new fields and suggestions for practice. The philosopher Lawrence Blum writes on antiracist education as a kind of moral education (see Blum 2002), and the psychologist Sharon Lamb asks in her Harvard Educational Review essay (Lamb 2010) why sexuality education can’t be about ethical behavior as well as health behavior. There have been significant contributions to professional development from moral development researchers, and many of these contributions are presented in Rest and Narvaez 1994. There have also been contributions to clinical fields. The EQUIP program described in Gibbs, et al. 1995 has an international following and is used to turn around youths who have difficulties with appropriate, respectful, and empathic treatment of others. Shields and Bredemeier 2008 review their body of work on moral development through sports in this chapter, along with other work. Spiecker, et al. 2006 is one of many articles that take seriously children’s rights. Sprinthall, et al. 1993 represents a foray into counseling psychology. Tappan 2000 applies moral psychology to the narrative study of lives, and Garrod, et al. 2003 shows children’s moral development amidst political violence.

  • Blum, Lawrence A. 2002. “I’m not a racist but. . .” The moral quandary of race. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.

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    Blum decries the inflated use of “racism” to expand to every wrong, no matter how major or minor, that takes place in the racial domain of life, and suggests a more variegated moral vocabulary to refer to racial ills—insensitivity, prejudice, ignorance, discomfort, injustice, and so on.

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  • Garrod, Andrew, Carole Beal, William Jaeger, et al. 2003. Culture, ethnic conflict and moral orientation in Bosnian children. Journal of Moral Education 32.2: 131–150.

    DOI: 10.1080/0305724032000072915Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Using hypothetical and real-life dilemmas, Garrod and colleagues interview Bosnian children with regard to care and justice perspectives and draw conclusions about the association of political violence and ethnic conflict with children’s moral development. Results reflect an orientation toward care ethics rather than justice.

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  • Gibbs, John C., Granville B. Potter, and Arnold Goldstein. 1995. The EQUIP program: Teaching youth to think and act responsibly through a peer-helping approach. Champaign, IL: Research Press.

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    This book lays out a theoretically based and research-supported intervention method that aims to prevent or reduce antisocial behavior by equipping adolescents with tools to decrease their self-serving cognitive distortions, increase their moral reasoning complexity, and improve their social skills. EQUIP programs have been implemented in various correctional facilities in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands. There is quite a bit of evidence with regard to its effectiveness.

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  • Lamb, Sharon. 2010. Toward a sexual ethics curriculum: Bringing philosophy and society to bear on individual development. Harvard Educational Review 80.1: 81–105.

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    Lamb reviews the recent history of sexuality education battles and criticizes both Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) as well as Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curricula with regard to their narrow focus. She suggests ways in which current curricula could teach ethical reasoning and make sex education a form of citizenship education, focusing on justice, equity, and caring for the other person as well as the self.

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  • Rest, James R., and Darcia Narvaez, eds. 1994. Moral development in the professions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    This edited volume offers chapters in the area of moral development of college students, teachers, counselors, accountants, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, journalists, and those who participate in sports, whether athletes or coaches.

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  • Shields, David L., and Brenda L. Bredemeier. 2008. Can sports build character? In Character psychology and education. Edited by Daniel K. Lapsley and F. Clark Power, 1–139. Notre Dame, IN: Univ. of Notre Dame Press.

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    Shields and Bredemeier have a series of papers and chapters that examine the moral dynamics of sport and how sports may influence the moral development and character of participants. Note their discussion of “bracketed morality” that occurs in sports, a morality bracketed off from everyday life. They believe that well-organized character education within sports can be a powerful context for learning about good moral habits.

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  • Spiecker, Ben, Doret de Ruyter, and Jan Steutel. 2006. Taking the right to exit seriously. Theory and Research in Education 4.3: 313–327.

    DOI: 10.1177/1477878506069102Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This article, along with others on parenting, sexuality education, the sexual rights of individuals who are developmentally disabled, and more, is part of the work of Ben Spiecker and colleagues from the Frei Universitat in Amsterdam. These theorists examine the rights of children against the rights of adults. They argue that the state has the duty to ensure that children develop into people who are self-determining and morally accountable and who will eventually be able to exercise the right to exit from voluntary associations such as their families.

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  • Sprinthall, Norman A., Alan J. Reiman, and Lois Thies Sprinthall. 1993. Role-taking and reflection: Promoting the conceptual and moral development of teachers. Learning and Individual Differences 54:283–299.

    DOI: 10.1016/1041-6080(93)90013-ISave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    These researchers have had a major influence on the fields of counselor education and teacher training. This work introduces readers to a central concept of Sprinthall’s concept of Deliberate Psychological Education (DPE)—how opportunities for role-taking, reflection, and feedback promote cognitive and moral development.

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  • Tappan, Mark. 2000. Autobiography, mediated action, and the development of moral identity. Narrative Inquiry 10:81–109.

    DOI: 10.1075/ni.10.1.05tapSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Tappan in this and other works questions the cognitive/individualistic approach to studying moral identity research and argues that a “mediated-action approach” that derives from Penuel and Wertsch as well as Vygotsky be used to understand moral identity. In this piece he applies this approach as well as Bakhtin’s process of “ideological becoming” to the life of Ingo Hasselback, who first embraced and then repudiated the neo-Nazi movement in East Germany.

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Controversies and Critiques

The field of moral development is not without its controversies. In fact, The Ethic of Care work arrived on the scene as a critique of Kohlberg and other psychologists who had based their theories of moral and other kinds of development on studies of boys, generalizing these theories to all people. Gilligan’s work had many detractors as well as fans, challenging as it did the entire field of psychology. Walker 1984’s critique specifically addressed Gilligan’s claim that there are gender differences in moral reasoning. We recommend reading Gilligan first (see Gilligan 1982 in Classic Psychological Works), then Walker 1984, and then the reply by Gilligan 1986. A second major controversy centered on the critiques of Kohlberg by the anthropologist Shweder as well as dialogue between Shweder and Turiel, who was developing his own domain theory of moral development, which proposed a distinction between conventional and universal morality. Shweder, et al. 1990 argues that what may be a conventional rule in one society (e.g., taking off one’s hat might depend on the situation) might be a deeply moral rule in another culture (where the rule would apply across situations). Van Ijzendoorn, et al. 2010 presents a more recent view regarding universals in moral development, including empirical work that suggests that moral action is much more situational than some theorists believe. Reed 2008 revisits Kohlberg’s theory but is criticized by Gibbs, et al. 2009. Burman 2008 gives a postmodern critique of the field of moral development in her recondite textbook, Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. A final and recent controversy has to do with the anti-rationalist argument that valuing has more to do with a projection of sentiment and intuition than with reasoning. Narvaez 2010 presents a readable and interesting critique of theories that support intuition and derive from brain imaging and behavioral economics research. Turiel 2010 as well, and those who respond to Turiel’s article (e.g., Shweder, et al. 1990), describe the problems with this point of view.

  • Burman, Erica. 2008. Morality and the goals of development. In Deconstructing developmental psychology. By Erica Burman, 261–284. London: Routledge.

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    In a feminist and postmodern textbook on developmental psychology, Burman critiques moral development theory and examines it within the cultural and political framework in which it grew. She takes a global perspective on how these theories operate in the developing world and deconstructs the image of the natural, innocent child discussed in terms of the Western “production of childhood.”

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  • Gibbs, John, David Moshman, Marvin Berkowitz, Karen Basinger, and Rebecca Grime. 2009. Taking development seriously: Critique of the 2008 JME special issue on moral functioning. Journal of Moral Education 38.3: 271–282.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057240903101432Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    These moral development researchers take issue with Reed 2008 as well as with the issue of the JME that outlines new directions. They claim that this issue inadequately represents Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s concept of development and see Reed and others as reducing development and deep moral understanding to socialization practices and cultural contexts.

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  • Gilligan, Carol. 1986. Reply. Signs 11.2: 324–333

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    Gilligan replies to Walker’s and other claims that there are no gender differences on Kohlberg’s scale by reminding critics that the very methods they use to attempt to prove her theory wrong are methods that come from a very biased tradition. Developmental psychology, she claims, has been built from the study of men’s lives. She discusses how she came to write about a different way of constituting self and morality from what current theorists proposed and adds that what constitutes data is also being challenged.

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  • Narvaez, Darcia. 2010. Moral complexity: The fatal attraction of truthiness and the importance of mature moral functioning. Perspectives on Psychological Science 5.2: 163–181.

    DOI: 10.1177/1745691610362351Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Narvaez argues that intuitionist theories can be problematic. Both intuition and reasoning are involved in deliberation and expertise. Both are malleable in response to environmental and educational influences. Good intuition and reasoning inform mature moral functioning and need to include capacities that promote sustainable human wellbeing, such as the habituated empathic concern and moral metacognition—moral locus of control, moral self-regulation, and moral self-reflection.

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  • Reed, Don Collins. 2008. A model of moral stages. Journal of Moral Education 37.3: 357–376.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057240802227759Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    In this controversial essay, the philosopher Don Reed argues for moral stages that are not structures of thought but structures of action encoded in thought through social interaction. This essay was one of many in a special issue on new directions.

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  • Shweder, Richard A., Manamohan Mahapatra, and Joan G. Miller. 1990. Culture and moral development. In Cultural psychology: Essays on comparative human development. Edited by James W. Stigler, Richard A. Shweder, and Gilbert H. Herdt, 130–204. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    In this essay the authors discuss “social communication” theory and challenge the idea that there are universal processes with regard to moral development in children. They argue that Kohlberg’s methodology is biased toward Westernized elites and liberalism as a moral ideal. And they argue against a division between conventional and universal moral thinking as presented by Turiel in his domain theory as well as by Kohlberg.

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  • Turiel, Elliot. 2010. Snap judgment? Not so fast: Thought, reasoning, and choice as psychological realities. Human Development 53:105–109.

    DOI: 10.1159/000315167Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    Rather than include Turiel’s defense against the critique of Shweder et al. 1990, we include his newest “lament” against those who would describe morality as deriving from “snap” and sometimes irrational decisions based on emotion. He argues that new brain research may not tell us as much as we would like to know about moral decision making.

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  • van Ijzendoorn, Marinus H., Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Fieke Pannebakker, and Dorothee Out. 2010. In defense of situational morality: Genetic, dispositional and situational determinants of children’s donating to charity. Journal of Moral Education 39.1: 1–20.

    DOI: 10.1080/03057240903528535Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    These theorists argue that in examining pro-social behavior, personality factors as well as genetic, attachment, temperament, and rearing experiences are poor predictors. Instead there is a situational canalization that determines whether children will act pro-socially. While they set forth that moral competence is a universal characteristic, the demand characteristics of a situation canalize the competence into pro-social behavior.

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  • Walker, Lawrence J. 1984. Sex differences in the development of moral reasoning. Child Development 55.3: 667–691.

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    Walker’s critique of Gilligan’s “different voice” paradigm suggests that education rather than gender plays the most important role in explaining variance in scores on measures of moral reasoning. He argues that there are no sex differences using Kohlberg’s moral reasoning scale.

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Moral Action and Moral Exemplars

In the early days of moral development research, scholars assumed, either implicitly or explicitly, that moral cognition plays a strong role in determining moral action. Blasi 1980 and Thoma 1994 provide two influential reviews of the literature and research addressing what is often called the “judgment-action gap.” Recently, many scholars have come to accept that the rather weak correlations found between moral reasoning level and moral behavior probably result from the multiple factors influencing moral actions—not only the four components identified by Rest, but also the pull of specific situations. Studies of moral exemplars have proved a valuable method for exploring the complex and often interacting variables that influence moral action. Two frequently cited studies are Colby and Damon 1992, a study of twenty-three individuals identified as living lives of extraordinary moral courage, commitment, and character, and Oliner and Oliner 1988, a powerful study of World War II rescuers. More recently, Walker and Frimer 2007 identifies exceptionally brave or caring Canadians and analyzes the role of personality variables in shaping their characters and actions.

  • Blasi, Augusto. 1980. Bridging moral cognition and moral action: A critical review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin 88:593–637.

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    This classic review of the relationship between moral reasoning and moral action is cited in most subsequent work in the area.

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  • Colby, Anne, and William Damon. 1992. Some do care: Contemporary lives of moral commitment. New York: Free Press.

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    This influential work uses life history interviews to examine the development of moral exemplars. The rich and detailed narratives are situated within a nuanced moral analysis by two leading researchers in the field of moral development.

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  • Oliner, Samuel P., and Pearl M. Oliner. 1988. The altruistic personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe. New York: Free Press.

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    Why risk one’s life? In a quest to answer that question, the authors interviewed 406 rescuers, 126 non-rescuers, and 150 survivors across several countries of Nazi-occupied Europe. They conclude that rescuers refused to see Jews as “guilty or beyond hope” or themselves as helpless. In addition to powerful interview passages, the book contains a detailed chapter on methodology, tables of findings, and appendixes with their interview questions.

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  • Thoma, Stephen. 1994. Moral judgments and moral action. In Moral development in the professions. Edited by James R. Rest and Darcia Narvaez, 199–211. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    Early research in moral development assumed that increases in moral reasoning complexity should translate into increases in moral actions. Drawing on decades of research using the Defining Issues Test (DIT), Thoma traces the history of the judgment/action question, reviews the current status of research, and supports Rest’s Four Component Model as the best theoretical explanation of moral behavior.

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  • Walker, Lawrence J., and J. A. Frimer. 2007. Moral personality of brave and caring exemplars. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93:845–860.

    DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.845Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This research contrasted a sample of Canadian awardees for either exceptional bravery or caring with comparison participants to identify personality variables associated with moral action. In addition to evidence of a personological core to the moral domain, somewhat divergent personality profiles were found for the brave and caring exemplars, implying multiple ideals of moral maturity.

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New Directions in Implicit/Explicit Processing, Neuroscience, and Evolutionary Perspectives

Some of the most exciting research and theories in moral development have been emerging from the intersection of work in cognitive science, neurobiology, and evolutionary psychology. As noted in Controversies and Critiques, a major tension for this time between paradigms centers on how best to retain Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s powerful concepts of development while integrating new work on cognitive processing and evolutionary biology that suggests a less rational and deliberate model for moral judgments. For example, Damasio 1994 critiques the strong cognitive focus of both moral development and neuroscience research. Damasio’s groundbreaking work made a strong case for using the brain science of emotion to understand human decision making and social behavior. Anyone new to the area of the biological roots of morality might want to begin with Verbeek 2006. Other highly accessible works include de Waal 1996, on primate morality, and Krebs 2000, on how evolution explains why sometimes social cooperation makes sense and sometimes it does not. Ridley 1996 offers a more in-depth look at human cooperation. Many students today have a particular interest in forensic psychology, and Tancredi 2005 is an example of the ethical issues neuroscience raises for the criminal justice system. Readers interested in advanced neuroscience will find a fine example of research in Caceda, et al. 2011, an interdisciplinary effort to explore neurological foundations for care and justice preferences. Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations theory is one of the intuitionist theories that Narvaez 2010, on moral truthiness, critiques (cited in Controversies and Critiques). Haidt 2008, a much-discussed TED lecture, is a lively introduction to the idea that we are more likely to process moral issues implicitly than in the rational, explicit way proposed by Kohlberg. Scholars such as Blasi and Narvaez challenge Haidt’s emphasis on implicit processing at the expense of well-established research on explicit processes. Narvaez 2009, a chapter on her Triune Ethics Theory, offers a developmental perspective on findings from brain and evolutionary science.

  • Caceda, Richard G., Andrew James, Timothy D. Ely, John Snarey, and Clinton D. Kilts. 2011. Mode of effective connectivity within a putative neural network differentiates moral cognitions related to care and justice ethics. PLoS One 6.2: e14730.

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    Readers with a strong neuroscience background will appreciate the detailed exploration of brain regions involved in processing interpretations of moral conflicts. Moral sensitivity, the moral component involved in interpretation, can be oriented either to a justice ethic concerned with rights and rules, or to a care ethic more related to needs and emotions.

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  • Damasio, Antonio R. 1994. Descartes’ error: Emotion, reason, and the human brain. New York: Penguin.

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    Anyone interested in neuroscience will find this an excellent introduction to research on moral emotions. Damasio’s frequent use of case examples makes this an engaging read for students and scholars alike. He provides an excellent analysis of the famous Phineas P. Gage case, in which a tragic brain injury transformed a formerly respectable young construction foreman into a foul-mouthed and capricious brawler.

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  • de Waal, Frans. 1996. Good natured: The origins of right and wrong in humans and other animals. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

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    De Waal’s frequently referenced and widely respected work on primate morality will give readers a fascinating glimpse into comparative moral psychology. This book would provide a good starting point for learning about the evolutionary roots of human morality.

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  • Haidt, Jonathan. 2008. Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives.

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    This much-shared and discussed video lecture provides an accessible overview of Haidt’s theory of five evolutionarily pre-attuned moral values that underlie political preferences and choices of liberals and conservatives. Haidt’s moral foundations theory proposes that, over the course of evolution, five fundamental moral values have arisen across individuals and cultures: care/harm, fairness, loyalty to one’s in-group, respect for tradition/authority, and purity/disgust.

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  • Krebs, Dennis. 2000. As moral as we need to be. In Evolutionary origins of morality: Cross-disciplinary perspectives. Edited by Leonard D. Katz, 139–143. Bowling Green, OH: Imprint Academic.

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    This short commentary offers an interesting perspective on the roots of human morality and immorality. When it is in our genetic interest to cooperate, we do so, but we have also evolved to behave immorally when it is not.

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  • Narvaez, Darcia. 2009. Triune Ethics Theory and moral personality. In Personality, identity, and character: Explorations in moral psychology. Edited by Darcia Narvaez and Daniel K. Lapsley, 136–158. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

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    Narvaez pulls together findings across disciplines and methods to create a meta-theory that proposes three foundational ethical motivations: security, engagement, and imagination. Her work will be of special interest not only to readers interested in neuroscience and evolution, but also to those studying early childhood and the importance of early nurturance for optimal development.

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  • Ridley, Matt. 1996. The origins of virtue: Human instincts and the evolution of cooperation. New York: Penguin.

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    In a challenge to the Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest, Ridley presents his argument for the cooperative nature of humans. Early reciprocity evolved into useful cooperative instincts that benefit the individual and the group.

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  • Tancredi, Laurence R. 2005. Hardwired behavior: What neuroscience reveals about morality. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511499500Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »

    This thoughtful book reflects on the moral issues that arise as extraordinary advances in neurobiology challenge traditional concepts of free will and responsibility. Tancredi, a forensic psychiatric consultant, explains the brain biology involved in moral decision making and discusses the moral implications of case studies of criminals with demonstrated defective brain wiring.

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  • Verbeek, Peter. 2006. Everyone’s monkey: Primate moral roots. In Handbook of moral development. Edited by Melanie Killen and Judith Smetana, 423–461. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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    This chapter provides an excellent overview of research on morality’s biological roots and would be a good starting point for anyone interested in a comprehensive review of research on primate behaviors that may be forerunners of human morality.

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Professional Associations as Resources

The websites of key moral development and moral education organizations often provide a wealth of information on upcoming conferences (always the best resource for cutting-edge research and scholarship) and related scholarship. The interdisciplinary and international group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners in the field provides generous and generative feedback and outreach to students and new scholars. The Association for Moral Education, for example, provides an annual “family gathering” for researchers from around the world interested in moral development and education. Many of the same scholars also belong to and present papers at the Moral Development and Education Special Interest Group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association. With its strong emphasis on practice, one of the largest professional associations, the Character Education Partnership, provides an especially fine resource for classroom teachers. A newer organization, the Asia Pacific Network for Moral Education (APNME), developed out of the networks nurtured by the Association for Moral Education and the Journal of Moral Education with colleagues in Asia and the Pacific. Moral philosophers may want to explore the website of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, while scholars with a more interdisciplinary interest might find a good home in MOSAIC. Although it is not as specifically focused on moral development as other citations in the section, we included the site for the Piaget Society, as many moral development scholars from a cognitive developmental perspective present papers at Piaget Society conferences.

LAST MODIFIED: 12/15/2011

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756810-0056

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