Undergraduates discussed a moral issue with a confederate who had the same opinion (no controversy) or opposite opinion (controversy) within either a cooperative or a competitive context. Subjects in the controversy conditions indicated more conceptual conflict, engaged in more information seeking, and were more accurate in taking the cognitive…

Cognitive moral development framework has much to offer the researcher, teacher, and group leader interested in improving family life and parenting skills. By recognizing that parents operate at different levels and that family members change over the entire lifespan, counselors can become sensitive to the adaptation necessary in the family.…

Major concepts embodied in moral development literature are reviewed. (MJB)

Presents a theoretical perspective for the psychological study of moral development which does not rely on the notion that different types of moral view have different logical structures and which provides a framework for specific predictions about moral content and moral reasoning, motivation, and behavior. (Author/RH)

Examines and dismantles both cognitive-developmental theory of moral education and development and the politically based radical criticisms against it. Considers the implications for moral education of Piagetian cognitive-developmental stage theory and Rawlsian ethical liberalism. Calls for a reconstructed theory based on a new, broader…

Students (N=178) judged the adequacy of reasons presented in stage prototypic responses to moral dilemmas to provide a profile of the frequency and strength with which students rejected early stage reasons. Data indicated definite age trends in rejecting lower-stage reasoning. Higher-stage items produced no significant age differences. (RC)

A curriculum for counselor training was piloted with inservice counselors and teachers. Significant gains were achieved in counseling skills and moral reasoning, but shifts in ego and conceptual level failed to reach statistical significance. Implications for training are discussed. A case for a developmental perspective is made. (Author)

Presented is an annotated bibliography on the early adolescent (ages 10 to 15). (KC)

Discusses the cognitive developmental approach in moral education and describes a program in the Cluster School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The authors challenge counselors (as consultants) to become deliberately involved in the values and moral growth of students. (Author/CC)

Although cognitive developmentalists explain moral stage progression in part by experiences of disequilibrium (cognitive disorganization, confusion, an anxious search for order), relevant data collected from 75 college students indicate that there is no difference in reported disequilibrium between those in moral transition and those not in moral…

Reconceptualizes Kohlberg's theory and research on moral stages in the light of recent criticisms. A proposed revision describes moral development in adulthood as existential rather than Piagetian and restricts moral judgment in the standard stage sense to childhood and adolescence. (Author/SS)

An experiment is reported on the effects of a moral education program based on cognitive-developmental theory, at the high school level. Students were pre-tested and post-tested on Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale. (Editor)

Examined contribution of temperamental inhibitory control to conscience development. Found longitudinal stability in inhibitory control from toddlerhood to early school age, with inhibitory control increasing with age, and girls outperforming boys. Reaffirmed links between inhibitory control and multiple, diverse measures of children's conscience…

Examined the variability in the development of moral judgment by reanalyzing a set of Kohlberg's data studies on the concept of structured wholeness, a deep cognitive organization unifying different surface judgments given by the same subject. Although the results failed to show total consistency they also show that it is not meaningful to claim…