Research efforts in the area of moral development of the child, as based on Piaget's theory, are discussed. Some of the important processes Piaget uses to explain cognitive growth are presented first, followed by his theory of how the individual's capacity for moral judgment evolves. The research discussed tests Piaget's chief underlying…

The validity of Lawrence Kohlberg's empirical findings and of his cognitive developmental approach to understanding moral development is questioned. An alternative theory of moral development which emphasizes moral sensibility as well as reasoned moral judgment is proposed. (PP)

A research project attempted to confront issues involved in facilitating and measuring the psychological development of teachers participating in an inservice education program. Results of the study suggest that it is difficult to create effective developmental experiences for adults, since they tend to stabilize at a particular developmental…

Analysis of scholastic test information and scores on the Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral judgment for 122 eighth graders found a wide variation in DIT scores among high cognitive ability subjects, but no high scores among low ability subjects, suggesting that high cognitive ability is necessary but not sufficient for high moral judgment. (DB)

Reports on experiments that examined the extent to which children's moral orientation is affected by the gender of characters experiencing a dilemma in children's literature. Children often responded to the character's dilemma by expressing a concern for others (care orientation) or focusing on issues of rights and justice (rights orientation).…

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

The value of developmental baseline information is examined from an educational point of view. Data from studies on preschool children and primary and secondary school students that were carried out in Singapore are focal to the discussion. Sections of the paper concern: (1) assumptions about the value of baseline data on human development and…

This paper reports two studies that examined changes in the participants' level of moral reasoning after exposure to the Kohlberg cognitive-developmental intervention model (1975). This approach focuses on universal moral principles which are manifested in a series of developmental stages. Knowledge of these stages provides one with an outline for…

Two studies were designed to examine the relationship between moral judgment and role-taking in young children. In Study I, 30 lower class and 30 middle class five-year-olds were presented with affective, cognitive and perceptual role-taking tasks. Task performances were then examined in relation to four dimensions of moral…

This report discusses the relationship between the fields of early childhood education and developmental psychology. A historical overview focuses on the early influence of Freud's psychoanalytical principles on early childhood education. Developmental psychologists became involved with ECE on a large scale in the 1960's, encouraged largely by the…

This book contains many general and specific suggestions on how schools might deal with moral education. School personnel need to be aware and knowledgeable of the dimensions of moral education--helping people to deal with questions of right and wrong in the ways they treat each other. Most of the theoretical issues presented in the book are…

The literature on the moral judgment and moral development of mentally retarded individuals is reviewed. The relative contribution of mental age, chronological age, cognitive functioning, social experience, and environmental factors to the moral characteristics of this population is discussed. (Author/RM)

Analysis of cognitive, psychoanalytical, and moral development theories of J. Piaget, O. Rank, E. Erikson, L. Kohlberg, D. Elkind, and C. Gilligan revealed teaching strategies for gifted adolescents which involve encouraging creativity and problem-solving skills; supporting student interests; developing students' positive self-esteem; exposing…

This paper will present evidence to support ontogenetic and phylogenetic parallels and draw from these comparisons to further illuminate our understanding of micro and macro human development. Individual and collective stages of physical, psychological and spiritual development will be compared and their homologous structures examined.…

A social cognitive developmental model is presented integrating a Piagetian developmental model and Flavell's processing model, to describe three aspects of development. The utility of the model was tested in two studies. The results demonstrate that it is possible to increase children's social cognitive abilities instructionally. (Author/CTM)