In order to unify two major theories of moral judgment, a novel task is employed which combines elements of Kohlberg's stage theory and of the theory of information integration. In contrast to the format of Kohlberg's moral judgment interview, a nonverbal and quantitative response which makes low demands on verbal facility was used. Moral…

Nisan responds to Turiel, Nucci, and Smetana's (1988) critique by stating that it merely serves to emphasize the difficulty involved in distinguishing between the moral and the conventional without reference to the cultural meaning of the act. (PCB)

This critique of Nisan's (1987) study of morality and convention addresses methodological considerations for cross-cultural research on children's moral and conventional concepts. (PCB)

Two studies examined how moral judgment and cultural ideology combine to predict moral thinking in members of a conservative church and a liberal church, and in a secular sample of university undergraduates. Found that a combination of religious ideology, political identity, and moral judgment predicted the church members' opinions on human-rights…

Examined youth gang problem in U.S. Guam. Found that changes in island traditionalism and culture wrought by modern society and modern Western individualism can isolate some youth. Concluded that gang members must be viewed as members of a culture that proposes moral visions and prescribes group behaviors for its membership. (Author/SD)

This study investigated gender, developmental, and cross-cultural differences in the moral reasoning of 97 middle- and upper-middle class fourth and sixth graders in Mexico and the United States. A seven-item questionnaire from the Comprehension Subsections of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised and III) dealing with moral…

Notes study of interviewer influence on the moral judgment of children from New York City and Recife, Brazil, which found that heteronomy was influenced by the social interaction context. Discusses this influence in terms of the concept of heteronomy, adult-child relations and interaction, and cognitive uncertainty. (KB)