Naturalistic observations were made of "remedial interchanges" that occurred among kindergarten through fourth-grade children in open classrooms. Three approaches to development of moral judgments were considered: attributional, cognitive developmental, and symbolic interactionist. Data showed limited to no support for these theories and…

This book was written to help parents integrate their values into family life and pass them on to their children. The book helps parents: (1) know their own values; (2) understand what their values mean to them; (3) live by their values; (4) model values in ways children can see and understand; (5) realize what a child must know and be able to do…

Societal conditions deemed hypothetically essential to uplifting civic morality are discussed as well as the establishment of the conditions necessary for the proper moral development of the young. (JM)

This study found that behaviorally disordered high school students (n=25) enrolled in either an alternative or traditional school setting were significantly lower in moral reasoning compared to their nonbehaviorally disordered peers. The correlation between time spent in the alternative setting and moral reasoning was positive but not significant.…

Examined the moral and ecological reasoning of second, fifth, and eighth graders regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Found that children understood negative effects of the spill, cared that harm occurred to shoreline and marine life, and thought it violated a moral obligation. Fifth and eighth graders used a greater proportion of anthropocentric…

Examined Korean first, third, and fifth graders' judgments about authority commands regarding moral events. Found that children judged that a principal, teacher, class president, and child without an authority position have legitimacy and should be obeyed when giving morally right directives. Children gave greater legitimacy to persons giving…

Compared judgments of maltreated and nonmaltreated preschoolers regarding moral transgressions. Found that all children evaluated moral transgressions as very serious, punishable, and wrong in the absence of rules. Moral judgments and justifications differed as a function of context and type of transgression but not maltreatment status. Affective…

Presents results on the status of moral development of apprentices in the business context within different types of situations. States that the results seem to support the hypothesis of "moral segmentation," contrary to Kohlberg's theory of homogeneity, and indicate that individual patterns of moral judgment are to a large extent…

Moral text processing was used as an ecologically valid method for assessing implicit and explicit moral understanding and development. The authors tested undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students in political science and philosophy for recall of moral narratives and moral expository texts. Multivariate analyses of covariance using…

The 45 tests described in this bibliography assess the moral development and values of populations at all age and grade levels (particularly target toward those above grade 7). Some of the instruments consist of questions that pose moral problems and respondents must select a solution. Several of the tests are concerned about professional ethics.…

Moral development is viewed as a matter of progression in the cognitive reasoning and rationale underlying choices and judgments. Traditionally, retrospective reports of rationales have been used to measure moral development levels, resulting in unreliable information. Information Integration Theory attempts to assess individual differences in…

Teachers with relatively high scores on the Defining Issues Test of moral development, contrasted with teachers with relatively low scores, had a more democratic view of teacher and student roles, and saw rules as protecting the rights of individual students as well as the group's rights. (NH)

Examines responses of sixty preschool children interviewed on their understanding of war. Although the majority of children could not articulate details of the specific nature of war, they indicated that war was bad for morally relevant reasons. Implementations of the findings for preschool educators are discussed. (Author/DST)

Examined the relationship between empathy and moral reasoning, age and gender differences in expression of emotional empathy, and flexibility of moral reasoning in 330 adolescents, ages 12 to 20. Moral reasoning, assessed by Flexibility of Moral Judgement Index, and empathy were found to be unrelated. (Author/DST)

Representing an attempt to document the basic assumptions of Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory of moral judgment, a 20-year longitudinal study was conducted. Assessed was the moral judgment development of 58 boys ages 10, 13, and 16 when the study began. At each of six testing times, subjects were individually interviewed on their…