Teaching moral behavior in schools is particularly difficult today because there is a diversity of standards reflecting the diverse elements of the culture. Even if consensus on morality could be assumed, however, past experience suggests that students would reject much of it, and neither arguing with them nor joining their rebellion is…

Since people's mental makeup is, to a certain extent, based on what they have read and how it has been incorporated into their lives, it is not surprising that considerable attention is paid to what children read. As a consequence, children's books tend to be highly moralistic. Many realistic books today attempt to teach children how to cope with…

The moral judgment is assessed of high school students from three regular high schools and from three alternative high schools. Students from the alternative schools made and reinforced rules and settled issues in weekly community meetings based on participatory democracy. The study sought to ascertain the presence of responsibility judgments in…

Reviews the issues and research problems associated with that form of moral education in which good character is central. Suggests that the questions raised by these complex and sensitive issues are unavoidable, and that the answers are unclear. (Author/FMW)

This study examined the development of empathy and role-taking skills in 194 Finnish students in Grades 6 and 9. Students wrote a story about a moral conflict in their school involving themselves or their friends. Story content and theme were analyzed and compared across age groups. Findings indicated that the themes of conflicts could be…

This study compares the moral development of college students who have been involved in repeated behavioral offenses with those who have not. Sixteen female and 13 male students from a Southern research university participated by taking the Defining Issues Test. The paper reports that a significant difference in moral development was found between…

Begins constructing a conceptual framework for moral education programs by providing an account of the objectivity of moral judgment. Argues that moral education must help students choose values to inform moral judgments; recognize and contend with moral conflict; and develop critical reflection skills for examining the assumptions that inform…

Studied development of moral reasoning in friendship conflicts by interviewing 120 children, ages 7, 9, and 12, using a moral dilemma narrative. Selected four issues to represent the levels of sociomoral reasoning. Showed sociomoral reasoning development is sequential and cumulative. Identified how commitment and responsibility progress in…

Asserts that Lawrence Kohlberg's purely "formalistic" conceptualizations of moral judgment and associated measures may misrepresent the true nature of moral thought. Identifies logical inconsistencies in Kohlberg's reliance on the "form" of moral judgment and argues for a reconceptualization in terms of content. Discusses the…

Uses a review of Peter E. Langford's, "Approaches to Moral Reasoning," to posit a broad critique of the moral reasoning theories of Lawrence Kohlberg. Summarizes Jean Piaget's stance on moral reasoning and its contributions to Kohlberg's work. Suggests a series of new approaches for research methodologies and subject matter. (MJP)

Examined ethical concepts in children's stories derived from Swedish, Hungarian, and Chinese cultures. Identified 12 qualitative categories of ethical meaning. Examined deeper, underlying psychological consequences from the standpoint of prevailing notions. (Author)

Individuals such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully employed nonviolent strategies to attain significant political goals. Despite the implications of these achievements, psychologists rarely have studied predispositions to nonviolent behavior empirically. This study investigated the relationships among nonviolent…

Many indicators point to a crisis of confidence and credibility in the role of the teacher as a professional and moral leader. In response, many educational researchers are recommending that reflective teachers examine the moral and ethical issues embedded in their everyday thinking and behavior. A study was conducted, therefore, to identify and…

An analysis of the opinions of 126 Saudi Arabian and of 166 U.S. students about 6 instances of law violations indicated that the gender of the student making the moral judgment was not a dominant factor in the student's selecting consequences to be experienced by people who committed the acts represented in the 6 cases. However, there were…

This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…