Challenges studies supporting Kohlberg's claim of invariance in the development of moral judgment which maintain that subjects' preferred responses to moral dilemmas are based on higher stages of thinking. Findings indicate language rather than levels of thinking is a significant factor in subjects' response preferences. (CM)

Builds theory and research propositions by presenting moral stage and family development frameworks as tools for exploring the individual-psychological facet of family dynamics; exploring the interface of the frameworks; and reviewing and proposing research utilizing concepts from both models. (Author/BEF)

The author suggests making the valuing experience a daily part of classroom life through building children's self-concepts, permitting them to make (and live with) many choices, and encouraging active discussion of real moral situations as they arise. (Editor)

Describes how Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development can be used to teach literature. (DD)

Critiques Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Instrument and evaluates reliability and validity data available on the instrument. Concludes that available data do not support the reliability and validity of the instrument and that further research is necessary. Available from: Department of Social Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens,…

Past work in the field is examined at four levels: the social structural, the institutional, that of action and the social psychological in both the psychological and sociological traditions. Moral choice is analyzed into three components with each component applied to moral education in an attempt to indicate worthwhile future directions for…

Argues that the primary function of childrens' fiction, through which a society's mood may be understood, in Jacksonian America was not entertainment but the moral education of a new generation, emphasizing social responsibility in contrast to the spirit of individual aggrandizement. (Editor/RK)

A moral judgment interview was administered to 100 elementary parochial school children. The relationship of intelligence, age, and sex to the quality of response in four areas of moral judgment was assessed. (MS)

A personal area of behavior comprising matters of choice and privacy, and differentiated from convention and moral obligation, is a psychological requirement for the construction of a distinct and bounded self. Accurate investigations of this dynamic require differentiation between cultural ideology and conceptual frames of individuals. (Author)

Investigated the effects of gender, gender role, and type of moral dilemma on moral maturity and orientation of university students. Found that females were more consistent than males in moral stage; males were more consistent in moral orientation. Findings suggest that a more interactional model of moral judgment than the models of L. Kohlberg…

Examined correlates of prosocial moral reasoning (PMR) in two studies. Study one investigated differences in PMR in Brazilian children and adolescents and U.S. adolescents. Study two examined relations between PMR and prosocial behaviors and gender role orientations of Brazilian adolescents. Age and gender differences in PMR were similar for…

Examined individual differences in the relations among preadolescents' sociomoral understanding and self-understanding and teacher and peer ratings of school behavior. Findings for 239 preadolescents are discussed in terms of curricular implications for inter- and intrapersonal understandings. (SLD)

Argues that Francis Ryan's article, "Unmasking the Face of Narcissism: A Prerequisite for Moral Education," holds a mistaken view of morality and moral reasoning. Suggests that moral principles have not necessarily been based on self-denial and self-discipline. Argues that the literature on moral education discussed in the article is…

Reflects on the ways in which children develop character as well as ways to foster moral development in elementary education communities. Includes a brief discussion of Robert Coles' documentation of moral intelligence in children, and lists several ways to aid the moral life of children in Montessori classrooms. (EV)

Elaborates on some issues in the debate between Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental approach and a narrative, relativistic, approach to studies of moral development. Reviews the concept of self in both approaches, ideas on the Cartesian rationality underlying Kohlberg's theories, and the reliance of the self on language in narrative approaches.…