Conceptual Development in the Moral and Conventional Domains: Implications for Values Education

Abstract

This article reviews recent research and related theory indicating that individuals’ conceptions of social convention and morality are constructed with in distinct developmental systems emerging out of qualitatively differing environmental interactions. The research indicates that people of all ages distinguish between those actions (moral) having an intrinsic effect upon the rights or well-being of others, and actions (social conventional) whose propriety is determined by the societal context (i.e., implicit or explicit societal norms). In addition, the research demonstrates that concepts about morality and convention follow independent and distinct developmental patterns. The article discusses the limits of current values education programs (e.g., Kohlbergian, values clarification) in terms of their failure to coordinate the teaching of social values with students’ differential conceptions of morality and convention. In addition, the article presents implications for classroom management procedures, the design of social values curricula, and the measurement of social development, which flow from the position that values education differentially address the development of conceptions of morality and social convention.