History of American morality research, 1894–1932.

Abstract

Research on moral development existed long before the work of Piaget and Kohlberg. Early psychological opinions, along with empirical testing of moral judgments at the turn of the century, showed themes of the development of moral ideas in children and adults. After the appearance of Binet's intelligence tests, and guided by educational goals, moral testing began to reach its height, only to fail in reaching its objectives. These research endeavors did, however, provide some understanding of the nature of morality, the motives behind moral judgments, and the development of morality by using a scientific method. Nearly all of the research on moral development within psychology during the last 40 years has, in some way, been associated with the theoretical constructions and testing procedures devised by Lawrence Kohlberg (1963a). However, Kohlberg's research, begun while he was still a graduate student, offered a somewhat limited review of the existing literature on the psychology of morality and moral development. Like Piaget (1932/1960) before him, Kohlberg (1963b) was largely critical of, insensitive toward, or perhaps even ignorant of the fair body of American research conducted between 1894 (the date of the earliest published empirical study of morality) and 1932 (the date of publication of Piaget's landmark book). This disregard given by Piaget and Kohlberg—and perhaps many researchers since—is unfortunate. A researcher unfamiliar with the history of morality research might erroneously conclude that Piaget's (1932/1960) and Kohlberg's (1963a) topic of inquiry was truly an original addition to the field of psychology. In fact, the quantitative, empirical study of morality and moral development has a rich and long history within the traditions of American psychology. Perhaps almost from its beginning, the psychology of morality and moral development has been deeply interested in providing and devising tests of an individual's moral values and development. However, these tests have varied in form and content over the years and can be classified into three main periods in which they were popular: (a) the years prior to the publication of Piaget's seminal work (1932/1960); (b) a period including the Piagetian model, the psychodynamic approach, and behavioristic models; and (c) a mid-century period during