Mental capacity constraints and the development of moral reasoning

Abstract

We present a dialectical constructivist approach to study moral development. This approach is used to task-analyze complexity in moral-judgement responses. With this theory and method we examine the role of mental-attentional capacity in moral reasoning. Subjects were 120 children, ages 10 to 16. Mental capacity was measured with two visual information-processing tasks. The Sociomoral Reflection Measure of Gibbs, Widaman, & Colby (1982) served to assess moral development. The highest level replies to the moral dilemmas were task-analyzed to determine their mental demand, i.e., the level of mental-attentional capacity required to generate the replies. Regression models indicated that 40% of the variance in moral-reasoning level can be explained by mental capacity alone, while 41% is additionally explained by the executive/experiential demand of the replies. Results suggest that mental capacity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for moral developmental growth.