The Relationship Between Ego and Moral Development: A Theoretical Review and Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Over the last two decades, a persistent but unresolved question within structural-developmental psychology has involved the relationship between ego development (I), as defined by Jane Loevinger, and moral judgment development (M), as defined by Lawrence Kohlberg (e.g., Erickson, 1977a, 1977b; Hauser, 1976; Kohlberg, 1964, 1966, 1984, 1986; Lambert, 1972; Loevinger, 1976, 1986; Snarey, 1986; Snarey, Kohlberg, & Noam, 1983; Sullivan, McCollough, & Stager, 1970). Both theorists present independent (though related) stage models of human development and both have designed measures to assess these stages: the Sentence Completion Test (SCT) and the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). Although both theorists have posited a conceptual correspondence between the two models, there is little known about the precise empirical relationship between ego and moral stages.