The relationship between Kohlberg’s moral judgment stages and emotional empathy

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between emotional empathy and moral reasoning in college students. Subjects were given the three-story version of the Defining Issues Test (Rest, Cooper, Coder, Masanz, & Anderson, 1974) and Mehrabian and Epstein’s (1972) empathy scale. The results indicated a significant correlation between empathy and conventional morality (Stage 4). No significant correlations were found between empathy and post-conventional moral reasoning. The possible negative role of emotional empathy on Stage 5 and Stage 6 morality is discussed.