Theory Of Moral Development Research Articles

The Impact of Moral Education Interventions on Adolescents' Sociomoral Reasoning Skills

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a moral training workshop designed to enhance sociomoral reasoning among adolescents. Drawing on the principles of ethical decision-making and moral development theory, the intervention sought to provide participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate complex moral dilemmas. Employing a randomized controlled trial design, the study included 50 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years, randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. The intervention comprised eight 75-minute sessions conducted over four weeks, focusing on moral dilemmas, perspective-taking, ethical decision-making, and reflection on personal values. Sociomoral reasoning was assessed using the Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2) at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and a two-month follow-up. Analysis of Variance with Repeated Measurements indicated significant improvements in sociomoral reasoning scores for the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.01). The experimental group showed a notable increase in DIT-2 scores from pre-test to post-test, which was maintained at the two-month follow-up. The Bonferroni Post-Hoc Test further confirmed these findings, highlighting significant advancements in sociomoral reasoning immediately following the workshop, with sustained effects over time. The moral training workshop effectively enhanced sociomoral reasoning among adolescents, suggesting that structured moral education interventions can significantly impact ethical development. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating moral reasoning training in adolescent education, providing a foundation for ethical decision-making that can guide behavior across various life contexts.

Executive function as a mechanism for the emergence and expression of moral knowledge.

We outline two accounts by which executive function (EF) supports children's moral reasoning: an emergence and an expression account. The emergence account postulates that EF supports the development of moral concepts because it relates to how children navigate their early social environments and how well they can internalize moral messages. The expression account postulates that EF supports children's in-the-moment moral reasoning for complex moral situations. We present data from two studies with preschool children to assess each account. In support of the emergence account, EF longitudinally and positively predicted moral reasoning, but only for children who have experienced moderate forms of peer conflict. In support of the expression account, EF was only correlated with judgments that required the coordination of multiple pieces of information (i.e., retaliation and criterion judgments). We conclude that EF is an important cognitive mechanism of moral development and discuss various implications of these findings for both moral development and EF theory.

도덕과교육과 부정적 수업

Moral education as a subject is based on the simple belief that moral education can and should be achieved through instruction. However, as Kohlberg’s moral development theory and its influence on Moral Education clearly illustrate, the various theoretical approaches that are influencing Moral Education today have inherent limitations that distinguish them from Moral Education. The distinction ‘in nature’ means that the various theoretical approaches are not theoretical explanations of the moral instructional activity that communicates moral knowledge. Today’s Moral Education tends to be influenced by theoretical approaches that don’t pay due attention to the situations that communicate moral knowledge. This trend resulted in the task of moral instructional activity being replaced by the educational prescriptions provided by each approach. Based on this idea, this study starts from the question ‘What is instruction?’ and focuses on exploring what Moral Education is that satisfies the concept of instruction and what it looks like. Satisfying the concept of instruction should be understood as meeting the conceptual criteria of education, which include communicating ‘something of value’, causing ‘cognitive change’, and ‘the process must be ethical’. In particular, negative instruction is noteworthy in that it faithfully exemplifies moral instructional activity that satisfies the concept of education.

Teori Perkembangan Sosial Emosi Erikson dan Tahap Perkembangan Moral Kohlberg: Penerapan di Sekolah

Erikson's theory of social emotional development and Kohlberg's moral development can be applied in school life to determine the development of students' moral reasoning and also determine students' social interaction relationships. With Erikson's theory of social development, we can understand the stages of human development starting from our sensitivity and ability to adapt to the surrounding environment. The purpose of this article is to determine the implementation of Guidance Counseling on improving children's morals at school and to determine whether or not there is an influence of Guidance Counseling on improving children's morals. The aim of this research is also to provide a way for adolescents to find their identity and synthesize the stages of adolescent psychosocial development.

The Interplay of Theory of Mind and Moral Development: Children’s and Adults’ Attributions of Intent, Praise and Blame, and Deserved Consequences in False Belief Contexts

Children’s mentalizing abilities and their moral reasoning both develop rapidly during the preschool years and are jointly critical for navigating our complex social world. As children develop, they place more emphasis on intentions in making moral judgments, yet little research has examined the role of belief understanding in morally-relevant situations. We examined children’s (N = 61), and adults’ (N = 36) judgments of agent intent, deserved consequence, and blame and praise in morally-relevant belief vignettes. By 5 years of age, children consistently rated agents with false beliefs as better intentioned in a good intent condition (even though the outcome was bad) than in a bad intent condition (even though the outcome was good). Yet, even 7-year-olds had difficulty assigning consequences (reward or punishment) based on an agents’ intent, and only adults assigned consequences as a function of intent. Nonetheless, children of both ages accurately assigned praise or blame as a function of intent. Understanding of praise and blame may represent a way station along the road to more accurate assignment of reward and punishment.

Gen-Z's Current Behaviors, Consumption Patterns And Opinions Towards Single-use Plastics

This research delves into the behaviours, consumption patterns, and opinions of Generation Z (Gen-Z) in India concerning single-use plastics (SUPs). As the global community grapples with the repercussions of a disposable culture, understanding the stance of Gen-Z, a demographic poised to significantly influence future consumption patterns, becomes paramount. Employing a mixed-methods approach, comprising surveys, interviews, and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) based on Kohlberg's moral development theory, this study offers insights into Gen-Z's moral reasoning behind their interactions with SUPs. Preliminary findings suggest a heightened awareness (88%) of the environmental impact of SUPs among Gen-Z respondents. The majority exhibit post-conventional moral reasoning, underlining a deep-rooted ethical understanding of the issues surrounding SUPs. 55% of Gen-Z participants in this study demonstrated post-conventional moral reasoning, revealing an internalized understanding of single-use plastic's ethical implications, in contrast to 15% for pre-conventional and 30% for conventional. However, challenges such as cost, and availability of sustainable alternatives persist. This research emphasizes the critical role of Gen-Z in steering societal behaviours towards sustainable practices and provides recommendations for businesses, policymakers, and educators to harness this potential effectively.

The sociocultural influences in Lawrence Kohlberg’s life: a psychobiography

Lawrence Kohlberg (1927–1987) was a moral development specialist and moral teacher. He is considered an exceptional individual due to the success he obtained from developing his Theory of Moral Development. Throughout Kohlberg’s life, there was a reciprocal influence between Kohlberg’s development and the sociocultural influences of his time, guiding his life story. This psychobiography used a longitudinal, single-case research design from the qualitative paradigm, utilising the descriptive-interpretive approach to explore the influences which shaped major life events in Kohlberg’s life. This research design enabled the illumination of how sociocultural circumstances shaped various spheres in Kohlberg’s life, such as his identity, education, career path and vocational success. This was done through using Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Human Development Framework, by including its enmeshed, most up-to-date scientific research design, the Proximal-Person-Context-Time Model.

Enseñando moralidad como competencia inclusiva en educación superior: efectos de la discusión de dilemas y contribución de la empatía

Inclusive pedagogies belong to the diversity agenda in higher education and so their teaching methodologies should be tested to ensure the effective training of students in democratic and inclusive citizenship competencies, such as moral competence. Moral-dilemma based methods have proven to be effective in learning about morals in specific programmes, but there is still no evidence for their cross-cutting application in regular courses. These methods could also be enriched by strategies aimed at learning competences that have been identified as predictive factors in theories of moral judgement and development, such as empathy. The current study examines the effects of a 10-hour teaching intervention on learning moral competence using a version of the Konstanz Method of Dilemma Discussion (KMDD), either applied in isolation or using a mixed strategy of dilemma discussion and narrative persuasion activities, this last method with the aim of verifying the contribution of empathy to moral learning. The hypotheses regarding the two methodological approaches were tested using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group in the ecological context of the first semester of teacher training. Data were collected using the Moral Competence Test and were analysed with linear mixed models. The results did not support the expected empathy-induced moral learning. However, significant progression in moral competence when using KMDD is shown. The discussion considers the disassociation between empathy/altruism and moral competence in order to interpret the ineffectiveness of the mixed strategy. The need to apply pedagogies with a more experiential focus is suggested in order to foster moral learning by means of activities in community diversity environments.

PENGARUH KESESUAIAN KOMPENSASI DAN MORALITAS PADA KECENDERUNGAN KECURANGAN DI LPD SE-KECAMATAN NUSA PENIDA

Fraud is a form of fraud that is carried out intentionally and can harm certain parties and provide personal benefits to the perpetrators of the fraud. One form of fraud can be acts of corruption and misuse of assets. This research was conducted to examine the effect of suitability of compensation and morality on fraud tendencies in LPDs throughout the Nusa Penida sub-district. This research was conducted at Nusa Penida District LPDs, totaling 42 LPDs using a survey method with a questionnaire. The number of samples in this study were 168 respondents. The sample in this study was determined by purposive sampling technique. The criteria that can be used as samples are respondents who have positions as panureksa, pamucuk, panyarikan and patengen. Multiple linear regression was used in the data analysis. The results of the analysis prove that the suitability of compensation and morality has a negative effect on the tendency of LPD fraud. The implication of this research is that the existence of a compensation system and a high level of morality will prevent fraud in the LPD. The results of this study support the fraud triangle theory and the theory of moral development.

Why Errybody Sayin ‘No New Friends’?: The Proverbs of Rap and Why Young People Recite Them

Exploring the role hip-hop language arts plays in the development of Black (and other minoritized) youth, this study provides a theoretical account of hip-hop moral codes and how they become part of young people’s ethical sensemaking. This study extends sociocultural theories of moral development by centering the cultural form as a fundamental unit of ethical sensemaking. This study focuses on one particular cultural form, tracing the dissemination of the phrase “no new friends” from its origin in rapper Drake’s 2013 song to its later use by various young people who took it up as a catch phrase in their everyday lives. The study traces the sociogenesis of this cultural form in the cognitive activities of hip-hop adjacent youth as they contemplate their loyalty obligations to their day-one friends. The research employs a discursive analysis of the original song, an analysis of interviews with 21 college students who use the phrase, and a Twitter scrape of 8,716 global mentions of the phrase. These methods are used to explore how hip-hop ethical norms originate in the cultural surround as codes of the street, and are internalized by individual actors, becoming tools they can use within their own ethical deliberation. To properly understand the ontogenesis of ethical sensemaking in a specific adolescent, it is imperative to analyze the cultural forms and social constructs that have evolved in that adolescent’s local communities. Conclusions suggest that one way to operationalize ethical learning is as a process of gaining cultural competency or linguistic fluency with localized moral vernaculars, which includes marginalized literary traditions of third world communities. The study finds that youth take these hip-hop proverbs seriously but not literally, and therefore are able to agentically use proverbs like no new friends to make sense of their social worlds and orient themselves toward “staying down” and “keeping it real.”

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Ethics-Oriented HRM Systems, Moral Attentiveness, and Deviant Workplace Behavior

Deviant workplace behaviors (DWB) cause enormous costs to organizations, sparking considerable interest among researchers and practitioners to identify factors that may prevent such behavior. Drawing on the theory of moral development, we examine the role of ethics-oriented human resource management (HRM) systems in mitigating DWB, as well as mechanisms that may mediate and moderate this relationship. Based on 232 employee-supervisor matched responses generated through a multi-source and multi-wave survey of 84 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan, our multilevel analysis found that ethics-oriented HRM systems relate negatively to employee DWB via the mediation of perceptual and reflective moral attentiveness. This indirect relationship is further moderated by two societal-inequality induced factors – employee gender and income level – such that the indirect effects of ethics-oriented HRM systems on DWB through perceptual and reflective moral attentiveness are stronger among women and lower-income employees.

‘A Different Voice’ in Peer Feedback: Gender Specificity in Students’ Willingness to Provide Peer Feedback

In the context of the efforts to reach equity in the classroom, peer feedback (PFB) is used, among other participative learning methods, as it is considered to minimize gender differences. Yet, recent studies have reported gender discrepancies in students’ willingness to provide feedback to their peers. Building on Gilligan’s theory of moral development, we tried to refine the source of this difference. We conducted a semi-experimental study during which education students of both genders performing a PFB activity in a face-to-face course were asked to fill out a questionnaire. This allowed us to estimate the link between, on the one hand, the comfort in providing PFB and the willingness to provide PFB, and on the other hand, personal characteristics like self-esteem, self-efficacy, and empathic concern, and intellectual characteristics like self-efficacy in the learned discipline and the proficiency to write and understand feedback. The linear regression analysis of 57 students’ answers to the questionnaire did not reveal gender differences in comfort in providing PFB and willingness to do so, but showed that the comfort in providing PFB was linked to cognitive proficiency in students of both genders, whereas the willingness to provide PFB was independent of any other variables in men and linked to self-esteem, empathic concern, and comfort in providing feedback in women. This result indicates a differential sensitivity to social factors in male and female students, aligning with Gilligan’s model of women’s ‘ethics of care’. Possible applications in education would be the use of PFB to train women in self-esteem or, inversely, the improvement of psychological safety in PFB exercises in groups including female students.

Relationship between Abstinence from Retrogressive Sociocultural Practices and Secondary School Students’ Levels of Moral Growth and Development

Education is one way to impart moral consciousness in individuals. One of the marks of moral growth is abstinence from retrogressive socio-cultural beliefs and practices. The study investigated the relationship between reasons given by teachers and students for abstaining from retrogressive socio-cultural practices and their levels of moral development, based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. The retrogressive socio-cultural practices were identified from Henry Ole Kulet’s novel Blossoms of the Savannah, which was selected purposively. The research was descriptive comparative by design. The study targeted 2227 Form Three students and 620 teachers of English from national secondary schools from Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet Counties. From this population, 339 students and 59 teachers were sampled using Taro Yamane’s formula and selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, classroom observations and content analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS (version 25) program. Qualitative data was analysed thematically. From the novel, four retrogressive practices were identified, namely female genital mutilation, polygamy, patriarchy along with male chauvinism, and arranged or early marriages. From the findings, majority of students and teachers’ reason at the post-convectional level of moral development, as evidenced from the various explanations they gave for abstaining from retrogressive socio-cultural practices. Therefore, teachers and students’ reason beyond the perspectives of society and recognize that laws must be consistent with individuals’ rights. Consequently, the government should select and approve literary texts as set-books that promote conventional or post-conventional level of moral reasoning in their readers.

How the COVID-19 pandemic affects the moral reasoning of pediatric residents and the general population

BackgroundKohlberg’s theory of moral development asserts that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as their cognitive abilities and social interactions mature. Individuals at the lowest stage of moral reasoning (preconventional stage) judge moral issues based on self-interest, those with a medium stage (conventional stage) judge them based on compliance with rules and norms, and those at the highest stage (postconventional stage) judge moral issues based on universal principles and shared ideals. Upon attaining adulthood, it can be considered that there is stability in the stage of individuals’ moral development; however, the effect of a global population crisis such as the one experienced in March 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic, is unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in the moral reasoning of pediatric residents before and after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic and compare them with a general population group.MethodsThis is a naturalistic quasi-experimental study conducted with two groups, one comprised 47 pediatric residents of a tertiary hospital converted into a COVID hospital during the pandemic and another group comprised 47 beneficiaries of a family clinic who were not health workers. The defining issues test (DIT) was applied to the 94 participants during March 2020, before the pandemic initiated in Mexico, and later during March 2021. To assess intragroup changes, the McNemar-Bowker and Wilcoxon tests were used.ResultsPediatric residents showed higher baseline stages of moral reasoning: 53% in the postconventional group compared to the general population group (7%). In the preconventional group, 23% were residents and 64% belonged to the general population. In the second measurement, one year after the start of the pandemic, the group of residents had a significant decrease of 13 points in the P index, unlike the general population group in which a decrease of 3 points was observed. This decrease however, did not equalize baseline stages. Pediatric residents remained 10 points higher than the general population group. Moral reasoning stages were associated with age and educational stage.ConclusionsAfter a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found a decrease in the stage of moral reasoning development in pediatric residents of a hospital converted for the care of patients with COVID-19, while it remained stable in the general population group. Physicians showed higher stages of moral reasoning at baseline than the general population.

Ethical Reasoning at Work: A Cross-Country Comparison of Gender and Age Differences

This paper uses the IBE Ethics at Work 2018 survey to explore employees’ ethical reasoning and examine gender and age differences across 12 countries. Debates about gender and ethics have been intense since Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, with feminist critiques from Gilligan and others advocating the different voice of women, while the recent arrival of Millennials in the workplace has raised new questions about age/generational differences and ethics. The findings in this study suggest that women and older workers have stronger ethical judgments in the workplace than men and younger workers. These gender and age differences, both among employees and managers, are consistent across countries. This study shows that individual characteristics are important for employees’ ethical reasoning, which affects their ability to make ethical decisions and act ethically. Business ethics research should therefore take greater account of differences between (groups of) employees and their learning needs when examining the effectiveness of ethics policies and instruments, while organizations can improve employee ethical reasoning by adopting diversity-based training programs and ethical leadership.

Factors Affecting the Unethical Behavior and its Impact to the Tendency of Accounting Fraud

Purpose: There is very little empirical research on fraud in non-profit organization. Previous researchers have conducted, and the results are mixed and inconsistent. Only a few models link several variables that have been previously proven to be related to one another. The purpose of this study is to combine the relationships of several variables to examine whether individual morality, effectiveness of internal control and compensation suitability have a significant effect on unethical behavior and its impact also to accounting fraud tendencies in nonprofit organization context. Theoretical framework: This research is based on several theories, namely the theory of moral development, the theory of attribution, the theory of hope and the theory of cheating. Some empirical research also provides varying results. The new model in this study links several variables that have been previously proven to be related to one another. Design/methodology/approach: The research design used is descriptive research using quantitative survey as a data collection method and a structural equation model (SEM) for the data analysis process. The population in this study were all permanent employees working in the office of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, especially in the conference/mission, namely those working as officers, heads of departments and employees working in the finance department. Using convenient sample method, the sample in this study amounted to 156 respondents taken proportionally represent each region of conference, or mission spread in East Indonesia. Findings: The result of this study found that effectiveness of internal control had a significant positive effect on unethical behavior, appropriateness of compensation had a significant negative effect on unethical behavior and unethical behavior had a significant positive effect on accounting fraud tendencies. For individual morality variables, the effectiveness of internal controls and appropriateness of compensation do not have a significant effect on unethical behavior, as well as the effectiveness of internal controls do not have a significant effect on the tendency of accounting fraud. Research, Practical & Social implications: This research contributes to a non-profit organization, in this case the religious organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, especially in the Eastern Indonesia region. The results of the study show that organizations need to pay attention to the appropriate compensation variable because it has a significant negative effect on the tendency of accounting fraud. Besides that, because the results of the study show that unethical behavior has a significant positive effect on the tendency of accounting fraud, it is necessary to minimize unethical behavior so that an increase in unethical behavior will increase the tendency of accounting fraud. Originality/value: The new model in this study links several variables that have been previously proven to be related to one another.

Cognitive morality and artificial intelligence (AI): a proposed classification of AI systems using Kohlberg's theory of cognitive ethics

PurposeThe widespread usage of artificial intelligence (AI) is prompting a number of ethical issues, including those involving concerns for fairness, surveillance, transparency, neutrality and human rights. The purpose of this manuscript is to explore possibility of developing cognitive morality in AI systems.Design/methodology/approachThis is explorative research. The manuscript investigates the likelihood of cognitive moral development in AI systems as well as potential pathways for such development. Concurrently, it proposes a novel idea for the characterization and development of ethically conscious and artificially intelligent robotic machines.FindingsThis manuscript explores the possibility of categorizing AI machines according to the level of cognitive morality they embody, and while doing so, it makes use of Lawrence Kohlberg's study related to cognitive moral development in humans. The manuscript further suggests that by providing appropriate inputs to AI machines in accordance with the proposed concept, humans may assist in the development of an ideal AI creature that would be morally more responsible and act as moral agents, capable of meeting the demands of morality.Research limitations/implicationsThis manuscript has some restrictions because it focuses exclusively on Kohlberg's perspective. This theory is not flawless. Carol Gilligan, one of Kohlberg's former doctoral students, said that Kohlberg's proposal was unfair and sexist because it didn't take into account the views and experiences of women. Even if one follows the law, they may still be engaging in immoral behaviour, as Kohlberg argues, because laws and social norms are not perfect. This study makes it easier for future research in the field to look at how the ideas of people like Joao Freire and Carl Rogers can be used in AI systems.Originality/valueIt is an original research that derives inspiration from the cognitive moral development theory of American Professor named Lawrence Kohlberg. The authors present a fresh way of thinking about how to classify AI systems, which should make it easier to give robots cognitive morality.

Toward a Decolonized Moral Education for Social Justice in Africa

Many moral and social problems affecting African people and development could be associated with (neo)colonial moral education problems in Africa: perpetuation of excessive materialism, individual competitiveness, and demonization of African traditional values. To solve African moral problems and realize Pan-African goals, we need a more contextualized approach to moral education in schools that takes into account moral values from African context. Hence, this paper proposed strengthening moral education in Africa through a decolonial educational approach that disrupts the conventional through anti-colonial curricular and pedagogical practices of moral education for social justice. It first conceptualized moral education and social justice and reviewed literature on moral education in Africa to illuminate its colonizing elements. The proposed decolonized moral education model, critiquing Kohlbergian moral development theory as ignoring the (neo)colonial struggles of colonized and Indigenous people, draws on Ubuntu philosophy, Afrocentricity, and postcolonial theories to develop five processes for the decolonization—(a) Indigenous knowledge, values, and practices’ consciousness raising, (b) moral diversity mapping and comparison, (c) critical evaluation of Indigenous moral disrupters, (d) prosocial anger toward historical/ongoing moral annihilation and complicity, and (e) Indigenous moral agency. The curriculum and practice implications of the Model are discussed.

Moral Development during Emerging Adulthood: Theoretical Considerations and a Neo-Aristotelian Approach

Moral development during emerging adulthood is a topic of growing interest. Several different theories within the study of human development appear to converge on this point of inquiry, as the study of moral development during emerging adulthood recruits different areas of expertise. This paper explores different theoretical approaches to the study of moral development during emerging adulthood and demonstrates the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. The overall shape of the exploration is governed by broad philosophical considerations grounded in the ethics of Aristotle. First, Aristotle’s ideas are adapted to a developmental paradigm, providing an overarching theory of moral development. Second, the study of moral development during emerging adulthood is situated within the relational developmental system metatheory of human development. These first two theories provide a framework for “moral” and “development,” respectively. Additional conceptual and theoretical issues are addressed as they arise, including moral identity and the link between virtue and happiness.

Kohlberg's theory of Moral Development

Kohlberg's theory of Moral Development