Barns och ungdomars tankar om krig och fred

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development has maintained a dominant position in cognitive moral development literature over several decades. This universal influence has been particularly evident in its application to moral education literature and policy. A closer assessment of Kohlberg’s theoretical conceptualization suggests the application of universal assumptions masked by Eurocentric values and possible unconscious bias. In this paper, the relevance of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development in the South African context is explored in relation to early childhood development. In addition, through the example of violence in South Africa, we illustrate how moral development occurs in ways that are at odds with the universalist claims made by Kohlberg. While acknowledging the value of Kohlberg’s work, our appraisal unveils its blind spots. This appraisal contends that moral reasoning is negotiated in context and thus needs to be understood within the local socio-historical, cultural, and economic milieu.

Although a theory of moral development is not itself a theory of moral education, it can have important implications for moral education. A case in point is the cognitive-developmental theory of Lawrence Kohlberg) Kohlberg and his followers have for several years been attempting to put into practice in classrooms and prisons the implications of this theory for moral education. His theory is being widely discussed by those interested in moral education, and it seems to be attracting an ever larger number of adherents. So, given the likelihood of its having significant impact on the moral education of children, it is important that attempts be made to see to what extent it can withstand critical scrutiny. A comprehensive critical examination would be a large undertaking. This paper has a more modest aim. It will consider Kohlberg's views on the relationship between cognition and affect in moral development. Kohlberg's theory is distinguished by its insistence that there is an invariant, and irreversible, order of stages of moral development. It is called a cognitivedevelopmental theory because, following Piaget, it maintains that each stage of moral development parallels a stage of cognitive development. For Kohlberg, there are 6 stages of moral development, and one cannot advance to a higher stage until one has gone through each of the preceding stages. The six stages can be divided into three levels: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional (or autonomous). One of the most persistent criticisms of Kohlberg's theory is that it does not do justice to the affective aspects of moral development) Although he is aware of this criticism, Kohlberg remains steadfast in focusing primary attention on the cognitive aspects of moral development, with the affective aspects receiving secondary treatment. The aim of this paper is to show that, despite Kohlberg's numerous attempts to respond to this criticism, his critics are essentially right. The upshot will be, not only that he should attend more fully and carefully to the affective aspects of moral development, but also that his particular conception of moral stages is in need of serious reconsideration.

From an early age, children with high abilities show signs of high moral sensitivity. These children, as well as showing an advanced ability to think about abstract ideas such as justice and fairness, can also show superior performance in one or more areas, in isolation or in combination, when compared to students of the same age group, grade and environmental experiences. The general objective was to describe and characterize the state of knowledge on the moral development of students with high abilities. To this end, an integrative literature review was carried out in five electronic databases from 2002 to 2022 (Periódico CAPES, Sage Journal, Eric, Psycinfo and LILACS). The following results were found: i. In total, 14 articles were selected, which indicates a shortage of scientific publications on this subject; ii. quantitative tests for assessing moral development were the most commonly used instruments for assessing moral development in students with high abilities; iii. two theories of moral development were used in studies to explain the moral development of people with high abilities: Piaget's theory and Kohlberg's theory, the latter being cited in international studies and the former in national studies; and iv. the need for educational interventions for the moral development of students with high abilities. The conclusion is that it is necessary to promote scientific research on this subject, as meeting the emotional and educational needs of children with high abilities and the inclusion of this special education group in school depends on the knowledge accumulated by scientific studies.

Role-taking ability and level of moral development were measured in three groups of boys and girls including 16 moderately retarded adolescents (mean chronological age 15; mean mental age 9), 16 nonretarded adolescents matched for chronological age, and 16 nonretarded children matched for mental age. The mentally retarded adolescents scored significantly lower on role-taking ability and moral development than the adolescents matched for chronological age. They did not differ from children of their same mental age in role-taking ability; and they tended to score lower in moral development. The results supplied qualified support for Kohlberg's theory of moral development.

Abstract. This study extends prior research on the average level of moral development in public accounting by examining five large accounting firms and three staff levels. The research is important because it highlights the need to include auditors from several firms in research designs, provides evidence of differences in moral development among public accounting firms, and profiles the professions' average level of moral development for three levels. The data are from 494 managers and seniors (204 females and 290 males) from five Big Six firms. Using the Defining Issues Test (Rest 1979a) to measure moral development, several results were noted. First, the results indicate a difference in the average level of moral development among firms, suggesting that use of subjects from only one firm inhibits the generalizability of findings regarding moral development. Second, female managers are at a significantly higher average level of moral development than male managers. In fact, the average scores for male managers fell between those expected for senior high school and college students. The data suggest that a greater percentage of high‐moral‐development males and low‐moral‐development females are leaving public accounting than their respective opposites. These results indicate that the profession has retained, through advancement, males who are potentially less sensitive to the ethical implications of various issues. The analysis also indicates that Kohlberg's (1969) theory of moral development is not biased towards the thought processes of males because female auditors did not score lower on the Defining Issues Test.

Kohlberg's theory of moral development is extended and revised. The Chinese perspectives on moral development are integrated into the present 6‐stage model. The last three stages are: (4) Golden mean orientation and social system; (5) Majority rights and individual rights, and (6) Universal ethical principles of natural harmony. The first three stages are hypothesized to be cultural universal but the last three stages are supposed to have a cultural component. For each of the Stages 4, 5 and 6, a general structure is constructed and then a Chinese sub‐structure and a Western sub‐structure are derived from their corresponding general structure. Confucian and Taoistic philosophies are employed to elaborate some of the characteristics of the Chinese sub‐structures.

The present article reports two studies in which the validity of the Defining Issues Test (DI[T; Rest 1979) for conservative religious people was examined. In Study 1 we found that from 16 to 25 (of 72) DIT items had differential functioning; that is, the items were measuring a different construct for conservative religious subjects. Study 2 provided evidence that a large proportion of the differential item functioning observed in Study 1 was due to the religious connotations these items had for the religious subjects. We concluded that the DIT is not completely valid for people from some conservative religious cultures. Our studies join with other research in providing evidence that Kohlberg's theory of moral development is to some extent religiously and culturally limited.

The study examines the critical role of professional ethics in auditor decision-making, focusing on public accounting firms in Jakarta, Indonesia. Employing a convergent parallel design, the research integrates qualitative case study findings with quantitative survey results to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing ethical behavior in the auditing profession.The qualitative component explores the ethical dilemmas faced by auditors, drawing on Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development, Rest's Four-Component Model, and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis, the study reveals that auditors encounter complex ethical challenges stemming from client pressures, organizational incentives, and ambiguous professional guidelines. The findings highlight the pivotal role of ethical culture and leadership in shaping auditors' decision-making processes.The quantitative component complements the qualitative insights by surveying a larger sample of auditors across multiple firms. Descriptive and inferential analyses are conducted to assess the relationships between key variables, including organizational culture, professional guidelines, moral development, and ethical decision-making. The results provide empirical support for the qualitative findings, confirming the significant influence of organizational factors and individual moral reasoning on auditors' ethical behavior. The study offers practical recommendations for enhancing ethical practice in the auditing profession. These include implementing robust ethical training programs, fostering mentorship relationships, and aligning organizational incentives with ethical objectives. The research highlights the importance of cultivating a strong ethical culture within accounting firms and emphasizes the need for clear, unambiguous professional guidelines to support auditors in navigating ethical dilemmas.

The paper provides an analysis of moral development theory developed by Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg. The paper explores the primary critiques of Kohlberg's moral development theory, including justice (the right) as the primary motivation for morality. The paper examines the research of Martin Hoffman's view of empathy (the good) as the primary motivation for morality. John Gibbs takes Hoffman's research a step further by advocating that the primary motivation for morality is co-primary (the right and the good). A Wesleyan view of moral psychology is developed by following Charles Wesley's famous stanza, “Unite the pair so long Disjoined: Knowledge and vital piety.” This statement is a framework to discuss how empathy and justice become the primary motivation for moral development. The paper argues for a Wesleyan view of morality that includes the transformation of the human emotions and affections by the “means of grace” as a basis for moral development. The paper concludes by exploring how congregations can be a means of grace in shaping and forming moral persons.

In this contribution we propose a comparative reconstruction of Kohlberg's and Freud's theories of moral development. We concentrate not on the developmental processes and their driving forces, but on the emerging conceptions of morality according to both theories. Each of the developmental stages is characterized in terms of the different sets of criteria typically constituting the changing (implicit) rationale for moral judgement and action. These criteria are represented according to the `logic of development' published earlier in this journal (van Haaften, 1998), which makes it possible precisely to describe the relations between the criteria within and through the successive stages in both theories. We also make some suggestions about stages preceding and following those that Freud explicitly mentions. Our reconstruction may serve as a first step towards a more exact comparison, and eventually perhaps partial integration, of different theories of moral development.

PARIKH, BINDU. Development of Moral Judgment and Its Relation to Family Environmental Factors in Indian and American Families. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 1030-1039. The present research is a study of (a) the rate of development of moral judgment in a sample of urban upper-middle-class Indian children, adolescents, and parents; and (b) the relationship of family environmental factors to moral judgment development. The results are compared with similar studies of American families. The assumptions underlying the study are based on Kohlberg's theory of moral judgment development. The results of the study support Kohlberg's claim of cross-cultural universality of sequences and stages. Some differences in the rate of development of Indian and American parents are observed, although the size of the sample and possible variation in the scoring methods do not allow for final conclusions. Family influences favorable for the American samples are also found to be so for the Indian sample in the 15-16-year age group but not for the 12-13-year age group, which nonetheless indicates that reciprocity in parent-child relationships is a favorable condition for the moral judgment development of the children of urban upper-middle-class families in both cultures.

Nursing, like the changing society of which it is a part, is beginning to focus on ethical and moral dimensions. Nursing interventions traditionally based primarily on scientific and theoretical knowledge, previous clinical experience, or personal capabilities are now being considered within the realm of moral decision-making. In any age where organs are transplanted, pregnancies terminated by elective abortions, and lives maintained by artificial means, the nurse is constantly faced with situations arousing moral discourse at each step in the nursing process. The nursing process is one of continuous decision-making in which value commitments are inherent. Moral judgments made by nurses influence patient decisions and impact on their relationships with other health professionals within the work setting. For example, community nurses providing home health are placed in the conflicting situation of trying to document a need for skilled care for a Medicare patient whose needs are primarily of a psychological nature. The nurse also encounters less obvious conflicts that demand moral decisions. Yet, the majority of nurses have not received educational preparation to assist them in making decisions in situations that involve moral judgments (Crisham, 1981). The nursing profession has begun to recognize the need to facilitate the moral development of its practitioners. Kohlberg's (197 1) cognitive theory of moral development has provided the framework for this advancement. A prevailing assumption of Kohlberg's theory is that persons functioning at higher levels of moral development will make decisions that are supportive of the dignity, values, and rights of all concerned. This theory describes three levels of moral development ranging from a low preconventional level with an obedience/punishment orientation to a more principled, altruistic level. A key concept necessary for one to advance to the principled level of moral decision-making is role-taking. Role-taking occurs when an individual experiences

Participation of students in physical education classes provides them with the opportunity to experience moods such as competition, a sense of disagreement and confrontation, despair and joy while at the class and, then, to evaluate their own reactions. The idea that physical education and sports have a role in the development of socialization and morals is generally accepted by many researchers. The positive impact of physical education and sports upon social and moral development will not occur automatically by participation in classes. It is more likely to think that it will come through by taking advantage of the opportunities gained by the carefully designed experience. Hellison’s Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) is one of the programs in which these values are successfully applied through sports during physical education classes. The purpose of this study is; to examine the effects that may arise from the intervention of the TPSR by determining the needs of the 9th grade students for fair play behavior within the framework of Kohlberg's moral development theory. In the study, the action research approach was employed and the data were obtained from video records, student reflections, and semi-structured individual interviews. The study was conducted with 30 students in the 9th grade of a medical vocational high school in Ankara and 6 focus students selected by the purposeful sampling method were evaluated. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. The findings of the study are grouped under 3 themes. And these are; 1) I can escape from punishment and care only about my own interests, 2) Reciprocal Relations: “They also supported our team”, 3) I am listening to my own conscience: I care about my competitor and respect him. The findings prove that fair play descriprions of students and attitudes are at the preconventional level according to Kohlberg’s moral development theory while descriptions and attitudes after the implementation are mostly at the conventional level or the postconventional level and students can internalize the concept of fair play and can make decisions in accordance with their own moral judgments. As a consequence, TPSR is a very effective model in providing fair play to students when used as a (frisbee) tool. However, the model does not lead to change in children’s thoughts about the behaviors of their favorite teams not in accordance with fair play while influencing the children to acquire values related to and for themselves.

Kohlberg's theory of moral development explores the roles of cognition and emotion but focuses primarily on cognition. Contemporary post‐formal theories lead to the conclusion that skills resulting from cognitive‐affective integration facilitate consistency between moral judgement and moral behaviour. Rest's four‐component model of moral development delineates these skills specifically. The components, moral motivation, moral sensitivity, moral reasoning and moral character, operate as multidimensional processes that facilitate moral development and subsequently promote moral behaviour. The relationships between these components have been relatively unexplored, thereby missing the opportunity to unpack the processes underlying moral growth and development. In this study, moral motivation (spirituality), moral sensitivity (post‐formal skills) and moral reasoning are operationalized to examine the mediational effects of moral sensitivity of medical students. In the complex moral environment of medical students opportunities arise to question values and develop cognitive‐affective skills, among them spirituality and post‐formal thinking which are linked to increases in post‐conventional moral reasoning. The models tested indicate that moral sensitivity mediates the relationship between moral motivation and moral reasoning.

Assessment of moral Reasoning Ability of the Nurses in dealing with moral dilemmas