The relationship between moral reasoning and political orientation.

Previous findings indicating a relationship between moral reasoning and political orientation have been interpreted as reflecting the influence of the level of moral maturity on political attitudes. The present study investigated the alternative possibility that individual differences in adult moral reasoning reflect differences in content of politico-moral idealogy. 73 undergraduates, defining themselves politically as left wing, moderate, or right wing, completed a measure of moral reasoning (Defining Issues Test), once from their own perspective and once from the point of view of either a conservative or a radical. Left-wingers achieved significantly higher scores on principled moral reasoning than did the other 2 groups. However, both right-wing and moderate Ss significantly increased their principled-reasoning scores if they responded as a radical. Results support the view that variations in adult moral reasoning are a function of political position rather than development status. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformational leadership and moral reasoning.

Terms such as moral and ethical leadership are used widely in theory, yet little systematic research has related a sociomoral dimension to leadership in organizations. This study investigated whether managers' moral reasoning (n=132) was associated with the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors they exhibited as perceived by their subordinates (n=407). Managers completed the Defining Issues Test (J. R. Rest, 1990), whereas their subordinates completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (B. M. Bass & B. J. Avolio, 1995). Analysis of covariance indicated that managers scoring in the highest group of the moral-reasoning distribution exhibited more transformational leadership behaviors than leaders scoring in the lowest group. As expected, there was no relationship between moral-reasoning group and transactional leadership behaviors. Implications for leadership development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of moral justifications and moral reasoning on altruism.

Studied 167 female college students to test the predictions that for Ss whose moral reasoning is predominantly at the lower stages, a curvilinear relation would exist between the level of justification and altruism; altruism should increase from a Level 1 to Level 2 justification and then decrease from Level 2 to Level 3. The pattern of results for the interaction and the trend analyses provide qualified support for the predictions made on the basis of comprehension and preference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in moral reasoning.

Explored the possibility that socialization into different sex roles for men and women may contribute to the observed sex difference in moral development. 40 undergraduates were classified as either masculine, feminine, or androgynous according to the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and were administered the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). For half the Ss, the central character in the MJI dilemmas was a male and for the remaining half, a female. Results reveal that males, when judging from the perspective of a female character, provided reasons for her actions congruent with the Stage 3 level of moral reasoning. However, for the same action portrayed by a male character, reasons for his behavior were in accord with Stage 4. No difference for the female judges was found between the characters of either sex. Regardless of the protagonist's sex, Ss scored at Stage 3. Ss' moral reasoning did not differ according to their sex-role classification. Males, however, held more strongly than females the belief that male decisions on morality are based on law-and-order reasoning, and female decisions are made from an emotional perspective. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding moral thought: Effects on moral reasoning and decision making.

89 16–18 yr olds' understanding of processes involved in moral reasoning and decision making was examined in relation to the Ss' level of moral reasoning, extent of prudential concerns, and consistency of decision making. Four qualitatively different levels of understanding of moral thought were identified. These levels were related to moral scores in 2 dilemmas: one involving a fictitious other and the other involving the self as protagonist. Ss with less understanding of moral thought were more likely to demonstrate lower moral scores and more prudential concerns in each perspective and to make a different decision (often prudentially rather than morally based) in the self-perspective. Ss who changed their decision in the self-perspective demonstrated lower self-perspective moral scores than Ss who demonstrated decision consistency. It is suggested that Ss with less understanding of the processes involved in moral thought are more likely to use moral reasons in the service of decisions they want to make for prudential reasons. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between patient-therapist compatibility and treatment effectiveness.

Studied patient attraction to therapist, therapist attraction to patient, and patient change as a function of interpersonally oriented therapist-patient compatibility. Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation scale scores were used to assign a high- and a low-compatibility psychiatric patient to each of 24 therapists. High-compatibility matched patients were found to have a significantly more favorable view of their therapists after both 3 and 11 wk. of interaction. However, therapists did not prefer relating to their high-compatibility over their low-compatibility match patients. There was no difference in the amount of behavioral change found in the high-compatibility, low-compatibility, and untreated-control groups. It is concluded that by use of such matching procedures a higher level of interpersonal attraction can be promoted between patients and their therapists, but the significance of therapist-patient attraction for treatment effectiveness remains to be demonstrated. (39 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of sex guilt and moral reasoning to premarital sex in college women and in couples.

Used the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, the Sex Experience Inventory, and Kohlberg's Moral Dilemmas Questionnaire in Exp I to assess 119 unmarried college women with regard to sex behavior, sex guilt, and moral reasoning. Categories of sexual expression were developed which were useful in predicting behavior. Guilt was a better predictor of sex than morality. Maintaining virginity and losing it were multidetermined. Exp II assessed 76 unmarried college couples on the same variables. Sex guilt and sex experience were associated with moral reasoning for men and for couples. Results suggest that the male partner is more influential than the female in setting standards for the couple. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of logic in moral reasoning and development.

The frequently examined hypothesis proposed by L. Kohlberg (1969) that logical development is a necessary but insufficient condition of moral development was examined in cross-age analyses of approximately 225 adolescents and adults, aged 16–50 yrs. Two kinds of moral scores—one representing Kohlberg's system, and the other an interactional formulation—and 3 scores of formal operations based on Piagetian tasks were used. To explicate the logical/moral relation, controls for age, socioeconomic status, IQ, or educational levels were applied to correlational analyses within sex groups. Also, a sex-differentiated structural analysis was done. Neither set of results was consistent with Kohlberg's hypothesis. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.

One of the most important open questions in reasoning research is how inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning are related. In an effort to address this question, we applied methods and concepts from memory research. We used 2 experiments to examine the effects of logical validity and premise–conclusion similarity on evaluation of arguments. Experiment 1 showed 2 dissociations: For a common set of arguments, deduction judgments were more affected by validity, and induction judgments were more affected by similarity. Moreover, Experiment 2 showed that fast deduction judgments were like induction judgments—in terms of being more influenced by similarity and less influenced by validity, compared with slow deduction judgments. These novel results pose challenges for a 1-process account of reasoning and are interpreted in terms of a 2-process account of reasoning, which was implemented as a multidimensional signal detection model and applied to receiver operating characteristic data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Korean children's concepts of adult and peer authority and moral reasoning.

This study examined Korean children's judgments about authority commands regarding moral events bearing on property rights (dealing with lost property), distributive justice (sharing candy), and public welfare (disposing of trash). Sixty children from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades were presented with story variations in which an individual intervened, giving a command to children, or in which 2 different persons gave opposing commands. At all ages, children judged that a principal, a teacher, a class president, and a child who held no position of authority have legitimacy and should be obeyed when giving directives considered morally right. Children also accorded greater legitimacy to persons giving commands consistent with moral demands (a teacher, a class president, or a child with no position of authority) over a principal's command contrary to the moral evaluation. Justifications for their choices were based on rights, sharing, and welfare. The findings showed that Korean children do not take a unilateral orientation to adult authorities or unquestioningly accept authority directives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's moral and ecological reasoning about the Prince William Sound oil spill.

Sixty 2nd, 5th, and 8th graders were interviewed on their moral and ecological reasoning about the 1990 Exxon Valdez oil spill that occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Results showed that children understood that the oil spill negatively affected the local Alaskan shoreline, marine life, fishermen, recreationists, and the oil company. Children cared that harm occurred to the shoreline and marine life and conceived of both types of harm as violating a moral obligation. Fifth and 8th graders, compared with 2nd graders, used a greater proportion of anthropocentric reasoning (e.g., that nature ought to be protected to protect human welfare) and biocentric reasoning (e.g., that nature has intrinsic value, rights, or a teleology). Discussion focuses on how studying children's reasoning about nature not only extends the bounds of what counts as moral—to include a relationship with the natural world—but also provides a unique means by which to conduct basic research on children's moral development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The consolidation/transition model in moral reasoning development.

The consolidation/transition model conceptualizes development as entailing a cyclical pattern of alternating consolidation and transition phases and posits that stage advance is predicted by a specific distribution of reasoning across stages indicative of disequilibrium (more reasoning above than below the mode, with a high degree of mixture). The validity of this model was examined in the context of moral reasoning development with the use of standard statistical techniques as well as Bayesian techniques that can better account for classification error. In this longitudinal study, 64 children and adolescents participated in 5 annual administrations of the Moral Judgment Interview. The distribution of their reasoning across stages was used to predict subsequent development. The results support the hypotheses regarding cyclical patterns of change and predictors of stage transition and demonstrate the utility of Bayesian techniques for evaluating developmental change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of political attitude to constraint-oriented and prosocial moral reasoning.

Investigated the relationship between prosocial and constraint-oriented moral reasoning and liberal and humanistic political attitudes. 76 White middle-class 7th-12th graders from a Presbyterian church and a Jewish camp completed a 41-item political questionnaire and a written objective test of moral reasoning based on L. Kohlberg's (1969) conceptualizations. Chi-square analyses revealed that older Ss were significantly more liberal and humanitarian than younger Ss, and older Ss exhibited a significantly higher level of moral reasoning. Correlations between political attitude scores and moral indices partially supported the hypothesis that higher levels of moral reasoning are associated with more liberal and humanistic attitudes: Liberalism scores were significantly related to the prosocial, constraint, and combined moral indices; humanitarian scores were significantly related to the prosocial and combined indices, but not the constraint index. Further research is needed to determine whether findings generalize to other social strata. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's moral reasoning about their own spontaneous prosocial behavior.

21 48–63 mo old preschoolers were observed and questioned by a familiar experimenter about their spontaneous helping, sharing, or comforting behaviors over a 12-wk period. The Ss justified their prosocial behaviors primarily with references to others' needs and pragmatic considerations and used little punishment and authority-oriented, stereotyped, approval-oriented, or hedonistic reasoning. There were no sex or age differences. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family education to enhance the moral atmosphere of the family and the moral development of adolescents.

Examined the effects of a course for families in democratic conflict resolution on (a) the family's collective decision-making abilities, and (b) the moral reasoning of adolescent participants. 16 couples and their adolescent children were divided into 3 groups: parents and their adolescents, parents only, and a control group. Both experimental groups met for 10 weekly 2.5-hr sessions and received training in conflict resolution and the use of family meetings. Assessment was based on the Parental Attitude Research Instrument, 2 self-report inventories, a behavioral role-play test, the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview, and an analysis of tape recordings of the family meetings. A 1-yr follow-up assessment of the Kohlberg measure was also used. Parents in both experimental groups significantly increased their equalitarian attitudes toward family decision making. Furthermore, families in both groups significantly improved their effectiveness in collective decision making; the parent–adolescent group showed greater improvement than the parent group on most of the variables measured. Finally, the results suggest that adolescents who participated in the training significantly improved their scores in moral reasoning. This gain was maintained at follow-up. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social influence on group moral decisions: The interactive effects of moral reasoning and sex role orientation.

In this study, we examined the effects of moral reasoning level and sex role orientation on social influence in group decision making. We predicted that these two individual difference constructs would have an interactive effect such that people who are compatible or nonconflicted on the two dimensions would have more influence on a group task with moral implications than would people who are conflicted. All subjects individually completed a distributive decision task that required ranking terminally ill patients for access to a life-saving kidney machine. They then met in small groups and reached a group decision on the same task. The subjects' moral reasoning level and sex role orientation—assessed via the Rest Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974), respectively—were used to predict influence on the group decision. Influence was measured in three ways: similarity between individual and group ranks, self-rated influence, and selection of the most influential group member. The results of all three influence measures provided support for the interactive hypothesis. In the discussion we consider the implications of the data for individual difference models of moral reasoning, the need for further understanding of goal competition and personality conflict, and the importance of considering the impact of moral factors on group decision-making processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between scores on the Omnibus Personality Inventory and counselor trainee effectiveness.

Compared the scores obtained on the Omnibus Personality Inventory by groups of relatively effective and relatively ineffective counselor trainees. The trainees (61 students in their 1st yr of a counseling psychology program) completed the tests prior to their 1st practicum experience and were evaluated by their practicum supervisors (PhD or master's-level counselors with more than 5 yrs of experience at supervision) at the end of each of their practica. Ss were classified as relatively effective, relatively ineffective, or indeterminant (ns?=?32, 30, and 12, respectively) on the basis of their practicum supervisor's evaluations. The scores of the relatively effective and relatively ineffective trainees were compared using 1-way analyses of variance. Data revealed significant differences in the personality characteristics of the groups. The relevance of these findings for the selection of counselor trainees is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships between and correlates of psychometric and Piagetian scales of sensorimotor iintelligence.

Conducted a study to (a) determine the extent to which psychometric and Piagetian scales correlate during infancy and (b) study the nomological (i.e., correlational) networks of these scales and the degree to which their networks are similar. Correlational analyses on 207 infants (mean age 11 mo) showed that (a) the correlations between psychometric (i.e., Bayley Scales of Infant Development) and Piagetian scales were positive, moderate, and significant and (b) both types of scales yielded virtually identical correlational networks. Motor and physical development and activity level correlated positively and significantly with sensorimotor development, while socioenvironmental variables and measures of interaction with objects accounted for a negligible portion of variance on sensorimotor development. Data indicate that psychometric and Piagetian sensorimotor scales are measures of the same construct. It is pointed out that placing these findings into perspective with the literature on the correlates of intelligence during the later ages provides insight into the failure of infant tests to predict subsequent intellectual functioning. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning and moral conduct: An investigation prompted by Kohlberg's theory.

Investigated level of moral judgment in 53 male undergraduates using hypotheses concerning the relation to cheating of moral judgment, guilt, knowledge that another person cheated, and several motivational variables. Hypotheses were based in part on L. Kohlberg's (1976, 1981) propositions about moral judgment and behavior. Moral reasoning was assessed by administering a test regarding definition of issues, and cheating was determined by the accuracy of self-report of rotary pursuit performance. Falsely low practice times provided an incentive to cheat. As expected, results indicate that the lower the moral judgment score, the more likely an S was to cheat and the sooner he began to cheat. Cheating measures were also related to anticipatory guilt, test anxiety, need for approval, and practice trial scores. Although Ss low in moral judgment cheated more, highs also succumbed when temptation became strong. Results provide information on the relative influence on cheating behavior of situational factors, nonmoral motives, and moral reasoning. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)