The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship of parent-child interaction variables to moral reasoning and to identify those variables that best predict moral reasoning. Subjects were 51 high school senior males and their parents from intact families. Parents and sons completed separate questionnaires designed to measure the following variables: moral reasoning, induction, power-assertion, love-withdrawal, authoritarian attitudes, intrusiveness, support, communication, socio-economic status and academic achievement. The instruments used to measure these variables were the Defining Issues Test, Parent-Child Relationship II Questionnaire, Child-Rearing Questionnaire, Child-Rearing Practices Report, Traditional Family Ideology Scale, the Two Factor Index of Socio-Economic Status, a set of communication items, and a self-report measure of findings were discussed in terms of future research Correlations were computed between sons' moral reasoning and all other variables. Multiple regression with forward inclusion was computed to identify those variables which best predict sons' moral reasoning. Socio-economic status was the only variable that, by itself, was found significantly related to sons' moral reasoning. However, a combination of eight variables was found to account for 51 percent of the variance in sons' moral reasoning. The variables are: socio-economic status, mothers' moral reasoning, fathers' maintenance of boundaries (overprotection), mothers control of sex and aggression (authoritarian attitudes), mothers' power-assertion, fathers' love withdrawal, fathers' moral reasoning and mothers' love withdrawal. Based on these results, it was concluded that parent-child interaction are related to sons' moral reasoning. Parents who were able to step outside of traditional gender roles while interacting with and disciplining their children were more likely to have morally advanced sons. Parents' levels of moral reasoning were found to be important predictors of sons' moral reasoning. These findings were discussed in terms of future research possibilities.

When evaluating a situation that results in harm, it is critical to consider how a person’s prior intention may have been causally responsible for the action that resulted in the harmful outcome. This thesis examined children’s developing understanding of intentional causation in reasoning about harmful outcomes, and the relation between this understanding and mental-state reasoning. Four-, 6-, and 8-year-old children, and adults, were told eight stories in which characters’ actions resulted in harmful outcomes. Story types differed in how the actions that resulted in harm were causally linked to their prior intentions such that: (1) characters wanted to, intended to, and did perform a harmful act; (2) they wanted and intended to perform a harmful act, but instead, accidentally brought about the harmful outcome; (3) they wanted and intended to perform a harmful act, then changed their mind, but accidentally brought about the harmful outcome; (4) they did not want or intend to harm, but accidentally brought about a harmful outcome. Participants were asked to judge the characters’ intentions, make punishment judgments, and justify their responses. Additionally, children were given first- and second-order false-belief tasks, commonly used to assess mental-state reasoning. The results indicated that intention judgment accuracy improved with age. However, all age groups had difficulty evaluating the intention in the deviant causal chain scenario (Searle, 1983), in which the causal link between intention and action was broken but a harmful intention was maintained. Further, the results showed a developmental pattern in children’s punishment judgments based on their understanding of intentional causation, although the adults’ performance did not follow the same pattern. Also, younger children referred to the characters’ intentions less frequently in their justifications of their punishment judgments. The results also revealed a relation between belief-state reasoning and intentional-causation reasoning in scenarios that did not involve, or no longer involved, an intention to harm. Further, reasoning about intentional causation was related to higher-level understanding of mental states. The implications of these findings in clarifying and adding to previous research on the development of understanding of intentional causation and intentions in moral reasoning are discussed.

Drawing on principles of social domain theory, the current study examined children’s attributions of emotion and moral judgements when interpreting moral and mixed sociomoral transgressions. A goal of the current study was to explore developmental patterns in children’s ability to coordinate their judgements and justifications across the social and moral domains. Links between emotion attributions, domain coordination skills, and externalizing behaviour were also examined as were associations between the above listed variables and perspective taking. Sixty-six typically developing children between the ages of 6- and 10-years were interviewed following the presentation of a moral or mixed moral and social domain vignette. Overall, there was significant variability in responses depending on the type of story. Developmental findings revealed that older children’s moral reasoning was more specific (e.g., “it is unfair to steal”) as opposed to vague (e.g., “it was bad”) and other-oriented, and they tended to show a greater capacity to recognize both moral and social components of a mixed domain transgression. Further, as expected, younger children provided a greater number of positive emotion attributions overall. Consistent with the study’s hypotheses, higher numbers of positive emotion attributions were predictive of higher externalizing behaviours. Emotion attributions were not associated with children’s domain coordination scores, apart from one mixed domain story. Additionally, perspective taking scores did not predict children’s domain coordination scores or emotion attributions. Developmental implications are discussed in relation to social domain theory, as are implications of emotional expectancies, types of justifications and externalizing behaviour. / Graduate

The study of ethical behavior and moral reasoning is an important area of concentration in a period of changing technology and with the dynamics of globalization. Shareholder wealth, profitability, and organizational success have been linked to successful leadership. Corporate success can be found through strategies that capitalize on the opportunities globalization provides, and yet can be eroded by unethical behavior or poor moral decision-making. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between ethical leadership and levels of moral reasoning. Through the use of the Ethical Leadership Scale and the Managerial Moral Judgment Test, an empirical investigation of ethical leadership and moral reasoning is made. There is a very small element of literature on ethics that discusses leadership in the context of moral decision-making. There is little testing of ethical leadership as a construct (Brown, Trevino, & Harrison, 2005), and it generally is assumed in the literature that an ethical leader exhibits conventional or post-conventional levels of moral reasoning when faced with an ethical dilemma. This study finds the internal reliability of the Ethical Leadership Scale to be significant (r = 0.998). This research does not support the general assumption that ethical leaders exhibit conventional or post-conventional levels of moral reasoning. The Ethical Leader's age, gender, level of education, and amount of ethics training is not shown to be related to level of moral reasoning in this study.

Ethics in South African business has become a key factor in the success or failure of the economy. The purpose of this study is therefore to gain a deeper understanding of the effect that level of education and type of education has on cognitive moral reasoning, and the moderating effect that age has on these relationships. Of particular interest in this study is the role of business orientated education.The sample included individuals who have attained various types and levels of education from all religious, racial and socio-economic backgrounds. The instrument used to evaluate the level of cognitive moral reasoning of each individual in the sample was the second version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) originally by Rest (1979), i.e. DIT-2 adapted by Narvaez, Thoma and Bebeau (1999).The most significant finding of the research is the apparent surge in postconventional moral thinking of younger people with business oriented education. This finding was significant given previous findings of similar studies regarding age and business students. No significant evidence was found to differentiate males versus females, as well as the influence of level of education.The results raise the question of the longevity of the effects of ethical training, and whether perhaps the effects are most evident during the time of the training. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The diploma thesis deals with the concept of fairness perception by pupils of primary school. The aim of this work is to get to know the ways in which children at primary school think about fairness and what they consider fair and unfair. The theoretical part describes approaches to the topic in terms of psychology, pedagogy and ethics. The theoretical part consists of three main chapters. The first chapter deals with the concept of fairness and possible interpretations of this word. In the second chapter, the reader reads about the different concepts of moral reasoning. The thesis introduces the reader to the concept of moral development by Jean Piaget and the stage theory of Lawrence Kohlberg. The thesis also describes some theories of moral reasoning created by some of Kohlberg's followers or critics. The third chapter identifies some determinants that can influence moral reasoning when dealing with primary school pupils. The practical part consist of a research probe concerning the moral reasoning of pupils. This research probe works with a moral dilemma created by Jean Piaget. The moral dilemma concerns the perception of fairness and works with fair punishment. This dilemma is discussed with pupils in group interviews. The research probe was conducted with pupils of the second and third grade...

El presente estudio analiza la correlación entre la empatía y el razonamiento moral prosocial en una muestra de 105 estudiantes de psicología de una universidad privada de Lima, con edades correspondientes entre los 17 y los 28 años. El razonamiento moral prosocial es medido mediante el test Una Medida Objetiva del Razonamiento Moral Prosocial (PROM-R) elaborado por Carlo, Eisenberg y Knight en 1992; mientras que la empatía se evalúa a través del Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal (IRI) creado por Mark Davis en 1980, ambos test adaptados para la presente investigación. Los resultados obtenidos indican de forma general que existe una correlación positiva significativa entre ambos constructos estudiados, correlacionando de forma significativa los niveles Estereotipado e Internalizado del razonamiento moral prosocial con los factores Toma de Perspectiva, Fantasía y Preocupación Empática, pertenecientes a la empatía. Además, no se evidencia diferencias significativas con respecto al sexo para el razonamiento moral prosocial, mientras que en la empatía existen únicamente diferencias significativas de acuerdo al sexo en la subescala Fantasía. The present study examines the correlation between empathy and prosocial moral reasoning in a sample of 105 psychology students from a private university in Lima, with corresponding ages between 17 and 28 years old. The prosocial moral reasoning is measured by the test Prosocial Moral Reasoning Objective Measure (PROM-R) developed by Carlo, Eisenberg and Knight in 1992; while empathy is evaluated through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) created by Mark Davis in 1980, both tests adapted to the present investigation. The general results indicates that there is a significant positive correlation between both constructs studied, correlating significantly the levels Stereotyped and Internalized of the prosocial moral reasoning with the factors Perspective-Taking, Fantasy and Empathic Concern, belonging to empathy. No significant difference was found in regard to sex for prosocial moral reasoning, while in empathy exists only significant differences according to sex in the Fantasy subscale.

Humans are a social species. Automatic affective responses generated by neural systems wired into our brains create a moral intuition or “gut-feeling” of wrong and right that guides our moral judgments. Humans are also an intelligent, problem solving and planning species with neural structures that enable cognitive control and the ability to reason about the costs and benefits of decisions, and moral judgments, not the least. Previous research suggests that moral intuition and moral reasoning operates on different neural networks - a dual process of moral cognition, that sometimes gives rise to an inner conflict in moral judgments. Early lesion studies found correlations between damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and changes in moral behaviour. This has been further established through brain imaging studies and the suggestion is that VMPFC mediates affective signals from the amygdala in moral decision making and is highly involved in generating the gut-feeling of right and wrong. However, some moral issues are complex and demand higher level processing than intuition, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) seems to be responsible for the rational, cost-benefit reasoning during moral judgments. Further, recent research suggests that during moral judgments, the brain employ neural systems that generates the representation of value, perspective and cognitive control as well as the representation of the mental and emotional states of others. The present thesis aims to investigate prominent and up to date research on the neural correlates of necessary components in moral cognition, and to examine the function of moral intuition versus reason in relation to current complex moral issues. Moral intuition is supposedly an adaption to favour “us” before “them”, not to be concerned with large scale cooperation, which may explain why we treat many moral issues with ignorance. Understanding how the moral brain works involve understanding what sort of tasks the neural mechanisms in moral cognition evolved to handle, which may explain why some modern issues are so difficult to solve.

Thesis advisor: Dorothy A. Jones / Thesis advisor: Pamela J. Grace / The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between multiple variables within a model of critical thinking and moral reasoning that support and refine the elements that significantly correlate with accuracy and clinical decision-making. <bold>Background:</bold> Research to date has identified multiple factors that are integral to clinical decision-making. The interplay among suggested elements within the decision making process particular to the nurse, the patient, and the environment remain unknown. Determining the clinical usefulness and predictive capacity of an integrated ethically driven environmental model of decision making (IEDEM-CD) in emergency settings in facilitating accuracy in problem identification is critical to initial interventions and safe, cost effective, quality patient care outcomes. Extending the literature of accuracy and clinical decision making can inform utilization, determination of staffing ratios, and the development of evidence driven care models. <bold>Methodology:</bold> The study used a quantitative descriptive correlational design to examine the relationships between multiple variables within the IEDEM-CD model. A purposive sample of emergency nurses was recruited to participate in the study resulting in a sample size of 200, calculated to yield a power of 0.80, significance of .05, and a moderate effect size. The dependent variable, accuracy in clinical decision-making, was measured by scores on clinical vignettes. The independent variables of moral reasoning, perceived environment of care, age, gender, certification in emergency nursing, educational level, and years of experience in emergency nursing, were measures by the Defining Issues Test, version 2, the Revised Professional Practice Environment scale, and a demographic survey. These instruments were identified to test and refine the elements within the IEDEM-CD model. Data collection occurred via internet survey over a one month period. Rest's Defining Issues Test, version 2 (DIT-2), the Revised Professional Practice Environment tool (RPPE), clinical vignettes as well as a demographic survey were made available as an internet survey package using Qualtrics TM. Data from each participant was scored and entered into a PASW database. The analysis plan included bivariate correlation analysis using Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients followed by chi square and multiple linear regression analysis. <bold>Findings: </bold>The elements as identified in the IEDEM-CD model supported moral reasoning and environment of care as factors significantly affecting accuracy in decision-making. Findings reported that in complex clinical situations, higher levels of moral reasoning significantly affected accuracy in problem identification. Attributes of the environment of care including teamwork, communication about patients, and control over practice also significantly affected nurses' critical cue recognition and selection of appropriate interventions. Study results supported the conceptualization of the IEDEM-CD model and its usefulness as a framework for predicting clinical decision making accuracy for emergency nurses in practice, with further implications in education, research and policy / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a business ethics course on the cognitive moral reasoning of freshmen business students. The sample consisted of 268 college students enrolled in a required business ethics course. The students took Rest's Defining Issues Test - Version 2 (DIT2) as a pre-test and then post-test (upon completing the course). Descriptive analyses, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple regression were employed to compare the pre-test and post-test scores of the students and to determine the relationship, if any, between the variables of gender, class size, instructor, class time of day, SAT scores, and students' GPAs; and the dependent variable of moral reasoning (N2) scores. Descriptive analyses showed that taking this kind of a course made a difference for virtually everyone. While women had higher pre-test scores, post-test scores, and overall gains in moral reasoning than men, men also had gains across the board. Gains were also found across all instructors, in both small and medium class sizes and regardless of what time the class occurred. Further, compared to the national sample of college students, the study sample was at the level of college seniors. Results of ANOVA testing showed that the gains in moral reasoning scores were statistically significant ones. However, the moral reasoning gains of students enrolled in the smaller sections (n = 19) were not statistically significantly different than students enrolled in medium sized (n = 27) sections of the same course. Finally, the independent variable of class time had the most statistically significant relationship with gains in moral reasoning scores. The findings of this study suggest several practices for institutions of higher education. First, certain curricular conditions should be considered by institutions with ethics courses. The content should be explicit and pedagogical strategies should include role-taking, the discussion of moral dilemmas, reflection, active learning, and cognitive disequilibrium. Second, increasing class sizes by eight students can help to maintain moral growth while still being financially efficient. Third, these findings may inform administrators when planning class times (the earlier, the better). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.