Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Moral Motivational Pluralism: Moral Judgment as a Function of the Dynamic Assembly of Multiple Developmental Structures

  • Published:
Journal of Adult Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the within-person multiplicity of moral motivation in the context of specific judgment choices using a new and integrative approach. This purpose serves to test a new model of moral motivation. In this model, Kohlberg’s six developmental stages are reconceptualized as dynamic structures of motivation that operate together within person, reflecting motivational pluralism. A total of 391 university students participated by responding to a questionnaire that elicited six different moral judgments. Three judgments were about hypothetical dilemmas, and three were about social policy issues (war, abortion, death penalty). Using a recognition task, the questionnaire presented participants with standard descriptions of motivational structures to be rated separately as possible reasons for decisions. Results provided support for the hypothesized within-person operation of multiple stages in each judgment context. The majority of motivational structures operated in ways that were significantly correlated with each other. Correlations observed a developmental order. Analyses revealed patterns of association between the use of specific developmental stages and different judgment choices in each judgment context. The most pervasive associations with specific judgment choices were revealed by a combination of stage 1 (obedience) and stage 4 (social order). The motivation of moral judgment involves the operation of multiple motivational strategies that are developmentally connected to each other. This motivational pluralism can be detected by the multiplicity of stage structures that are recognized by individuals as reasons behind their judgments, and by the multiplicity of relationships between stages and judgment choices. Limitations and possibilities of future research are discussed in terms of the need to examine individual developmental trajectories over time and across contexts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blasi, A. (1990). Kohlberg’s theory and moral motivation. New Directions for Child Development, 47, 51–57. doi:10.1002/cd.23219904706.

  • Carpendale, J. I. M., & Krebs, D. L. (1992). Situational variation in moral judgment: In a stage or on a stage? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2, 203–224. doi:10.1007/BF01537337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpendale, J. I. M., & Krebs, D. L. (1995). Variations in level of moral judgment as a function of type of dilemma and moral choice. Journal of Personality, 63, 289–313. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1995.tb00811.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chirkov, V. I., Ryan, R. M., Kim, Y., & Kaplan, U. (2003). Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 97–110. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Vries, B., & Walker, L. J. (1986). Moral reasoning and attitudes toward capital punishment. Developmental Psychology, 4, 509–513. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.4.509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 319–338. doi:10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, K. W. (1994). Illuminating the process of moral development. In B. Puka, et al. (Eds.), New research in moral development. Moral development: A compendium (Vol. 5). New York, NY, USA: Garland Publishing Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, J. C. (2006). Should Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental approach to morality be replaced with a more pragmatic approach? Comment on Krebs and Denton (2005). Psychological Review, 113(3), 666–671. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.113.3.666.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, J. C. (2010). Moral development and reality. Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs, J. C., Arnold, K. D., Morgan, R. L., Schwartz, E. S., Gavaghan, M. P., & Tappan, M. B. (1984). Construction and validation of a multiple-choice measure of moral reasoning. Child Development, 527–536. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1129963.

  • Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., Grime, R. L., & Snarey, J. R. (2007). Moral judgment development across cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims. Developmental Review, 27, 443–500. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2007.04.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail. A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316, 998–1002. doi:10.1126/science.1137651.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenstein, T. (2007). State space grids: Analyzing dynamics across development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31(4), 384–396. doi:10.1177/0165025407077765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, U. (2014). Moral judgment is not based on a dichotomy between emotion and cognition: Commentary on Bazerman et al. (2011). Emotion Review, 6(1), 86. doi:10.1177/1754073913495299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, U., Crockett, C. E., & Tivnan, T. (2014). Moral motivation of college students through multiple developmental stages. Evidence of intrapersonal variability in a complex dynamic system. Motivation and Emotion, 38(3), 336–352. doi:10.1007/s11031-013-9391-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, U., & Tivnan, T. (2014a). Moral motivation based on multiple developmental structures: An exploration of cognitive and emotional dynamics. The Journal of Genetic Psychology. Research and Theory on Human Development, 175(3), 181–201. doi:10.1080/00221325.2013.838936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, U., & Tivnan, T. (2014b). Multiplicity of emotions in moral judgment and motivation. Ethics & Behavior. doi:10.1080/10508422.2014.888517.

  • Kloos, H., & Van Orden, G. C. (2009). Soft-assembled mechanisms for the unified theory. In J. P. Spencer, M. Thomas, & J. McClelland (Eds.), Toward a new grand theory of development? Connectionism and dynamics systems theory reconsidered (pp. 253–267). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 347–480). Chicago: Rand, McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L., & Elfenbein, D. (1981). Capital punishment, moral development, and the constitution. In L. Kohlberg (Ed.), Essays on moral development: The philosophy of moral development (Vol. I, pp. 243–293). San Francisco: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, D. L. (2008). Morality. An evolutionary account. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(3), 149–172. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00072.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, D. L., & Denton, K. (2005). Toward a more pragmatic approach to morality: A critical evaluation of Kohlberg’s model. Psychological Review, 112, 629–649. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.112.3.629.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, D. (1996). Moral psychology. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, C. G. (1979). Stage acquisition and stage use: An appraisal of stage displacement explanations of variations in moral reasoning. Human Development, 22(3), 145–164. doi:10.1159/000272437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. D. (1995). Cognition-emotion feedback and the self-organization of developmental paths. Human Development, 38, 71–102. doi:10.1159/000278302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. D. (2000). The promise of dynamic systems approaches for an integrated account of human development. Child Development, 71, 36–43. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. D. (2002). Interacting time scales in personality (and cognitive) development: Intentions, emotions, and emergent forms. In N. Granott & J. Parziale (Eds.), Microdevelopment: Transition processes in development and learning (pp. 183–212). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McDonough, G. (2005). Moral maturity and autonomy: Appreciating the significance of Lawrence Kolhberg’s Just Community. Journal of Moral Education, 34(2), 199–213. doi:10.1080/03057240500127186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narvaez, D. (2010a). Moral complexity: The fatal attraction of truthiness and the importance of mature moral functioning. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(2), 163–181. doi:10.1177/1745691610362351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narvaez, D. (2010b). The embodied dynamism of moral becoming: Reply to Haidt (2010). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(2), 185–186. doi:10.1177/1745691610362353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narvaez, D., & Bock, T. (2002). Moral schemas and tacit judgement or how the defining issues test is supported by cognitive science. Journal of Moral Education, 31(3), 297–314. doi:10.1080/0305724022000008124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R. (1973). The hierarchical nature of stages of moral judgment. Journal of Personality, 41, 86–109. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1973.tb00662.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J., Narvaez, D., Bebeau, M., & Thoma, S. (1999). A neo-Kohlbergian approach: The DIT and schema theory. Educational Psychology Review, 11(4), 291–324. doi:10.1023/A:1022053215271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Connell, J. P. (1989). Perceived locus of causality and internalization: Examining reasons for acting in two dimensions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 749–761. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.5.749.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegler, R. S. (1996). Emerging minds: The process of change in children’s thinking. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sober, E., & Wilson, D. S. (2000). Summary of: ‘Unto others. The evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior’. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7(1–2), 185–206. Retrieved from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/jcs/2000/00000007/f0020001/1139.

  • Steenbeek, H., & van Geert, P. (2002). Variations on dynamic variations. Human Development, 45, 167–173. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2005.10.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  • Thelen, E., & Smith, L.B. (2006). Dynamic systems theories. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 1: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 258–312). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0106.

  • Turiel, E., & Davidson, P. (1986). Heterogeneity, inconsistency, and asynchrony in the development of cognitive structures. In I. Levin (Ed.), Stage and structure: Reopening the debate (pp. 106–143). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Geert, P. (1994). Dynamic systems of development. Change between complexity and chaos. New York, NY: Harvester.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Geert, P. (2003). Dynamic systems approaches and modeling of developmental processes. In J. Valsiner & K. J. Conolly (Eds.), Handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 640–672). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Geert, P. (2009). Nonlinear complex dynamical systems in developmental psychology. In S. Guastello, M. Koopmans, & D. Pincus (Eds.), Chaos and complexity in psychology: The theory of nonlinear dynamical systems (pp. 242–281). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Geert, P., & van Dijk, M. (2002). Focus on variability: New tools to study intra-individual variability in developmental data. Infant Behavior and Development, 25, 340–374. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(02)00140-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 196 Mercer St, 8F, New York, NY, 10012, USA

    Ulas Kaplan

  2. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Terrence Tivnan

Authors
  1. Ulas Kaplan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Terrence Tivnan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulas Kaplan.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 6.

Table 6 Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kaplan, U., Tivnan, T. Moral Motivational Pluralism: Moral Judgment as a Function of the Dynamic Assembly of Multiple Developmental Structures. J Adult Dev 21, 193–206 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-014-9191-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-014-9191-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation