Abstract
Over the last two decades, a persistent but unresolved question within structural-developmental psychology has involved the relationship between ego development (I), as defined by Jane Loevinger, and moral judgment development (M), as defined by Lawrence Kohlberg (e.g., Erickson, 1977a, 1977b; Hauser, 1976; Kohlberg, 1964, 1966, 1984, 1986; Lambert, 1972; Loevinger, 1976, 1986; Snarey, 1986; Snarey, Kohlberg, & Noam, 1983; Sullivan, McCollough, & Stager, 1970). Both theorists present independent (though related) stage models of human development and both have designed measures to assess these stages: the Sentence Completion Test (SCT) and the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI). Although both theorists have posited a conceptual correspondence between the two models, there is little known about the precise empirical relationship between ego and moral stages.
This study was conducted with the collaboration of the following individuals who generously supplied data from their previous research: V. Lois Erickson, Andrew Garrod, Stuart Hauser, Alan Jacobson, Lawrence Kohlberg, Marcia Mentkowski, Gil Noam, Sally Powers, Richard Shulik, and John Whiteley. Preparation of this review was supported in part by a Woodrow Wilson Newcombe Fellowship to Loren Lee and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH14088 to John Snarey.
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Lee, L., Snarey, J. (1988). The Relationship Between Ego and Moral Development: A Theoretical Review and Empirical Analysis. In: Lapsley, D.K., Power, F.C. (eds) Self, Ego, and Identity. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7834-5_8
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