Abstract
The relationship between personality as embodied in the moral content of the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) and moral structure as measured by the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) was investigated using 99 male college students. No relationship was found between scores on the SEA and Moral Maturity Scores on the MJI, although this finding was qualified by the fact that the MJI Scores for most students were restricted to Kohlberg's conventional range of morality. However, SEA scores were significantly correlated with the Moral Orientation scores obtained from the MJI. In contrast to scores on the SEA, scores on the MJI were significantly related to age. The problem of confusing content and structure in moral development research was explored. The theoretical implications of a personality component being involved in choice of moral orientation were discussed as well.
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This research was partly supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH-16899).
Major interests are in the area of moral development and family theories of psychopathology.
Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Major interests are sociocognitive development of children and clinical child psychology.
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Dell, P.F., Jurkovic, G.J. Moral structure and moral content: Their relationship to personality. J Youth Adolescence 7, 63–72 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538687
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538687