Master's Theses

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

Lawrence Kohlberg states that there is no valid psychological definition of moral behavior which considers external behavior alone; moral behavior is unrelated to social rules. Behavior is considered moral when it is consistent with the decision resulting from the preceding moral reasoning. Current research which compared antisocial or delinquent adolescents with their normal counterparts seems to indicate that there is a relationship between externally defined moral behavior and the level of moral reasoning. There was no extension of this area of research to include adult psychiatric inpatient groups in the literature reviewed. Using Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Scale this study compared the Moral Maturity Scores of two psychiatric inpatient groups of 20 adult males each; criminal and non-criminal. There were no significant differences between the Moral Maturity Scores of the two groups. The data were discussed in terms of their contributions to current theory and strategies for future research.

Keywords

Psychology

Advisor

Daniel Kaeck

Date of Award

Spring 1978

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

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