Relationship between Level of Moral Development and Factual Learning in Situations with Moral Overtones

• Published in: Psychological Reports
• Main Author: Taylor, Beverly Weidler
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1978
• Subjects: General Psychology; eskimo*; Netsilik
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1978.42.1.243; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pr0.1978.42.1.243

This study investigated the relationship between level of moral development and factual learning in situations with potentially strong moral overtones. 193 children in Grades 5 and 6 were interviewed using Kohlberg's moral judgment scale and were tested after a film-tape presentation on the Netsilik Eskimos. Analyses of variance indicated that there was a relationship between level of moral development and factual learning in situations with moral overtones but that this relationship did not interact with intelligence, level of academic achievement, sex, or grade level. It was also concluded that the highest moral development group (the conventional level) was different from the lower moral development groups (the preconventional level) in total factual learning, IQ, and level of academic achievement.