Muriel J. Bebeau

Postconventional Moral Thinking : A Neo-kohlbergian Approach

Contents: Preface. Overview of Our Neo-Kohlbergian Approach. Psychological and Philosophical Challenges to Kohlbergs Approach. A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach Based on the DIT. Validity and Reliability Studies of the DIT. New Issues, New Theory, New Findings. Stages or Schemas? Integrating With the Domain Approach. Integrating With the Cultural Psychology Approach. Summary. Appendices: The ATHRI. Services and Materials Available From the Minnesota Center.

DIT2 : Devising and testing a revised instrument of moral judgment

The Denning Issues Test, Version 2 (DIT2), updates dilemmas and items, shortens the original Defining Issues Test (DIT1) of moral judgment, and purges fewer participants for doubtful response reliability. DIT1 has been used for over 25 years. DIT2 makes 3 changes: in dilemmas and items, in the algorithm of indexing, and in the method of detecting unreliable participants. With all 3 changes, DIT2 is an improvement over DIT1. The validity criteria for DIT2 are (a) significant age and educational differences among 9th graders, high school graduates, college seniors, and students in graduate and professional schools; (b) prediction of views on public policy issues (e.g., abortion, religion in schools, rights of homosexuals, womens roles); (c) internal reliability; and (d) correlation with DIT1. However, the increased power of DIT2 over DIT1 is primarily due to the new methods of analysis (a new index called N2, new checks) rather than to changes in dilemmas, items, or instructions. Although DIT2 presents updated dilemmas and smoother wording in a shorter test (practical improvements), the improvements in analyses account for the validity improvements.

The defining issues test and the four component model: contributions to professional education.

This article reviews studies examining the effect of professional education on ethical development. Most studies limit assessment to the measurement of moral judgement, observing that moral judgement plateaus during professional school unless an ethics intervention is present. Whereas interventions influence the shift to postconventional reasoning (the DIT P score), a more illuminating picture of change may emerge if researchers examined DIT profiles. More importantly, limiting assessment to measures of moral judgement ignores important aspects of moral functioning suggested by the Four Component Model. Assessment methods have been validated for sensitivity, reasoning, role concept and ethical implementation that could be adapted to provide individuals in a particular profession with a more complete picture of abilities needed for real-life professional practice.

A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach to Morality Research

Kohlbergs work in moral judgement has been criticised by many philosophers and psychologists. Building on Kohlbergs core assumptions, we propose a model of moral judgement (hereafter the neo-Kohlbergian approach) that addresses these concerns. Using 25 years of data gathered with the Defining Issues Test (DIT), we present an overview of Minnesotas neo-Kohlbergian approach, using Kohlbergs basic starting points, ideas from Cognitive Science (especially schema theory), and developments in moral philosophy.

A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach: The DIT and Schema Theory

Abstract“Macromorality” concerns the formal structure of society, as defined by institutions, rules, and roles. “Micromorality” concerns the particular face-to-face relations that people have in everyday life. Kohlbergian theories are most useful for issues of macromorality. The Defining Issues Test (DIT) derives from Kohlbergs approach but makes several departures, including defining cognitive structures in terms of schemas instead of stages, reformulating the definition of postconventional moral thinking, and using different research strategies. The validity of the DIT is based on seven criteria (briefly discussed), and hundreds of studies have produced significant trends. Recent research derived from schema theory produces novel phenomena that link our theory of moral schemas more closely with information processing and decision making.

Beyond the Promise: A Perspective on Research in Moral Education

Changing concerns and ideological shifts in American society produce different emphases in moral education. We argue that different approaches address different dimensions of development. If viewed as complementary rather than contradictory, we may be able to move beyond ideological and philosophical disputes to solid theory-building based on empirical findings. In proposing an action program for moral education that incorporates research, we draw upon lessons learned from the Head Start movement of the 1960s. In defining researchable variables, we recommend the Four Component Model (sensitivity, judgment, motivation, character) instead of the usual tripartite model (thinking, feeling, acting).

Guiding Principles and Recommendations for the Assessment of Competence

This article presents guiding principles for the assessment of competence developed by the members of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Assessment of Competence in Professional Psychology. These principles are applicable to the education, training, and credentialing of professional psychologists, and to practicing psychologists across the professional life span. The principles are built upon a review of competency assessment models, including practices in both psychology and other professions. These principles will help to ensure that psychologists reinforce the importance of a culture of competence. The implications of the principles for professional psychology also are highlighted.

Competency Assessment Models

This article describes characteristics of alternative assessment models deployed in the measurement of professional competencies across the professional life span based on the work of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Assessment of Competence in Professional Psychology. Assessments of knowledge, decision making, performance and personal attributes, as well as integrated practice-based skills and tasks are described and compared on the basis of their validity, feasibility and practicality, fidelity, and relevance at difference stages of professional development. It is acknowledged that no single assessment can evaluate all competencies and that assessments can be combined in complementary ways. Assessments deployed in the nursing, dental, and medical professions are reviewed and contrasted with current practices in psychology. At the licensure level, differences in the assessments deployed among the 4 healthcare professions are described, and their candidate fees and number of candidates assessed annually are documented. Ideas for developing new assessments in psychology are discussed on the basis of the needs and financial resources available to psychology and the experiences of other healthcare professions.

Challenges to the Assessment of Competence and Competencies

Challenges to the assessment of competence and competencies in professional psychology are discussed in this article. These include difficulties in defining competencies in precise and measurable terms; reaching agreement within the profession about the key elements of each competence domain; establishing an armamentarium of tools for assessing all components of competence, including the knowledge base, skills, and attitudes (and their integration); determining appropriate agreed-upon minimal levels of competence for individuals at different levels of professional development and when “competence problems” exist for individuals; assuring the fidelity of competency assessments; and establishing mechanisms for providing effective evaluative feedback and remediation. But even if these challenges JAMES W. LICHTENBERG received his PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is a professor of counseling psychology and the associate dean for graduate programs and research at the University of Kansas. His areas of professional interest and research include social interaction processes and dynamics, legal and ethical issues in counseling and psychotherapy, and clinical training. SANFORD M. PORTNOY received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts. He is on the faculty of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, where he serves as director of the Center for the Study of Psychology and Divorce, and is a member of Needham Psychotherapy Associates in Needham, Massachusetts, and of Portnoy Associates in Newton, Massachusetts. His professional and research interests include the psychology of divorce and the effects of the legal divorce process on families, couples therapy, and teaching legal professionals the skills to relate more effectively to their clients. MURIEL J. BEBEAU received her PhD in educational psychology from Arizona State University. She is a professor in the School of Dentistry at the University of Minnesota, faculty associate in the university’s Center for Bioethics, and director of the Center for the Study of Ethical Development. Her scholarly work integrates the psychology of morality with ethics and dentistry to design and validate assessment strategies and teaching methods to promote professional ethical development. IRENE W. LEIGH received her PhD in clinical psychology from New York University. She is a professor in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Her presentations, research, and publications have focused on deaf people and issues related to identity, multiculturalism, parenting, attachment, depression, and cochlear implants. PAUL D. NELSON received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He recently retired as the deputy director of education and director of graduate and postdoctoral education and training for the Education Directorate of the American Psychological Association. His focus has been on graduate

“Intermediate” Concepts and the Connection to Moral Education

This paper provides a brief overview of Rests (1983) conception of the important processes that contribute to effective moral decision making, summarizes efforts to design and assess moral education programs based on Rests Four-Component Model, and describes new directions in the assessment of moral judgment development that are specifically directed toward professional ethics education. Based on preliminary studies, we recommend that, in addition to measuring each of the processes in Rests model, educators design profession-specific measures of moral concepts that better reflect the content of professional ethics education. Labeled intermediate concepts measures, these assessments attend to concepts that are more specific than the abstract moral schemas tested by Kohlbergian measures of moral judgment and more general than concrete codes of professional ethics.