What does current empirically informed moral psychology imply about the goals that can be realistically achieved in college-level applied ethics courses? This paper takes up this question from the vantage point of Jonathan Haidt's Social Intuitionist Model of human moral judgment. I summarize Haidt's model, and then consider a variety of…

Moral foundations theory (MFT) proposes the existence of innate psychological systems, which would have been subjected to selective forces over the course of evolution. One approach for evaluating MFT, therefore, is to consider the proposed psychological foundations in relation to the reconstructed Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness. This…

In philosophical use, "ethics" and "moral philosophy" are more closely synonymous--one deriving from Greek, "ethike" and the other from Latin "moralis." In typical social science paradigms, there generally prevails a consensual sense of contemporary everyday use of "ethics," except where earlier…

In 2011 the "Journal of Moral Education" ("JME") celebrated its 40th anniversary of publication. It seemed appropriate to examine and reflect on the "JME's" achievements by reviewing its evolution and contribution to the emerging field of moral education and development. Moral education trends, as reflected in…

Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is prohibited in South Africa. Against legal gains, however, are marked increases in homophobic violence. Schools are deeply implicated in the development of a moral education premised on democracy and sexual equality. This paper sought to examine the ways in which parents situated within diverse…

The aim of this research was to investigate the attitudes of Israeli Arab (n = 259) and Jewish (n = 259) high school students toward extrinsic and intrinsic values. A questionnaire, which consisted of eight value scales in two groups--extrinsic and intrinsic values--was administered. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or…

Character education considers teachers to be role models, but it is unclear what this means in practice. Do teachers model admirable character traits? And do they do so effectively? In this article the relevant pedagogical and psychological literature is reviewed in order to shed light on these questions. First, the use of role modelling as a…

Aristotle considered moral beauty to be the "telos" of the human virtues. Displays of moral beauty have been shown to elicit the moral emotion of elevation and cause a desire to become a better person and to engage in prosocial behavior. Study 1 ("N" = 5380) shows engagement with moral beauty is related to several psychological…

In the USA, civic involvement in adolescence includes political and nonpolitical activities. Given that identities can motivate behavior, how do political and moral identities relate to civic activity choices? In this study, high school students ("N" = 1578) were surveyed about their political and nonpolitical civic actions and their…

We explore the possibility that a priori philosophical commitments continue to result in a narrowing of inquiry in moral psychology and education where theistic worldviews are concerned. Drawing from the theories of Edward L. Thorndike and John Dewey, we examine naturalistic philosophical commitments that influenced the study of moral psychology…

An ethic of care acknowledges the centrality of the role of caring relationships in moral education. Care ethics requires a conception of "care" that differs from the quotidian use of the word. In order to teach care ethics more effectively, this article discusses four interrelated ways that teachers' understandings of care differ…

This is a study of teachers' modelling of civic virtues in the classroom. It focusses on three virtues of good citizenship: justice, tolerance and solidarity. The aim is to explore the extent to which teachers can be regarded as models of these virtues. Questionnaires were developed for both students and teachers. Factor analyses showed that the…

This article explores Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in the Malaysian context to support local reform of the Moral Education (ME) classroom. Small groups of students in three different types of school were involved in a participant action research (PAR) project. Such classrooms in Malaysia bring together students from…

This article presents a moral orientation that can serve as a "commonly shared" foundation for developing moral consciousness in (postmodern) multicultural democratic societies. To this end, I distinguish between two prevailing generic views of moral education--"thin" and "thick"--and claim that the tensions between them contribute to the sense of…

Some strands of environmental concern invite a radical re-evaluation of many taken for granted assumptions of late modern ways of life--particularly those that structure how we relate to the natural world. This article explores some of the implications of such a re-evaluation for our understanding of moral education by examining the significance…