Moral cognition and moral action: A theoretical perspective

doi:10.1016/0273-2297(83)90029-1

Developmental Review

Volume 3, Issue 2, June 1983, Pages 178-210

https://doi.org/10.1016/0273-2297(83)90029-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

Considerable theoretical work has been done in the area of moral reasoning. However, little conceptual thinking has been done about the relations between moral cognition and moral action. As a result, empirical research in this area has been unsystematic and difficult to interpret. A theoretical model, the Self Model, is proposed here, starting from the assumption that moral reasons are functionally related to action. First, a concept of cognitive motivation is presented as necessary for any cognitive account of morality. Two cognitive approaches to moral conduct, Piaget's and Haan's, are then discussed in their positive contributions and in their limitations. The Self Model is finally described through a set of empirically testable propositions. Its major theoretical characteristics are: it is cognitive, recognizing as the central function of human cognition the appraisal of truth; it acknowledges a basic duality of motivation, but stresses the normative pull of cognitive motivation; it is developmental; it uses the self as the central explanatory concept, establishing both the sense of personal responsibility and the dynamism of self-consistency.

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^☆: The writing of this article was made possible by a generous visitorship from the Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung in Berlin.

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Moral cognition and moral action: A theoretical perspective☆

Abstract

Developmental Review

Developmental Review

American Sociological Review

Self-intervention and the structure of motivation

Moral development from the standpoint of a general psychological theory

Motivational problems raised by exploratory and epistemic behavior

Social norms, feelings, and other factors affecting helping and altruism

Bridging moral cognition and moral action: A critical review of the literature

Psychological Bulletin

Moral identity: Its role in moral functioning

The self and cognition: The roles of the self in the acquisition of knowledge and the role of cognition in the development of the self

Kognition, Erkenntnis und das Selbst

Some familial antecedents of responsibility and leadership in adolescents

Development of concepts of self, mind, reality, and knowledge

New Directions for Child Development

Honesty and dishonesty

Interface between the behavioral and the cognitive-developmental approach to research in morality

Structure and choice in moral reasoning

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Performanzbestimmende Aspekte des moralischen Bewusstseins

Dissonance reduction and moral values

On cognitive development

Child Development

Structures, stages, and sequences in cognitive development

Freedom of the will and the concept of a person

Journal of Philosophy

Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable

Journal of Personality

Moral understanding and children's conduct

New Directions for Child Development

In a different voice: Women's conception of the self and morality

Harvard Educational Review

Some relationships between conscience and attentional processes

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Moral reasoning in hypothetical and in actual situation of civil disobedience

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Two moralities in action contexts: Relationships to thought, ego regulation, and development

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology