More Mannerly Than Moral
Abstract
<p>P erhaps the source of difficulty in Diogenes's quest was not the scarcity of honest men but the problem of defining what is honest. The broader problem of what is moral, historically within the province of philosophy and theology, has become an inescapable issue for psychologists interested in the moral development of the child. The psychologist must cope with the dual task of resolving the definitional question while determining how children acquire moral judgments and behavior.</p> <p>Both of these issues are evident in the extensive literature on moral development, a literature which has burgeoned during the past 15 years. This upsurge of interest and activity stimulated by the pioneering study of Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957), the broadening of research focus to include cognitive and positive forms of moral behavior, and the recognition of the importance of Piagetian theory and its extension by Kohlberg, has spawned a complex matrix of concepts, methods, and data. If, to this matrix is added an historical account of traditional psychoanalytic approaches to moral behavior, one can appreciate the scope of the task confronting Douglas Graham in this timely book on moral learning and development.</p> <p>In this short book, Graham compresses a great