EFFECT OF THE CONTENT OF MORAL DILEMMAS UPON RESPONSES ON THE DEFINING ISSUES TEST

This study investigates the "structured whole" hypothesis of cognitive-moral developmental theory which suggests that there is a general factor of moral stage crosscutting responses to all moral dilemmas which results in a stage-consistent pattern of responses on instruments assessing moral development. In order to assess the effect of the content of moral dilemmas the Defining Issues Test (DIT) was administered to 300 undergraduate students at a mid-sized state university. Results suggest that dilemmas differentially "pull for" or exclude certain levels of moral reasoning providing no support for the "structured whole" hypothesis of cognitive moral development theory. Additional research in the following three areas is necessary in order that the underlying assumptions of cognitive developmental theory be further investigated: determination of the test-retest reliability of DIT stage scores, profile analyses of subjects' responses on the DIT, and evaluation of the effects of both subject and dilemma variables on DIT responses.


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Step  Table 3.     Table  7 presents group means of the pre and post tests for both groups on both measures.  These frequencies are presented in Table  9.  Table 10.         In assessing the sources of the lack of support these data provide for the assumption of structured wholes, five possible factors must be considered: This questionnaire Is aimed at understanding how people think about soclal problems. Different people often have different opinions about questions of right and wrong. There are no "right" answers In the way that there are right answers to math problems. We would llke you to tel I us what you think about several problem stories. The papers wll I be fed to a computer to find the average for the whole group, and no one wll I see your lndlvldual answers.
Please give us the fol lowln_ g Information: In th Is quest I onna I re you w 11 I be asked to g Ive your op In Ions about severa _I stories.
Here Is a story as an example. Read It, then turn to the next page.
Frank Jones has been thinking about buying a car. He Is married, has two smal I chlldren and earns an average Income. The car he buys wlll be his family's only car. It wll I be used mostly to get to work and drive around town, but sometimes for vacation trips also.
In trying to decide what car to buy, Frank Jones real !zed that there were a lot of questions to consider.
On the next page there Is a 11st of some of these questions.
If you were Frank Jones, how Important would each of these questions be In deciding what car to buy? PART A, CSAWLE) On the left hand side of the page check one of the spaces by each question that could be considered, GREAT MUCH SOME LlffiE NO lmpor-lmpor-lmpor-lmpor-Importance tance tance tance tance X ------

HEINZ AND THE DRUG
In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her.
ft was a form of radium that a druggist In the same town had recently discovered.
The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1000, which Is half of what It cost.
He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sef I It cheaper or let him pay later.
But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from It." So Heinz got desperate and began to think about breaking Into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.  (SOS), believe that the University should not have an army ROTC program. SOS students are against the war In Viet Nam, and the army training program helps send men to fight In Viet Nam. The SOS students demanded that Harvard and the army ROTC training program as a university course.
This would mean that Harvard students could not get army training as part of their regular course work and not get credit for It towards the Ir degrees.
Agreeing with the SOS students, the Harvard professors voted to end the ROTC program as a university course. But the President of the University stated that he wanted to keep the army program on campus as a course.
The SOS students felt that the President was not going to pay attention to the faculty vote or to their demands.
So, one day last Aprl I, two hundred SOS students walked Into the university's administration building and told everyone else to get out. They said they were doing this to force Harvard to get rid of the army training program as a course.
Should the students have taken over the administration bul !ding? (Check one) Yes, they should take It over Can't decide No, they should not take It over STUDENT TAKE-OVER I • N-e the students do! ng th! s to really help other people or are they doing It for kicks.
2. Do the students have any right to take over property that doesn't belong to them.
3. Do the students realize that they might be arrested and fined, and even expelled from school. 4. Would taking over the building In the long run benefit more people to a greater extent.
5. Whether the president stayed within the I lmlts of his authority In Ignoring the faculty vote.
6. W 111 the takeover anger the pub I Jc and g Ive a 11 students a bad name. 7. Is taking over a building consistent with principles of justice.
8. Would al lowing one student take-over encourage many other student take-overs.
_______________ 9. Did the president .bring this misunderstanding on himself by being so unreasonable and uncooperative.
10. Whether running the university ought to be In the hands of a few administrators or In the hands of al I the people. I I. N-e the students fol !owing principles which they be 11 eve are above the I aw.
12. Whether or not university decisions ought to be respected by students.
From the list of questions above, select the four most Important: Most Important Second most Important Th I rd most Important Fourth most Important

ESCAPED PRISONER
A man had been sentenced to prison for 10 years.
After one year, however, he escaped from prison, moved to a new area of the country, and took on the name of Thompson. For 8 yea· rs he worked hard, and gradua 11 y he saved enough money to buy h Is own business.
He was fair to his customers, gave his employees top wages, and gave most of his own profits to charity.
Then one day Mrs. Jones, an old neighbor, recognized him as the man who had escaped from prison 8 years before and whom the police had been look Ing for. to. Wouldn't It be a citizen's duty to report an escaped citizen, regardless of the circumstances?
11. 1-bw would the wl 11 of the poop le and the pub-I le good best be served?
12. Would going to prison do any good for Mr. Thompson or protect anybody?
From the 11st of questions above, select the four most Important: Most Important Second most Important Th I rd most Important Fourth most Important NEW PAPER Fred, a senior In high school, wanted to publish a mimeographed newspaper for students so that he could express many of his opinions~ He wanted to speak out against the war In Viet Nam and to speak out against some of the school's rules, I Ike the rule forbidding boys to wear long hair, When Fred started his newspaper, he asked his principal for permission.
The principal said It would be al I right If before every publication Fred would turn In al I his articles for the prlnclpal's approval~ Fred agreed and turned In several articles for approval.
The principal approved al I of them and Fred published two Issues of the paper In the next two weeks, But the principal had not expected that Fred's newspaper would receive so much attention, Students were so excited by the paper that they began to organize protests against the hair regulation and other school rules, Angry parents objected to Fred's opinions.
They phoned the principal tell Ing him that the newspaper was unpatriotic and should not be published. As

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Would the students start protesting even more If the pr Inc I pa I stopped the newspaper?
When the welfare of the school Is threatened, does the principal have the right to give orders to students?
5. Does the prlnclpal have the freedom of speech to say "no" In th Is case?
6. If the principal stopped the newspaper would he be preventing full discussion of Important problems? 7. B.

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Whether the pr! nc I pa I's order wou Id make Fred lose faith In the prlnclpa I?
Whether Fred was really loyal to his school and patriotic to his country.
What effect would stopping the paper have on the student's education In critical thinking and judgment?
10. Whether Fred was In any way vlolatlng the rights of others In publlshlng his own opinions • . I I. Whether the prlnclpal should be Influenced by some angry parents when It Is the principal that knows best what Is going on In the school.
12. Whether Fred was using the newspaper to stir up the hatred and discontent.
From the list of questions above, select the four most Important: Most Important Second most Important Th I rd most Important Fourth most Important WEBSTER Mr. Webster was the owner and manager of a gas station. He wanted to hire another mechanic to help him, but good mechanics were hard to find. The only person he found who seemed to be a good mechanic was Mr. Lee, but he was Chinese. Whlle Mr. Webster himself didn't have anything against Orientals, he was afraid to hire Mr, Lee because many of his customers didn't like Orienta ls. His customers might take their business elsewhere If Mr. Lee was working In the gas station.
When Mr. Lee asked Mr. Webster If he could have the job, Mr. Webster said that he had already hired somebody else.
But Mr. Webster really had not hired anybody, because he could not find anybody who was a good mechanic besides Mr. Lee. Whether there Is a law that forbids racial discrimination In hiring for Jobs.
Whether Mr. Webster Is prejudiced against ()-fentals himself or whether he means nothing persona I In refus Ing the Job.
Whether hiring a good mechanic or paying attention to his customers' wishes would be best for his business.
What Individual differences ought to be relevant In deciding how society's roles are fllled7 Whether the greedy and competitive cap Ital lstlc system ought to be completety abandoned. She was In terrible pain, but she was so weak that a good dose of paln-k 11 ler I Ike morphine would make her die sooner. She was del lrlous and almost crazy with pain, and In her calm periods, she would ask the doctor to give her enough morphine to kll I her. She said she couldn't stand the pain and that she was going to die In a few months anyway.
Should the doctor do7 (Check one) 1-Je shou Id g Ive the I ady an overdoes that w II I make her d le Qm't decide Should not give her an overdose GREAT MUCH SOME LITTLE NO lmpor-lmpor-lmpor-lmpor-Importance tance tance tance tance 81 DOCTOR I. Whetherthewoman'sfc111lly Is In favor of giving her the overdose or not.
2. Is the doctor obi I gated by the same I aws as everybody else If giving an overdose would be the same as kl I I Ing her.
3. Whether people would be much better off without society regimenting their lives and even their deaths.
4. Whether the doctor could make It appear I Ike an accident.

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Does the state have the right to force continued ex I stance on those who don I t want to t Ive.
What Is the value of death prior to society's perspective on personal values.
Whether the doctor has sympathy for the woman's suffering or cares more about what society might think.
Is helping to end another's life ever a responsible act of cooperation.
Whether only God should decide when a person's I lfe should end.
10. What values the doctor has to let anybody end their lives when they want to.
II. Can society afford to let anybody end their lives when they want to.
12. Can society allow suicides or mercy killing and still protect the lives of Individuals who want to I Ive.
From the list of questions above, select the four most Important: Most Important Second most Important Third most Important Fourth most Important

Defining Issues Test Standard Test Instructions
Please read the co '>-er sheet of the Opinions About Social Problems.
If you have any questions please ask. ~n this questionnaire you will be asked to give your opinions about several stories. There are no right or wrong answers. Please turn t c the first page and begin.