Autobiographical Memory and Moral Identity Development

Abstract

Moral identity theory is one of the most popular theories of moral development. A central concept of moral identity theory is moral integration. Moral identity theorists refer to moral integration as the process by which moral values become central to a person's identity, thus developing one's moral identity. The problem is that there is still very little understanding of the psychological processes that constitute the process of moral integration. The aim of this paper is to offer an account of the role of autobiographical memory in moral identity development. Autobiographical memory refers to the ability to recollect events in one's past as part of one's personal history. I motivate the claim that the role of the development of autobiographical memory in moral integration should be conceived in relation to the emergence of psychological abilities that both develop and are exercised on a personal, conscious, and deliberative level.