Moral Reasoning in Bahamian and United States Adults and Children: a Cross-Cultural Examination of Kohlberg's Stages

Abstract

Cross-cultural studies of moral reasoning and moral development offer the opportunity to examine universals in development as well as to inform regarding the impact of culture on human reasoning about the nature of right and wrong. The present paper examines several studies conducted by the author on moral development in adults and children in the Bahamian out-islands utilizing the theoretical perspective of Kohlberg. Issues in moral development from the perspective of life span developmental psychology are considered as to how they inform about models of adult development.