Manifestations of moral development in concrete situations

One hundred college-age participants were asked to present a recently, personally-experienced, moral conflict which was coded according to the stages of development elaborated by Kohlberg. The results indicated that the area of conflict is a factor affecting the level of maturity expressed in the resolution of the conflict. Participants experiencing political and ideological conflicts resolved these conflicts on a more mature level of development than participants experiencing honesty or social conflicts. Participants experiencing sexual conflicts also resolved them on a more mature level than subjects experiencing honesty conflicts. No differences were found as a function of sex. Social conflicts were reported most often and legal conflicts least frequently. The results were discussed in terms of the differential responses to hypothetical and concrete moral conflicts.