MORAL COMPETENCE AND SOCIO-MORAL REFLECTION
MORAL COMPETENCE AND SOCIO-MORAL REFLECTION

Summary/Abstract: Given that the improvement of the moral development assessment is very much in need, the present research analyzes, comparatively, from a theoretical and empirical point of view two instruments that were elaborated in order to evaluate aspects of the moral judgment. The first one, Moral Judgment Test (MJT), elaborated by Lind in 1978 (Lind, 2000), focuses on the moral competence of the moral judgment, but assesses also the moral orientation aspect of the moral judgment in the context of two moral dilemmas. The second one, The Sociomoral Reflection Measure – Short Form Objective (SRM-SFO), elaborated by Brugman, Basinger, and Gibbs (2007), evaluates only the moral orientation aspect of the moral judgment as a socio-moral reflection on the importance of some important moral values in various typical social contexts. Such a comparison between the assessment instruments for moral judgment, rarely encountered in the psychological literature, is meant to contribute to a better understanding of the data obtained with these instruments and of their psychometric qualities, given that the first one is internationally rather frequently used for research purposes, and the second one is a more recent and pragmatically attractive version of an older instrument widely used (Sociomoral Reflection Measure – Short Form: SRMSF, elaborated by Gibbs, Basinger & Fuller, 1992): SRM – SFO. Both instruments were administered to a sample of 77 first year students at the University of Fine Arts and Design from Cluj (with a mean age of 22). The obtained data indicated the existence of some of the anticipated positive and negative correlations between the (main) scores of the two instruments – correlations anticipated by taking into account their theoretical underpinning –, and, thus, they contribute in supporting their convergent validity.

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