Defining Issues Test
Encyclopedia
The Defining Issues Test or the DIT is a component model of moral development
devised by James Rest
in 1979. The University of Minnesota
formally established the Center for the Study of Ethical Development as a vehicle for research around this test in 1982.
The DIT uses a Likert
-type scale to give quantitative rankings to five moral dilemmas, the data of which are then analyzed. The analysis of this data reveals information about three schema
s of moral reasoning
: the Personal Interests Schema, the Maintaining Norms Schema and the Postconventional Schema. One of the test's original purposes was to assess the transition of moral development from adolescence
to adulthood. In 1999 the test was revised in the DIT-2 for brevity, clarity and more powerful validity
criteria.
The DIT has been dubbed "Neo-Kohlbergian" by its constituents as it emphasizes cognition
, personal construction, development and postconventional
moral
thinking - reflective of the work by Lawrence Kohlberg
and his stages of moral development
.
Moral Development
Moral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy to adulthood. In the field of moral development, morality is defined as principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, others’ welfare, and rights...
devised by James Rest
James Rest
James Rest was a professor with the Department of Educational Psychology for the University of Minnesota. In 1982 he helped formally establish the Center for the Study of Ethical Development along with colleagues Muriel Bebeau, Darcia Narvaez and Steve Thoma...
in 1979. The University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
formally established the Center for the Study of Ethical Development as a vehicle for research around this test in 1982.
The DIT uses a Likert
Likert scale
A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term is often used interchangeably with rating scale, or more accurately the Likert-type scale, even though...
-type scale to give quantitative rankings to five moral dilemmas, the data of which are then analyzed. The analysis of this data reveals information about three schema
Schema (psychology)
A schema , in psychology and cognitive science, describes any of several concepts including:* An organized pattern of thought or behavior.* A structured cluster of pre-conceived ideas....
s of moral reasoning
Moral reasoning
Moral reasoning is a study in psychology that overlaps with moral philosophy. It is also called moral development. Prominent contributors to theory include Lawrence Kohlberg and Elliot Turiel. The term is sometimes used in a different sense: reasoning under conditions of uncertainty, such as...
: the Personal Interests Schema, the Maintaining Norms Schema and the Postconventional Schema. One of the test's original purposes was to assess the transition of moral development from adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
to adulthood. In 1999 the test was revised in the DIT-2 for brevity, clarity and more powerful validity
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
criteria.
The DIT has been dubbed "Neo-Kohlbergian" by its constituents as it emphasizes cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
, personal construction, development and postconventional
Kohlberg's stages of moral development
Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived of by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget...
moral
Moral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
thinking - reflective of the work by Lawrence Kohlberg
Lawrence Kohlberg
Lawrence Kohlberg was a Jewish American psychologist born in Bronxville, New York, who served as a professor at the University of Chicago, as well as Harvard University. Having specialized in research on moral education and reasoning, he is best known for his theory of stages of moral development...
and his stages of moral development
Kohlberg's stages of moral development
Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development constitute an adaptation of a psychological theory originally conceived of by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget...
.
External links
- An example dilemma used in the Defining Issues Test - The Heinz Dilemma
- A doctoral dissertation using the Defining Issues Test
- Does the Defining Issues Test measure psychological phenomena distinct from verbal ability? : An examination of Lykken's query. Journal of personality and social psychology, 1995.
- Thoma, S.J. (2006). Research using the Defining Issues Test. In Killen and Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of Moral Psychology. L. Erlbaum: Mawah, NJ.
- Thoma, S.J., Derryberry, P., & Narvaez, D. (2009). The distinction between moral judgment development and verbal ability: Some relevant data using socio-political outcome variables. High Ability Studies, 20 (2). 173-185.