James Rest was a professor with the Department of Educational Psychology

Educational psychology

Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing...

 for 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...

. In 1982 he helped formally establish the Center for the Study of Ethical Development along with colleagues Muriel Bebeau, Darcia Narvaez and Steve Thoma. Some of his contributions to his field have been that of formulating the theory and methodology of the Defining Issues Test

Defining Issues Test

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...

, a component model 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...

. This model built off postconventional theories of 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...

, an approach he called 'Neo-Kohlbergian'.

James Rest's 4 stages component model

James Rest maintained that four key psychological components must be developed for a person to be morally mature and correct. These were moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation, and moral character. These would allow the person to be able to recognize the issues at hand, make correct and intelligent judgements, have the motivation to take action and the character to maintain good morality throughout the person's life.

James Rest died in 1999, his work continued at the Center for the Study of Ethical Development by his peers and colleagues.

See also

• Defining Issues Test
  Defining Issues Test
  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...
  
  
• Center for the Study of Ethical Development
• Kohlberg's 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

• Center for the Study of Ethical Development