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Praise for Moral Development and Reality
“This is the most sensible and insightful book on moral development that I have seen in over twenty years. In this masterful treatment, John Gibbs examines the recent trends in moral psychology with a deep understanding of the classic questions and controversies in the field. The book is both intellectually satisfying and exciting to read.”
—WILLIAM DAMON, Professor of Education, Director, Stanford Center on Adolescence
“Ambitious and well-written. . . . Gibbs introduces in detail the major theoretical positions on moral development. He presents the positions fairly, critiques them judiciously, and presents his own intriguing synthesis.”
—HOWARD GARDNER, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University
“Excellent — very fair, gracious, and thoughtful.”
—PAUL BLOOM, Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology, Yale University
“Covers the range of my work far better than anything else in print.”
—MARTIN L. HOFFMAN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, New York University
“At a time when the study of moral development is more about describing and explaining details of the trees than about characterizing the forest as a whole, Gibbs provides a much needed integration of what’s known and what remains to be learned in this important area. Integrating the distinct perspectives of Kohlberg, Hoffman, Haidt, and Bloom, as well as providing unique insights of his own, this book is a remarkable achievement.”
—ROBERT SIEGLER, Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education, Columbia University
“Comprehensive and engaging . . . .The wealth of updated references and the inclusion of Paul Bloom’s important work on empathy make this text especially valuable. . . . Gibbs’ lively anecdotes bring the theory and research alive. Moral Development and Reality offers scholars and students alike a current, well-crafted and fascinating blend of psychology, philosophy, and even physics.”
—ELIZABETH C. VOZZOLA, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Saint Joseph
“Some books add to their field of inquiry; others define it. John Gibbs’ Moral Development and Reality is one of the latter. Its importance to moral psychology is unsurpassed by any work of the past half century.”
—THOMAS LICKONA, Director, Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Responsibility), State University of New York at Cortland
“Gibbs bravely puts forth one of the most integrative and comprehensive syntheses of the field of moral development ever attempted. . . . A truly remarkable work.”
—CHARLES C. HELWIG, Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto
“The most important contribution to the study of moral development since the turn of the century.”
—from the Foreword by DAVID MOSHMAN
“An excellent source with respect to current theorizing and current controversies in the domain of moral reasoning.”
—SCOTT A. MILLER, author, Developmental Research Methods
“A penetrating examination of moral development [that] challenges all of us to think more deeply about the moral landscape.”
—DARCIA NARVAEZ, Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame
“A fascinating and provocative book with an original perspective. The analysis of the theory and contributions of Lawrence Kohlberg is far more sophisticated, well-grounded, and balanced than one finds in most other texts.”
—CAROLYN POPE EDWARDS, William Cather Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“I enthusiastically recommend John Gibbs’ Moral Development & Reality to scholars, practitioners, parents, and students. . . . Like Gibbs himself, this book is sincerely honest, very smart, and truly helpful.”
—ANN HIGGINS-D’ALESSANDRO, Professor of Psychology, Fordham University
“Moral Development and Reality is a truly impressive work. It offers not only a theoretical but also an empirical basis for the right and the good, and a rationale for a new ethic of connection and loving reciprocity.”
—BRUCE GREYSON, Carlson Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia
“The most comprehensive and convincing account of moral experience available today. The book is masterful—and an essential read for students and seasoned scholars alike.”
—MARY LOUISE ARNOLD, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto
“Very rich, stimulating, and first-rate.”
—DANIEL BRUGMAN, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Utrecht
“A bold, penetrating, and cutting-edge analysis.”
—F. CLARK POWER,
Professor, University of Notre Dame
“Quite alive intellectually, a real page turner for those who are animated by cutting-edge debates in the moral domain. This is a work of accomplished and assured scholarship.”
—DANIEL K. LAPSLEY, ACE Collegiate Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame
“There is much to admire in Gibbs’s important book. It is the only sustained attempt of which I am aware to synthesize the major traditions in cognitive and affective developmental research and theory, doing so by emphasizing both cognitive and affective capacities for taking the perspective of the other.”
—ROGER BERGMAN, Professor, Justice & Peace Studies Program, Creighton University
“Provides a most engaging journey through the terrain of moral and empathic development through the eyes of a seasoned guide. . . . remarkably fresh, interesting, and provocative.”
—KURT KELJO, Journal of Moral Education review
Moral Development and Reality
Beyond the Theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and Haidt
fourth edition
John C. Gibbs
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2019
Third Edition published in 2014 Fourth Edition published in 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
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ISBN 978–0–19–087821–4
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■ Dedicated to the memory of J. Lowell Gibbs
Moral Development and Reality is serious about morality, development, and even reality. John Gibbs is not just out to explain moral development. He is out to explain morality itself. Morality, he argues, is not just whatever we happen to like or whatever our cultures happen to favor. Morality is rooted in the reality of social interconnections and develops as we come to understand that reality.
This advanced text, now in its fourth edition, is not just a systematic overview of the literature on moral development; it is also an original theoretical contribution to that literature. In fact, I would go so far as to call it the most important contribution to the study of moral development since the turn of the century. Gibbs has recognized what is most fundamental in the contributions of Lawrence Kohlberg, Martin Hoffman, and Jonathan Haidt. These are not just three theorists he happens to like. (In fact, he finds plenty to criticize in all of their theories, especially Haidt’s.) Rather, they represent three distinct theoretical traditions that usually either ignore or actively disparage each other. Coordinating their complementary insights and contributions makes this a unique and indispensable book.
Gibbs takes from Kohlberg a Piagetian conception of moral rationality and objectivity that allows for genuine developmental change. This moral epistemology draws strongly on the ethics of philosopher Immanuel Kant. Gibbs is far from alone among current developmentalists in his rationalist moral epistemology. Cognitive social domain theory—as seen in the work of Elliot Turiel, Larry Nucci, Judith Smetana, Melanie Killen, Charles Helwig, Cecilia Wainryb, and many others—shares with Gibbs his Piagetian moral epistemology. Social domain theorists, however, reject Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, whereas Gibbs believes that a modified version of them provides the cognitive core of any viable theory of moral development. Gibbs is not only neo-Piagetian, as was Kohlberg and as are the social domain theorists; Gibbs is specifically neo-Kohlbergian, in contrast to the social domain theorists. This is reflected in the fact that he has far more to say about moral development beyond the preschool years than most current developmentalists.
But morality, Gibbs insists, is not just about what is right and not just a matter of knowledge and reasoning. Morality also concerns the good, and owes as much to emotion as to cognition. Here Gibbs draws on Hoffman, who highlighted the emotional side of moral development, including our deepening empathy for others. Coordinating Hoffman’s theory with that of Kohlberg produces a theory that transcends both. Moral perspective-taking is recognized as simultaneously cognitive and emotional. Moral development represents progress in both justice and care.
But there’s more. Moral behavior is a function of many factors and cannot be predicted simply from developmental status. In the complex realm of social behavior, moreover, theorists do not always agree on what counts as moral behavior.
Since the turn of the century, moral psychology has broadened to concerns far beyond the central issues of moral development. In recent years, Jonathan Haidt has emerged as perhaps the major proponent of what are generally seen as alternatives to traditional developmental perspectives, and especially to the rationalist views of Piaget and Kohlberg. The first two editions of this text already addressed such matters.
The major innovation of the third edition was to consider Haidt’s new theory systematically. There is much in Haidt’s theory for a developmentalist to disagree with, and Gibbs was clear about his disagreements. In typical fashion, however, he found much to agree with. Rather than simply refuting Haidt, he acknowledged many of his theoretical insights. The result was a new edition that was not only updated throughout but also made a further theoretical contribution.
This fourth edition, updated once again, adds yet another major theorist, not to the title, but to the analysis. Paul Bloom is a cognitive theorist who questions the moral value and role of empathy, arguing instead for what he calls “rational compassion.” Gibbs presents Bloom’s work as a challenge to Hoffman’s theory and argues, in defense of Hoffman, that fuller recognition of the human potential for developmental progress in morality shows the necessity, and interconnectedness, of justice and care, the cognitive and the emotional, the right and the good.
And what about reality? Gibbs clearly sees morality as rational and even objective, raising the question of moral “objects.” If morality is knowledge, what is it we know about? At the very least, Gibbs’s Piagetian and Kantian answer is that morality involves truths about obligations inherent in the reciprocity of human relations. Toward the end of the book he goes further, suggesting that the moral salience of human relations lies in a deeper reality of human interconnection that can be glimpsed occasionally in near-death experiences.
One need not go as far as Gibbs on questions of moral ontology, however, to recognize the vital importance of moral epistemology. Philosophers, psychologists, and educators will profit from this broad-ranging examination of the epistemology, development, and promotion of morality. But the book is aimed no less at students and succeeds in this respect, too. Through careful organization, clear presentation, and vivid examples, Gibbs advances the state of the art in the study of moral development in a manner accessible to readers with little or no background in psychology or philosophy.
A background in morality, however, may be required. Fortunately, we all have a background in morality, rooted in social realities we have increasingly understood since our preschool years, with enduring potential for further progress. Reading this book will help you understand better what morality is, really, and how we can promote its development.
David Moshman
University of Nebraska at Lincoln May 2018
■ Preface and Acknowledgments
First among my acknowledgments in this personal preface are the three names in the title: the late Lawrence Kohlberg, Martin L. Hoffman, and Jonathan Haidt. The works of all three have been at the forefront of major (if disparate) movements in the field of moral psychology; accordingly, I am fortunate indeed to have known and dialogued with all three thinkers for decades. Kohlberg’s and Hoffman’s works were already prominent in 1971. In that year I asked Kohlberg and Hoffman (whose works I knew from my undergraduate psychology courses) to contribute to my doctoral study of social influences upon children’s resistance to temptation (Gibbs, 1972). Hoffman mailed, from the University of Michigan, his measure of parental nurturance, and Kohlberg, on my graduate campus (Harvard University), participated as a member of my reading committee.
After completing my dissertation in 1972, I continued collegial interaction with both Kohlberg and Hoffman, especially with Kohlberg. In 1975, Larry, as everyone called him, invited me to join him at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This I did gladly, collaborating as a research faculty member in the completion of his longitudinal moral judgment project (Colby, Kohlberg, Gibbs, & Lieberman, 1983; Gibbs, Kohlberg, Colby, & Speicher-Dubin, 1976) and assessment manual (Colby et al., 1987). In the free atmosphere of Harvard, I also was encouraged to develop certain theoretical and empirical contributions. After reading the page proofs of my 1977 Harvard Educational Review revisionist critique of his stage typology, Larry told me that I “could be right.”
I remain deeply appreciative that Larry continued to support and encourage my work in moral development even after I left Harvard (in 1979) for a faculty appointment at The Ohio State University. He wrote the foreword to an early group-administrable moral judgment assessment instrument that colleagues and I developed (Gibbs, Widaman, & Colby, 1982). He also continued to consider sympathetically my revisionist argument, even proposing (in part along the lines of that argument) a reconceptualization of adult moral development (Kohlberg, 1984). He appreciated our (Gibbs & Schnell, 1984) juxtaposition of his moral developmental approach with socialization approaches such as Hoffman’s. He was interested in our work on exemplary prosocial behavior (see Chapter 6). He even shared my interest in the near-death experience and the question of a deeper reality of human existence (see Chapters 9 and 10). Hence, although he died in 1987, years before the emergence of this book, Larry Kohlberg, in effect, nurtured its advance shoots. I know that Larry would have nurtured the book’s progress as well, along with our (Gibbs, Basinger, Grime, & Snarey, 2007) “revisiting” with new data his universality claims for moral development (see Chapters 3 and 4 of this fourth edition of Moral Development and Reality).
Additionally, I have kept in touch with Martin Hoffman, for whose continued encouragement and help I am also grateful. Like Larry, Marty appreciated our
Preface and Acknowledgments
(Gibbs & Schnell, 1984) overview of his and Kohlberg’s approaches to moral development (indeed, he had provided helpful comments on a preliminary version). He also constructively commented on a subsequent chapter and article of mine (Gibbs, 1991a, 1991b) that proposed an integration of his and Kohlberg’s theories. He even wrote a commentary (Hoffman, 1991) on that article. (Remarkably, Marty’s commentary began, “The last time I saw Larry Kohlberg, about a year before he died, we decided to get together some day soon and try to integrate our theories. We never did” [p. 105].)
Especially appreciated have been Marty’s encouragement for and help with this book. He has provided valuable feedback for two of this book’s chapters, and even developed with me for this edition an expanded summary table of his typology of empathy-related modes, stages, attributions, and limitations (see Chapter 5). His consultation and suggestions were invaluable as I refined—based on the most recent research and theoretical critiques—my coverage of his theory of empathy-based moral development and socialization. The result has been praised by Hoffman (personal communication, April 23, 2018: the chapter “covers the range of my work far better than anything else in print”). In his own book (Hoffman, 2000), Marty commented that he was “impressed with the variety of [social perspective-taking] methods” (p. 293) used in our intervention program for antisocial youth (see Chapter 8). Marty provided crucial consultation as my graduate students Julie Krevans and, subsequently, Renee Patrick fashioned their respective dissertations chiefly concerning the impact of inductive discipline (one of Hoffman’s most important contributions to moral socialization; see Chapter 5).
Marty’s first “encouragement” was actually a one-word challenge. At the 1987 American Educational Research Association meeting in Washington, D.C., Martin Hoffman and Nancy Eisenberg presented an “Invited Dialogue.” As the discussant for their presentations, I commented that Hoffman’s theory presumed “affective primacy” (empathic affect as the exclusive source) in moral motivation and behavior. Marty replied, “So?” Unpacked, that meant, I think: So what’s wrong with that? A fair question, I thought. (Marty has since come to agree with much of my argument that moral motivation entails not only affective but also cognitive primacy; see Chapters 5 and 6).
Ten years later, that “fair question” and challenge of affective primacy surfaced again, this time in more extreme form. At a 1997 Association for Moral Education meeting in Atlanta, I again served as a discussant, this time for a symposium in which a young scholar named Jonathan Haidt launched a bold and broad challenge. Beyond Hoffman’s mere “So, what’s wrong with that?” Haidt argued that “intuition” is so strongly primary in morality and everyday social behavior that “cognition,” “rationality,” or “development” is, in the main, epiphenomenal. My discussant comments suggested that cognition, too, warrants a primary role in moral psychology. I pointed, for example, to evidence that developmental delay in basic moral judgment is an important factor in antisocial behavior (see Chapter 7). My suggestion had little or no impact—at least none that I could discern in a subsequent paper Jon sent me with a friendly and low-key note (“Dear John—I thought you might be interested in this. Best wishes, Jon”). That paper, then already in
Preface and Acknowledgments ■ xiii
press, was to become Haidt’s (2001) landmark Psychological Review statement. In a subsequent chapter with Selin Kesebir (2010), and then in his impressive book Righteous Mind (2012), Jon declared a “new synthesis” concerning the primary roles of biology, fast affect or emotion, and diverse cultures in the formation of morality. He cited my Moral Development and Reality as depicting the status quo, vulnerable to the major challenge of the new synthesis.
Jon’s challenge, then, was more than one word; it was in 1997 a major declaration, to be followed by many elaborations from this brilliant thinker, innovative researcher, and prolific writer. I have appreciated Jon’s feedback concerning my coverage of his work, as well as our direct intellectual exchanges during speaking engagements such as those at Association for Psychological Science conferences. Despite our disagreements, we do appreciate aspects of one another’s work and remain cordial colleagues.
Beyond containing my answers to Marty and Jon (as well as, in this edition, Paul Bloom), this book addresses the full sweep of moral development and reality. Writing the book has meant for me the thrilling opportunity to seek closure concerning questions that have consumed my interest over the decades since 1971: What is morality? Can we speak validly of moral development, as Kohlberg and Hoffman claim, or is morality—as in Haidt’s broad descriptivist view— relative to the particular values and virtues emphasized in particular cultures? Is the moral motivation of behavior primarily affective (early Hoffman, Haidt), or cognitive, a matter of justice (Kohlberg, Piaget)? Are Kohlberg’s and Hoffman’s theories integrable? Can they adequately account for exemplary prosocial—and, for that matter, antisocial—behavior? What are their implications for treating antisocial behavior? Finally, going beyond the theories: Does moral development, including moments of moral insight, inspiration, and transformation, reflect a deeper reality?
This book seeks to answer these questions. I have been deeply gratified by the praise elicited by the book’s earlier editions (Gibbs, 2003, 2010, 2014) from reviewers, colleagues, and students. In the years since the third edition, I have conducted extensive research, corresponded with national and international colleagues, and kept up with the remarkably diverse literature of moral psychology; hence, this fourth edition features over 100 new or updated references. In addition to the new coverage of Paul Bloom’s latest contributions in Chapter 5, every chapter has been updated and refined. I have especially benefited from Dave Moshman’s work, along with that of (among others) Kwame Appiah, Karl Aquino, Bill Arsenio, Dan Batson, Roy Baumeister, Gus Blasi, Paul Bloom, Larry Brendtro, Jean Decety, Frans de Waal, David Eagleman, Ken Fujita, Howard Gardner, Alison Gopnik, Joshua Greene, Sam Harris, Susan Harter, Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro, Tobias Krettenauer, Tom Lickona, Derek Parfit, Sam Parnia, Steven Pinker, Michael Sandel, Bob Selman, Bob Siegler, Peter Singer, Thomas Suddendorf, Pim van Lommel, Robert Wright, and Carolyn Zahn-Waxler. I am particularly grateful to Paul Bloom for his constructive comments and kind words (“excellent—very fair, gracious, and thoughtful”; P. Bloom, personal communication, April 15, 2018) concerning my coverage of his challenge to Hoffman’s theory (see Chapter 5).
My hope is that this new edition will find its place, not only as a supplementary text in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses pertinent to one or more of these questions (facilitating this role are chapter summaries and study questions, provided in the Appendix), but also as a contribution to the broader dialogues in the academic and intellectual community.
I will use “we”—as in, “we will explore moral development through the theories of Kohlberg, Hoffman, and Haidt”—frequently throughout this book. At some points, the pronoun may seem odd, but its use is quite intentional. In part, “we” is used for ordinary reasons: “to secure an impersonal style and tone” and cultivate a “considered together” quality (The Oxford English Dictionary online, 2018); specifically, a presumed partnership with the reader. A special reason, however, is that at many points I do mean we, not in some impersonal sense but, instead, quite literally and personally. I did write this book and do accept any credit or blame that may ensue. Fundamentally, however, not “I” but we accomplished this book. It exists only because of the collaboration, critiques, and encouragement of so many: not only mentors such as Larry Kohlberg and Marty Hoffman (and, as late as 2002, my former Harvard Graduate School advisor Herb Kelman), and challengers such as Jon Haidt, but also so many other good and thoughtful people: coauthors, other colleagues, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, friends, and family.
Let me express first my appreciation to my coauthors over the years. In addition to my abiding appreciation of Larry Kohlberg and Marty Hoffman (qua coauthors as well as mentors), I thank, most notably, coauthors Helen Ahlborn, Kevin Arnold, Alvaro Barriga, Karen Basinger, George Bear, Marvin Berkowitz, Matt Blount, Larry Brendtro, Daan Brugman, Kate Brusten, Henri Chabrol, Phil Clark, Anne Colby, Marc Daigle, Renee Devlin, Ann-Marie DiBiase, Jim DuBois, Dick Fuller (now deceased), Lance Garmon, Barry Glick, Arnie Goldstein (now deceased), Ginny Gregg (Jelinek), Becca Grime, Petra Helmond, Mary Horn, Keith Kaufman, Julie Krevans, Jennifer Landau (Harrold), Peter Langdon, Dasom Lee, Leonard Leeman, Albert Liau, Marion Mason, Fara McCrady, Becca McDonald, Dave Moshman, Renee Patrick, Bud Potter, Molly Robbins, SaraJane Rowland, Steve Schnell, Randy Shively, Susan Simonian, John Snarey, Geert Jan Stams, Bobby Lee Stinson, Ann Swillinger, Kevin van der Meulen, Eveline van Vugt, and Keith Widaman.
Among my current and past colleagues (in addition to my coauthors) here at Ohio State and in the local intellectual community, I have been so grateful for the helpful feedback or encouragement of Randy Anderson, Bob Batterman, Sally Boysen, Harold Cheyney, Jane Cottrell (now deceased), Russ Crabtree, Don Dell, Kristen Dunfield (now on the faculty at Concordia University), Norm Knapp, Herb Mirels, Ray Montemayor, Steven Robbins, Bob Rodgers, Linda Schoen, Ping Serafica, Vladimir Sloutsky, George Thompson (now deceased), Jerry Winer, and Charles Wenar (now deceased). Among colleagues—again, in addition to my coauthors—at other institutions, I thank MaryLou Arnold, Bill Arsenio, Dave Banerjee, Roy Baumeister, Diana Baumrind, Roger Bergman, Laura Berk, Gus Blasi, Paul Bloom, Larry Brendtro, Daan Brugman, Gus Carlo, Bill Damon, Frans
Preface and Acknowledgments ■ xv
de Waal, Jim DuBois, Carolyn Edwards, Nancy Eisenberg, Ed Giventer (now deceased), Bruce Greyson, Sam Hardy, Susan Harter, Marty Hoffman, Jan Holden, Ray Hummel, Tobias Krettenauer, Peter Langdon, Dan Lapsley, David Lorimer, Ron Mallett, Frank Murray, Elena Mustakovia-Possardt, Darcia Narvaez, Ulric Neisser, Larry Nucci, Fumi Ohnishi, Steven Pinker, Clark Power, Don Reed, Don Richardson, Mike Sabom, Stanton Samenow, Dawn Schrader, Ping Serafica, Bob Siegler, Peter Singer, Henry Stapp, Elly Vozzola, Cecilia Wainryb, Larry Walker, Katsuyuki Yamasaki, Pim van Lommel, and Carolyn Zahn-Waxler.
Special thanks go to Katie Pratt, Abby Gross, and Sarah Harrington at Oxford, who have wonderfully supported the accomplishment of this fourth edition; Dave Moshman for his insightful and gracious Foreword; Marty Jamison, Jennifer Kuehn, and Bruce Leach for their superb literature searches; Doug Findlay, Scott Higgins, Meghan Mathews, Shane Ruland, and Nick Wilkenson for their invaluable tech support; Pim van Lommel and Tom Sawyer (now deceased), for taking the time to critique the book’s final chapters; and the graduate students of Psychology 5832 (Lifespan Sociomoral Development). Among the (current and former) postdoctoral, graduate, and advanced undergraduate students, Hanah Chapman, Winnie Chung, Jessica Haushalter, Sophie Lazarus, Leean Lower, Renee Patrick, Lauren Pino, Kristin Rohrbeck, Carisa Taylor, and Tiandai You merit special praise for their remarkably thoughtful and discerning feedback on the chapter drafts; they saved this book from numerous ambiguities and deficits. I also especially thank Charlie Campbell (now director of Ohio State’s undergraduate neuroscience program) and Becca McDonald (now on the faculty of Washington and Jefferson College) for their invaluable assistance as I prepared portions of this book and related work for PowerPoint presentations at conferences.
Other contributors and supporters include the members of my family. This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, John Lowell Gibbs, the first great love of my life, with whom I first discovered the joy and deep connection of true dialogue (as well as the fun of trading puns and other half-witticisms). I also thank Jonathan Lowell Gibbs, Louise B. Gibbs (now deceased), Stephanie Gibbs Kamath, Sophia Gibbs Kim, Sung Clay Kim, Lea Queener (now deceased), Llewelyn Queener (now deceased), Carol Gibbs Stover, JohnAlexis Viereck, and Peter Viereck (now deceased). Lastly, I thank Valerie V. Gibbs, my life’s greatest love, my co-adventurer, my wife and partner in the most personal sense of “we” of all.
John C. Gibbs, Ph.D. (Harvard University, 1972), is Professor of Developmental Psychology at The Ohio State University. His work on moral judgment and cognitive distortion assessment and on interventions with antisocial youth has not only seen widespread use in the United States and Great Britain but has also been translated and adapted for use in France, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Spain, the Netherlands, and other countries. Dr. Gibbs and coauthors’ EQUIP intervention program won the 1998 Reclaiming Children and Youth Spotlight on Excellence Award. He has served as a member of the Ohio Governor’s Council on Juvenile Justice, as well as the Social Cognitive Training Study Group of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Division of Violence Prevention). He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. His previous books include Moral Maturity: Measuring the Development of Sociomoral Reflection (with coauthors Karen Basinger and Dick Fuller); The EQUIP Program: Teaching Youth to Think and Act Responsibly Through a Peer-Helping Approach (with coauthors Granville Bud Potter and Arnold P. Goldstein); and A Comprehensive Cognitive Behavioral Program for Offenders: Responsible Adult Culture (coauthored with Bud Potter, Molly Robbins, and Peter Langdon). In addition to his books, Dr. Gibbs has published (alone or with coauthors) more than 90 book chapters and articles pertaining to the topics involved in Moral Development and Reality.
