Moral principles : can college students identify the principles in moral stories? : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

College students read four Aesop stories and were asked to identify the moral principle in the story. Stories were manipulated for difficulty and familiarity. Including or not including a list containing definitions of moral principles manipulated information available to students. Overall, it was found that almost half of the students could successfully identify the moral principles in the four stories. Results indicated that story familiarity helps students identify the moral principle. The list containing definitions of moral principles helped students identify the moral principle for all stories except easy familiar stories. The list of definitions did not help students identify the moral principle in the easy familiar condition. A significant interaction between story difficulty and story familiarity indicated that easy, familiar stories were considered easiest and that difficult, unfamiliar stories were considered most difficult. These and additional results are interpreted to suggest a failing in moral education today and the need for reform in moral education.