Moral Motivation from Childhood to Early Adulthood*

In the following, I will address the development of one aspect of moral development, the development of moral motivation. Moral motivation refers to the concerns and motives underlying moral actions (e.g., reasons for “why” one should follow moral rules). Data from the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Ontogenesis of Individual Competencies (the LOGIC study) allow tracing the development of moral motivation from childhood to early adulthood. In this chapter I will rst specify the research questions, and then summarize the measurement procedures used in early childhood at ages 4, 6, and 8 and ndings on children’s understanding of moral rules and on the types of concerns motivating conformity that have been published (Nunner-Winkler, 1998, 1999). Next, I will describe the measurement procedures used in adolescence and early adulthood at ages 18 and 23 and will present longitudinal analyses that concern the distribution of strength of moral motivation and the stability of interindividual differences. I will conclude with an exploration of the factors affecting differences in stability.