ABSTRACT
Many moral and ethical values are ascribed to sport due to the fact that it is rule-based (e.g., Alderson and Crutchley 1990). Consequently, sport is often seen as the embodiment of ethical behavior (McFee 1998). This idealistic ascribing of moral meaning to sport is called sport ethos (Kuchler 1969). In many cases the terms “morality” and “ethics” are used interchangeably as they both refer to behavior that is judged as being either “right” or “wrong.” Morality refers to personal principles created and upheld by the individuals themselves. An individual’s moral code is usually stable and consistent across contexts but can change if the individual has a radical change in personal beliefs and/or values. Ethics are external standards, provided by institutions, groups, or a culture to which an individual belongs. Ethics are very consistent within a certain context but can vary greatly between contexts. Today ethics often refers to the systematic study of morality. In this chapter we will discuss moral development in sport, the relevance of moral reasoning for anti-doping prevention, and we will present novel findings from a training program aiming to increase young athletes’ moral reasoning in order to prevent doping.
