MORAL REASONING IN GIFTED ADOLESCENTS: COGNITIVE LEVEL AND SOCIAL VALUES |
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| Authors: | Ornella Andreani Dentici Adriano Pagnin |
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| Institution: | 1. Istituto di Psicologia dell'Università , p.zza Botta 6, 27100 PAVIA , Italy;2. Istituto di Psicologia dell'Universita , p.zza Botta 6, 27100 PAVIA , Italy |
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| Abstract: | In a population of 1141 students attending the last year of secondary school (age 17‐19) in three towns of North, Central and South Italy, who were tested using four ability tests, we studied responses to six moral dilemmas, comparing subjects of low, average and high ability by means of analysis of variance and cluster analysis. Two groups of very high (5 percent of the total sample) and extremely high (2 percent) students were individually interviewed in order to explore the motivation for their choices. The gifted showed, as expected, more responses at the formal level (greater choice of items concerning general and abstract principles, greater support for law and social contracts, more coherence), but in the average and lowest groups we found a more sentimental, humanitarian orientation, with a sympathetic attitude towards other people's feelings, which can constitute the base for a more intuitive, but not inferior morality. |
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