Doing What Comes Morally

The cognition/conduct problem is outlined, as it arises in cognitive-developmental moral theory. A model of the connection between stage of moral reasoning and behaviour is developed, involving two separate steps, from reasoning to judgments, and from judgments to behaviour. The current unsatisfactoriness of cognition/conduct studies is due to the failure to distinguish these two. A closer examination of the role of moral reasoning suggests three ways in which reasoning stage might affect behaviour, and the implications for cognitive-developmental programmes of moral education are discussed. It is concluded that future research must take more account of the detailed connections between cognition and conduct, in particular the relationship between the form of moral reasoning and the content of moral judgments.