Tolerance and Moral Reasoning Among Adolescents in Ireland

This research was undertaken in order to investigate the relationship between tolerance and moral reasoning among adolescents in Northern Ireland and in the Irish Republic. A study of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development led to the expectation that individuals who understood the ‘principled’ level of moral reasoning would be more tolerant than those who reasoned predominantly at the ‘conventional’ level. The subjects of this research, all senior students, completed a questionnaire which furnished data on their level of moral reasoning, their tolerance of outgroups, and in addition, on selected personal, demographic and educational variables expected to be associated with moral reasoning and tolerance. The findings supported the hypothesis that students who reasoned at a ‘principled’ level of moral reasoning would be more tolerant than those who reasoned predominantly at the ‘conventional’ level. Also, as expected, students’ participation in discussion of controversial political, social and moral issues was related to both moral reasoning and tolerance. The results of the study underscore the importance of recognizing moral education as a precursor of tolerance, and of incorporating the discussion of controversial issues into schools’ curricula.