Does Moral Judgment Development Reduce to Political Attitudes or Verbal Ability? Evidence Using the Defining Issues Test

Recent critics of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) suggest that moral judgment development as currently measured is neither developmental nor moral. Instead, scores on the DIT are claimed to be the result of political attitudes or verbal ability. In making such claims, these critics raise the possibility that the validity of the DIT is suspect as well as the construct it purports to measure. We begin our response with an overview of the various claims that DIT scores reduce to political attitudes or verbal ability. Then, a relevant sample of the DIT literature is summarized in order to assess the degree to which relationships between DIT scores and criterion variables typically used to support the validity of the DIT can be explained by political attitudes or verbal ability. This summary suggests that moral judgment development as measured by the DIT provides a unique source of information that cannot be explained by general/verbal ability or political attitudes.