The Defining Problems Test measures a person’s morality and has been updated to have five questions. It monitors moral development over time and has three levels of morality based on psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s six stages.
The Defining Problems Test, often abbreviated as the DIT, is a test given to measure a person’s morality. Originally created in 1979, this test has since been rewritten so that scoring is more reliable. A person’s moral development changes over time and with education, and one of the primary purposes of definitive problem testing is to monitor a person’s morality as it changes throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The current version of the test has five questions that ask test takers to consider which of two choices is the morally right thing to do.
James Rest first developed the definition problem test in 1979. His original version of the test contained six moral dilemmas. Students would examine a dilemma, such as whether Heinz’s character should steal a drug from its inventor to save his dying wife, and determine which choice is morally correct. The test was designed to focus on the reasoning behind the choice, not the choice itself, so that test takers could conceivably fall anywhere on the morality scale, regardless of which choices they feel are right.
The current version of the definition problems test has only five questions. The test setup is the same as the original, and test takers are still asked to make choices about a difficult moral dilemma and then rationalize their decisions. After each dilemma, 12 statements are included so that test takers explain the reasoning that led them to make the choices they made.
There are three levels of morality a person can have when tested using the test of defining problems. These levels are divided into six stages, as defined by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. The first level is preconventional morality and indicates that a person is guided by self-preservation interests, such as choosing an action that will not have a negative effect on him or an action that will cause other people to dislike him. The second level is known as conventional morality and is driven by a desire to uphold and obey the law and to preserve social norms. The third level is post-conventional, and people who challenge this level of morality often make choices based on what they personally believe is right and wrong rather than what society tells them is right or wrong.
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