Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, Volume 51

"Moral Motivation through the Life Span" is the fifty-first volume in the "Nebraska Symposium on Motivation" series, the longest continuously running symposium in the field of psychology. This work focuses on moral development theory and research, an area of academic study that began early in the twentieth century but has never before been addressed by the Symposium. What is morality, such theorists ask, and what exactly makes a 'moral person'? The contributors to this volume are of diverse theoretical orientations and take different stances on a number of major themes: what motivates moral behavior; are there certain universal moral values, or are such values always subjective; does an individual's will or an individual's environment play a greater role in determining moral conduct; and, what influence can we attribute to spirituality. Finally, the contributors explore the practical applications of their research on moral motivation: what implications do such theories have for child-rearing or our educational system; and how do we raise the next generation to be empathetic toward their fellow human beings. Gustavo Carlo is a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the recipient of a distinguished research award from the American Psychological Association and the John Templeton Foundation. Carolyn Pope Edwards is Willa Cather Professor and a professor of psychology and of family and consumer sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the coauthor of "Ngecha: A Kenyan Community in a Time of Rapid Social Change" (Nebraska 2004) and the co-editor of "Bambini: The Italian Approach to Infant-Toddler Care".