Moral Development in the Information Age

Families and schools must assume a leadership role in preparing youth for success in the emerging information age by teaching ethical online behavior in addition to academic skills. This paper presents a preliminary overview of moral development issues that are raised when young people interact in cyberspace. A preliminary classification system of Internet ethics issues that parents and educators must address includes (1) respect for property, (2) respect for territory and privacy, (3) respect for others and common courtesy, (4) respect for institution, and (5) respect for self. Based on preliminary analysis, there appear to be four factors that influence online behavior: (1) lack of affective feedback and remoteness of harm, (2) reduced fear of risk of detection and punishment, (3) a new environment with new rules, and (4) perceptions of social injustice and corruption. Moral development research explores moral reasoning, including cognitive-moral development and domain theory; moral motivation, including internal moral orientation; and moral control, including the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action and the theory of limited acceptable morality. This review of moral development research raises many questions including, ultimately, the question of whether humans, as a species, have the capacity to expand our moral reasoning, moral motivation, and moral control capabilities to deal with the complexities of the information age.