Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-31
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

| Special Dispatch to The Star.
CLEVELAND. December 31.-A
| measuring rod of moral responsibility,
or ability to discriminate between right
and wrong, was presented to the
| American Association for the Advance
ment of Science today.
1t is based on the same principle as
the measurement OF intelligence &C
cording to age levels. The authors
Edward A, Lincoln OF Harvard Univer-
sity and Fred j. Shields of the Con-
necticut College for Women, demon
strs ted that moral responsibility may
var widely among persons of the same
intelligence, although there is some re-
lationShip between the two faculties.
They characterized It as an effort to
discover how far the individual has
developed in relation to the moral and
ethical standards OF the society in
which he lives" The present practice
of courts is to hold q person to full
moral responsibility II he has normal
intelligence.
Lincoln and Shields have devised a
test, already tried out on approximately
/ 900 persons, ranging from pre-school
children to college graduates, by which
they have established normal standards
for discrimination between right and
wrong for age groups from to 10.
Then this has been applied to delin-
quentS to determine the variations.
QHizzies for Swear Old.
The normal 8-year-old, for example,
should be able to rate In ordsr of wrong
ness stealing $40 from somebody's
pocketbook, killing a man by shooting
him on purpose, or fighting boy who
has thrown stone at you" He is also
asked some such question as what to do
If he has broken toy belonging to
nj q % q taxing
something which does not belong to
him. He is asked whether it is right
or wrong to tease a playmate, run
away from home, be afraid of the dark
or be boaStful"
From this point on the moral prob
lens increase in perplexity for each age
level At the 18-year level the sub
ject is asked to compare such offenses
as stealing from a stranger, from a
man on the public highway, or as
saulting a man by knocking him down
and breaking his arm.
In this way a responsibility quotient,
comparable to the I. @. for intelligence
tests, is given an individual BY giving
this test Lincoln and Shields concluded
tentatively that there is a gradual de-
velopnent of moral Judgment troni
childhood to maturity" They have not
been able to determine the exact age of
moral maturity, but conclude thai on
the average it is well above the six
tie nth year.
1--WE find." they reported, that there
pre- large numbers of boys and girls from
Is to II in high schools who do not
see any difference between character
and reputation, laziness and tdleness,
crime and sin, and who do not recog-
nize many other moral differences
which we generally take for granted
that they know. The word guilty has
nc meaning until a child is 10 or IL,
and many at these ages cannot give
any definition From IL to is the idea
becomes clearer and is then defined as
'one who commits a wrong found to
have done a crime or one who has
been found out After 10 there Is
further development of the concept.
Even at this age the concept is not al
ways clear and definite.
Environment and Training.
Environment and training have a
marked effect on the moral judgment
of bows and girls This appears espe-
cially in the reactions Of children OF
foreign parentage. One 12-year -old boy
put stealing before murder. When
asked if he really meant that stealing
was worse than murder. he replied,
Sure they killed a man next door 70
orr house last night A girl OF about
the same age rated cursing as worse
than murder Inquiry revealed that she
hac had considerable religious training
and her Judgment on this point was de-