The Psychology of Moral Behaviour

by Derek Wright

Genres: Psychology

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 1971

Reviews

[David Mcdowell]

This was pretty interesting. An examination of the characteristics that make up what we call 'moral behaviour' and the psychology around them. One for expectant parents I would say, since most behavious seems to be set from an early age.

[Caity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this gem in one of my favourite second hand bookstores. I immediately noticed two things. One that the book was published in 1971 and second, there was a stamp on the first page that stated it was once owned by a ‘Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies’. As a university student studying psychology I was intrigued by two things, what was the theory back in the 70s and would this have been a radical book for a senior lecturer in religious studies? I had to find out.
The answer is yes this would have been radical to a senior lecturer in religious studies in that a lot of the empirical data throughout this novel shows that people who attend Church regularly versus Christians who don’t show no higher level of altruism, generosity or the ability to avoid temptation. Furthermore, it argues that the Church might be more likely to create authoritarian characters which is not the morality we want to see in society.
This novel is not radical to me, however, it goes over very mainstream psychological theories like Freud, Piaget, norms and altruism. However, I really enjoyed it. I felt it was a great refresher of areas I have learnt at University and even better it gave a little more depth to some things that were skimmed over in my course.
All around a 4 star read.

[Khaleed Ouafi-Zimmermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The why and wherefore we should establish universal/non-religious morals and law-abiding code of ethics.