the moral reasoning of student athletes and athletic training students

only a small part. When an individual is faced with a moral decision he or she will progress
through a reasoning process in determining the course of action. This cognitive process is when
the moral reasoning, determining what is right, why it is right and the socio-moral principles that
underlie what is right and why it is right (Kohlberg, 1981). This thinking process is not automatic
and, according to researchers in the field of cognitive moral development, can be altered.
Gibbs (1993) emphasizes cognition, described by Rest (1994) as the thinking process and
the representations by which people construct reality and meaning as the source of moral
motivation. Gibbs states that cognitive development theory began with the research of Jean
Piaget. According to Piaget (1932), the essence of mature morality is fairness and justice based
on interaction with others such as cooperating, sharing and competing (Gibbs, 1993). According
to Gibbs, Piaget acknowledges that early stages of justice are obviously less mature. For
example, such justifications as, “He hit me first,” and “Eye for an eye” are considered crude
equality (Gibbs, 1993, p. 28). Piaget acknowledges the trend from superficial (physical) to
intentions in the process to justice. (Gibbs, 1993; Piaget, 1932) Piaget was the first to establish a
pattern of moral development from non-moral to heteronomous and finally to autonomous. He
argued that “The rule of justice is a sort of immanent condition of social relationships or a law
governing their equilibrium” (Piaget, 1932, p. 32). According to Gibbs, “Heteronomous
declarations may be readily abandoned in the absence of adults, where egocentric impulses or
desire are more salient than adult constraints.” (Gibbs, 1993, p. 30) Autonomous is a
developmental moral level of cooperation and rational rules (Piaget, 1932).
Rest (1994) gives much background information into the theory and research of moral
development in a book called Moral Development in the Professions. According to Rest, in the
early 1950’s most people held a socialization view of moral development that used conformity to
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