THE SELF-PERCEPTION OF MORALITY AND MORAL REASONING IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The aim of this study was to examine the different aspects of self-perception of morality and moral reasoning in upper grades high school students considering the attractiveness of the enrolled program (four categories of attractiveness evaluated in terms of input grades and interest in enrollment).

The study involved 190 both male and female high school students. The following measuring instruments were used: TMR (The Test of Moral Reasoning, Proroković, 2016), four measures of the self-perception of different moral qualities and a questionnaire on general socio-demographic data.

The obtained results showed that there is no significant correlation between the index of moral reasoning and the self-perception of morality among participants, but significant differences were obtained in the index of moral reasoning as well as in the self-perception of moral qualities with regard to the attractiveness of the school curriculum that the students attend. Namely, the self-perception of morality is significantly higher for students who attend less attractive high school orientations while the index of moral reasoning is significantly lower. The explanation of this disproportion can be observed from different perspectives, one of which is that students with a relatively low level of moral reasoning are at the same time less critical in judging their own moral qualities (elevated results at the first stages of moral development towards Kohlberg were obtained in these students). It should be emphasized that the students of all orientations tend to overestimate their moral qualities in relation to their peers to a considerable extent (8-decile of theoretical normal distribution).