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Recent research on moral development has focused primarily on experimentally confirming the predictive and construct validity of Kohlberg's theory. The theory postulates a universal, invariant developmental sequence of three levels (each with 2 stages), ranging from immature forms of reasoning to increasingly more differentiated and integrated forms of reasoning. Studies concerning comprehension of and preferences for the stages of moral reasoning have found that many individuals comprehend moral reasoning at, below, and one stage above their own. However, most subjects evidence a preference for the highest stages of moral reasoning even when they cannot comprehend them.Two recent studies have investigated the effects of moral reasoning at levels above or below the individual's own level (Rothman, 1971;Turiel & Rothman, 1972). In these experiments subjects decided whether or not to continue taking prize money away from a confederate. The subjects received one moral argument for stopping and one for continuing. Turiel and Rothman (1972) found that subjects at Stages 2 and 3 chose to continue regardless of the moral level of the justifications. Stage 4 subjects chose to stop if this alternative was presented with reasoning above their own or to continue if this alternative was presented with reasoning above their own.The present study was designed to determine if the moral level of a justification and a person's level of moral reasoning would interact in affecting his subsequent altruism. We predicted that for subjects whose moral reasoning is predominantly at the lower stages, a curvilinear relation would exist between the level of justification and altruism. Altruism should increase from a Level 1 This article is based on a dissertation by the first author.Requests for reprints should be sent to

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The theory of “Hyphenated identity” (HI) argues that people living in complex political-social contexts construct HIs with various sub-identities. The University of Haifa (UH) is a meeting space and experience for people of different nationalities and religious backgrounds. Thus they live “on the hyphen”, between identities found in contrast vs. harmony. This study was initiated and carried out as part of a Cooperative Participatory Action Research (CPAR). Nineteen graduate students, all teachers in a multicultural society ridden with conflicts, were interviewed about their life stories, their family background and the development of their identity as shaping their personal and professional lives. At the end of the interview, they were asked to draw an Identity Drawing Map (IDM) and add an explanatory text. Finding indicated that many women transferred their complex identity in order to create a balanced and a challenge in their life; they became leaders in their communities and empower other women to follow them toward self actualization. The study’s contribution is in broadening the understanding of concepts of HI development, by analyzing the similarities and differences within each ethnic/national group. Since identity development influences significantly people life, we can learn about these processes. Using the creative methods of drawing identity fabricated a deeper understanding and emotional presentation of the person

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