Although many people believe that this is a barren time for moral leadership in this country, in Some Do Care, Anne Colby and William Damon show that moral heroes do exist. Drawing on in-depth interviews they offer a revealing look into the lives of twenty-three Americans who have provided exemplary moral leadership. Some Do Care traces the lives and goals of these dedicated people from their first moral awakening in childhood to the wisdom and enduring moral commitment of their later years. Drawing on these lives, the authors offer new insights into the role of faith and the importance of...

This text charts the course of moral development in children, and explains the critical role of adult influence in these important stages.

What does it mean to carry out "good work"? What strategies allow people to maintain moral and ethical standards at a time when market forces wield unprecedented power and work life is being radically altered by technological innovation? These are the questions at the heart of this important collaboration by three leaders in psychology. Enlivened with stories of real people facing hard decisions, Good Work offers powerful insight into one of the most important issues of our time and, indeed, into the future course of science, technology, and communication.

Greater Expectations is the book that exposed the low standards that children are confronted with in our homes, our schools, and throughout our culture. It exploded many of the misconceptions about children and how to raise them, including the cult of self-esteem, "child-centered" learning, and other overly indulgent practices that have been watering down the education and guidance that we are providing our young people. It disclosed how the self-centered ethic is damaging our youth. Greater Expectations started America talking about these issues and about how young people need...

This seminal book by this century's most important development psychologist chronicles the evolution of children's moral thinking from preschool to adolescence, tracing the concepts of lying, cheating, adult authority, punishment, and responsibility, and offering important insights into how they learn--or fail to learn--the difference between right and wrong.

Noble Purpose draws upon religious, philosophical and literary writings to show how humans in many cultures and historical epochs have pursued noble purposes by answering God's call as each hears it. Noble purpose can be pursued both in heroic acts and in everyday behaviour.

Drawing on the revelatory results of a landmark study, William Damon -- one of the country's leading writers on the lives of young people, whose book Greater Expectations won the Parents' Choice Award -- brilliantly investigates the most pressing issue in the lives of youth today: why so many young people are "failing to launch" -- living at home longer, lacking career motivation, struggling to make a timely transition into adulthood, and not yet finding a life pursuit that inspires them.

His groundbreaking study shows that about one-fifth of youth today are thriving -- highly...

This important book provides a comprehensive look, from a developmental perspective, of how children and adolescents come to understand themselves during the first two decades of life.

The author argues that we are failing to prepare today's young people to be responsible American citizensto the detriment of their life prospects and those of liberty in the United States of the future. He identifies the problemsthe declines in civic purpose and patriotism, crises of faith, cynicism, self-absorption, ignorance, indifference to the common goodand shows that our disregard of civic and moral virtue as an educational priority is having a tangible effect on the attitudes, understanding, and behavior of large portions of the youth in our country today."

Cynicism often seems a smarter choice than idealism. There are reasons for this. Politicians have disappointed us time and again; trusted institutions have proven to be self-serving and corrupt; hopes for lasting world peace repeatedly have been dashed; and social inequities persist and increase, unabated by even the grandest of charitable efforts. It is now considered foolish to think that people can be counted on to rise above their narrow self-interests to serve the broader good, or to tell the truth if it does not reflect well on the self. Supporting this bleak view of the human condition...