USING MORAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL REASONING AS PREDICTORS OF PREJUDICE

Regression analyses indicated that a sample of American students who w ere humanitarian-egalitarian in their outlook, who possessed a high le vel of education, who were less supportive of the Protestant Ethic, an d who employed a high percentage of relativism in their decision makin g were more likely to have positive attitudes toward minorities than t hose not possessing such attributes. Age proved to be a predictor of n egative attitudes toward minorities. The findings help provide a ratio nale for further investigation of the relationship between moral and e pistemological reasoning as well as for implementation of moral educat ion programs as means to reduce negative racial attitudes.