Developmental orientations as measured by the Dakota Inventory of Student Orientations (DISO) are strong predictors of the social attitudes and commitments that college students make. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of social beliefs and commitments during the college years in relation to developmental orientations as measured by DISO (Lavelle & Rickord, 1999). Results supported Creative-Reflective scale scores as predictive of commitment to the more humanitarian issues such as race and womens rights, whereas Achieving-Social scores predicted environmental concern. Interestingly, Reliant scale scores were found to be negatively related to social commitment. Implications include interventions based on the strengths and weaknesses of each orientation and suggestions for further research.
Symposium Title: The Chinese Brain Mechanisms and Pedagogical Meta-Studies of Four Types of Social Beliefs
