Directory

Sherblom, Stephen A.

Biography

Dr. Stephen A. Sherblom has a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University, a Masters in Personality and Social Psychology from Harvard University, and a B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts. Before coming to Lindenwood to work in the doctoral program, he taught at the University of Missouri, and completed a post-doctoral appointment at Washington University in St. Louis.

Awards

Awarded - Top Ten Most Downloaded Articles in Journal of Moral Education 2012 and 2013:

 

Sherblom, S.A. (2012) What develops in moral development?: A model of moral sensibility.  Journal of Moral Education 41:1, 117-142 

 

 Summa Cum Laude, University of Massachusetts, June 1987

 

 University of Massachusetts Philosophy Department Award for Excellence, June 1987

 

Research Interests

My research and writing interests cluster around moral development - moral education, character development, ethics, moral psychology, positive psychology, and moral identity. I am involved with a group of scholars focusing on Intellectual Virtues and their role in education. Last fall I presented at the Association for Moral Education on the place of In-groups / Out-groups in moral deliberation. At next November's moral development conference I will be presenting on the uses of complexity thinking in conceptualizing the developing moral self.

 

All of these interests come together in a writing project I am just beginning. This book length treatment will lay out for readers the place of human connection and love in human evolution, its current position in human nature and the structure of our needs, and its connection to our ethics and moral development. Philosophers have traditionally excluded the ethical teachings of Jesus from the study of ethics because, they argued, it is mixed up with or even based in theology. I am developing the argument that there are a viable ethics of love there regardless of theological commitments, especially when seen in light of our evolutionary past and scientific understanding of human nature.

Teaching Interests

In my teaching I focus on educational research and research design.

 

I teach Capstone II (EDA 77000), the second course in our three course research series. In this course students use a Prospectus, a form asking detailed questions about their doctoral study design. Students are assisted in this process through feedback from the professor, consultation with their Doctoral Dissertation Committee Chair, and brainstorming sessions such as our CORD Meetings (Conversations On Research Design) students are assisted in designing a sound proposal.

 

I also teach EDA 76800, Qualitative Research Methods for Education, which explores various qualitative data-gathering techniques, forms of analysis, and write-up. In this course students get first-hand experience with each technique - doing observations, designing a survey and questionnaire, designing and completing a focus group, and conducting an interview. All of the techniques will be used to collect data around a single Research Question such that students will also get experience analyzing the data and presenting it in written form as a final project.

Selected Publications

(Under review) Sherblom, S.A. - Complexity and Dynamic Systems in Social Science: A path for moral psychology?

Journal of Philosophy and Psychology

 

Sherblom, S.A. (2012) What develops in moral development?: A model of moral sensibility.  Journal of Moral Education 41:1, 117-142

 

Sherblom, S.A. (2008). The legacy of the ‘care challenge’: re-envisioning the outcome of the justice-care debate. Journal of Moral Education 37 (1) pp. 81-98.

 

Sherblom, S.A., Bahr, M.W. (2008). Homosexuality and normality: Basic knowledge and practical considerations for school consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 18 (1) pp. 81-100.

 

Sherblom, S.A., Marshall, J., Sherblom, J.C. (2006). The relationship between school climate and math and reading achievement. Journal of Research in Character Education 4, (1&2) pp. 19-31.

 

Berkowitz, M.W., Sherblom, S.A., Bier, M.C. & Battistich, V. (2006). Educating for positive youth development. In M. Killian and J. Smetana (Eds.) The Handbook of Moral Development, pp. 683-701, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

 

Berkowitz, M.W. & Sherblom, S.A. (2004). Fairness: Justice & care reasoning. In M. Seligman & C. Peterson (Eds.), Character Strengths and Virtues: a handbook and classification, pp. 391-412, Oxford University Press & American Psychological Association.

 

Sherblom, S.A. (2003). Issues in conducting ethical research in Character Education. Journal of Research in Character Education 1, (2) pp. 107-128.

 

 

Presentations

In-groups and Out-groups: who gets to be under the moral umbrella? Paper presented to the Association for Moral Education, October 2013 Montreal, Canada. Association for Moral Education. 

 

Supporting students through research courses (with Graham Weir & Sherrie Wisdom). September 20-21, 2013. Presented at the Research to Practice Conference, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO.

 

Tapestries of Character: Highlighting intellectual virtues. June 21-22, 2013. Educating for Intellectual Virtues Conference, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles CA.

 

Symposium on Dynamic Systems and Complexity in Moral Psychology (organizer); Presenting Paper: Complexity and the social sciences: A path for moral psychology? Association for Moral Education Conference - San Antonio, Texas November 8-11, 2012.

 

The conundrum of teacher candidate dispositions. (With Dr. Cynthia Bice)