About: Moral intelligence

Moral intelligence is the capacity to understand right from wrong and to behave based on the value that is believed to be right (similar to the notion of moral competence). Moral intelligence was first developed as a concept in 2005 by Doug Lennick and Fred Kiel, Ph.D. Much of the research involved with moral intelligence agrees that this characteristic is ability-based, rather than trait-based. Therefore, moral intelligence is seen as a skill that can be further developed with practice. Beheshtifar, Esmaeli, and Moghadam (2011) claim that moral intelligence is the “’central intelligence’ for all humans.” It is considered a distinct form of intelligence, independent to both emotional and cognitive intelligence.