James Rest

James Rest was a professor with the Department of Educational Psychology for the University of Minnesota. In 1982 he helped formally establish the Center for the Study of Ethical Development along with colleagues Muriel Bebeau, Darcia Narvaez and Steve Thoma. Some of his contributions to his field have been that of formulating the theory and methodology of the Defining Issues Test, a component model of moral development. This model built off postconventional theories of Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of moral development, an approach he called 'Neo-Kohlbergian'.

James Rest passed away in 1999, his work continued at the Center for the Study of Ethical Development by his peers and colleagues.