The Social Domain Approach to Children's Moral and Social Judgments
02 Oct 2013-pp 49-71
About: The article was published on 2013-10-02. It has received 247 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Social cognitive theory of morality & Moral disengagement.
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TL;DR: New research includes 'domain-specific' models that describe parents as flexibly deploying different practices depending on their goals, children's needs, and the types of behaviors towards which parenting is directed.
Abstract: For decades, parenting has been characterized in terms of broad global styles, with authoritative parenting seen as most beneficial for children's development. Concerns with greater sensitivity to cultural and contextual variations have led to greater specificity in defining parenting in terms of different parenting dimensions and greater consideration of the role of parenting beliefs in moderating links between parenting and adjustment. New research includes 'domain-specific' models that describe parents as flexibly deploying different practices depending on their goals, children's needs, and the types of behaviors towards which parenting is directed. These trends are described, and directions for future research are discussed.
185 citations
23 Mar 2015
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a brief review of the theories that provided the foundation for research over the past half-century and then reflect on the controversies and misconceptions that still exist.
Abstract: Origins and Development of Morality
Morality is a central aspect of social life and has been at the core of psychological theories for more than a century. The scientific study of morality poses enduring questions about how individual psychological needs for autonomy and attachment to groups and society can be met while also ensuring the integrity, dignity, and fair treatment of others. Drawing on philosophy, biology, anthropology, and sociology, developmental scientists have addressed these questions by studying the origins and acquisition of morality as well as the sources and nature of change. We provide a brief review of the theories that provided the foundation for research over the past half-century and then reflect on the controversies and misconceptions that still exist. We review current psychological research on the developmental roots of morality, morality and mental state knowledge, and moral judgments and reasoning. We also examine the various contexts, ranging from the family and peer groups to society, in which moral development occurs. The rich and growing literature on children's moral judgments has demonstrated that children's concepts of harm, resource allocation, fair and equal treatment of others, social inequities, and rights each develop from a very focused and narrow form in early childhood to their application to broader situational and cultural contexts. As they grow older, children become able to weigh and coordinate competing concerns in different contexts as they apply their moral judgments and emotions to social situations. We conclude with implications and directions for research. Throughout the chapter, we demonstrate how the study of morality has shed light on fundamental topics in developmental science, contributed novel methods, and discovered new knowledge about child development.
Keywords:
equality;
discrimination;
fairness;
family relationships;
intergroup attitudes;
justice;
moral emotions;
moral judgments;
moral neuroscience;
morality;
peer interactions;
prejudice;
rights;
theory of mind
175 citations
TL;DR: Children's decisions regarding the allocation of societal resources in the context of preexisting inequalities were investigated and children were increasingly aware of wealth status disparities between African Americans and European Americans, and judged a medical resource inequality between groups more negatively.
Abstract: Children's decisions regarding the allocation of societal resources in the context of preexisting inequalities were investigated. African American and European American children ages 5 to 6 years (n = 91) and 10 to 11 years (n = 94) judged the acceptability of a medical resource inequality on the basis of race, allocated medical supplies, evaluated different resource allocation strategies, and completed a measure of status awareness based on race. With age, children were increasingly aware of wealth status disparities between African Americans and European Americans, and judged a medical resource inequality between groups more negatively. Further, with age, children rectified the resource inequality over perpetuating it, but only when African American children were disadvantaged. With age, children also referenced rights when reasoning about their judgments concerning the disadvantaged African American group. When European American children were disadvantaged, children did not systematically allocate more resources to one group over another. The results are discussed in terms of social inequalities, disadvantaged status, moral judgments, and intergroup attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record
133 citations
Cites background from "The Social Domain Approach to Child..."
...However, denial of resources is considered a moral transgression in childhood and adulthood (Smetana et al., 2014; Turiel, 2006), and it is likely that the importance of adequate medical supplies for ensuring child wellbeing overpowered children’s tendency to distribute more resources to their…...
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...However, denial of resources is considered a moral transgression in childhood and adulthood (Smetana et al., 2014; Turiel, 2006), and it is likely that the importance of adequate medical supplies for ensuring child wellbeing overpowered children’s tendency to distribute more resources to their social ingroup....
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TL;DR: Balancing moral and social group concerns enabled individuals to rectify inequalities and ensure fair access to important resources regardless of racial group membership.
106 citations
Cites background from "The Social Domain Approach to Child..."
...Social domain theory has identified different categories of reasoning (moral, societal, and psychological) that individuals use when evaluating social events (Smetana et al., 2014; Turiel, 2006)....
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TL;DR: It was revealed that, with age, children incorporated the concerns for others' welfare and merit into their conceptions of fairness in a resource allocation context, and prioritized these concerns differently depending on whether they were allocating luxury or necessary resources.
Abstract: The present study investigated age-related changes regarding children's (N = 136) conceptions of fairness and others' welfare in a merit-based resource allocation paradigm. To test whether children at 3- to 5-years-old and 6- to 8-years-old took others' welfare into account when dividing resources, in addition to merit and equality concerns, children were asked to allocate, judge, and reason about allocations of necessary (needed to avoid harm) and luxury (enjoyable to have) resources to a hardworking and a lazy character. While 3- to 5-year-olds did not differentiate between distributing luxury and necessary resources, 6- to 8-year-olds allocated luxury resources more meritoriously than necessary resources. Further, children based their allocations of necessary resources on concerns for others' welfare, rather than merit, even when one character was described as working harder. The findings revealed that, with age, children incorporated the concerns for others' welfare and merit into their conceptions of fairness in a resource allocation context, and prioritized these concerns differently depending on whether they were allocating luxury or necessary resources. Further, with age, children weighed multiple moral concerns including equality, merit, and others' welfare, when determining the fair allocation of resources. (PsycINFO Database Record
106 citations
References
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TL;DR: Reactive aggression was uniquely related to expected ease in enacting aggression, lower verbal abilities, and hostile attributional biases, and most of these connections were mediated by adolescents' attention problems.
Abstract: Connections between adolescents’ social information processing (SIP), moral reasoning, and emotion attributions and their reactive and proactive aggressive tendencies were assessed. One hundred mostly African American and Latino 13- to 18-year-olds from a low-socioeconomic-status (SES) urban community and their high school teachers participated. Reactive aggression was uniquely related to expected ease in enacting aggression, lower verbal abilities, and hostile attributional biases, and most of these connections were mediated by adolescents’ attention problems. In contrast, proactive aggression was uniquely related to higher verbal abilities and expectations of more positive emotional and material outcomes resulting from aggression. Discussion focused on the utility of assessing both moral and SIP-related cognitions, and on the potential influence of low-SES, high-risk environments on these findings.
206 citations