This paper takes inspiration from Books III and IV of the Nicomachean Ethics, which discuss the ways in which the student of virtue can go wrong with respect to different vices. It uses this discussion to draw some conclusions about Aristotelian habituation. I will argue that habituation is an appropriate learning strategy for many kinds of…

In the context of the recent revival of virtue ethics, the notion of character formation under the rational guidance of Aristotle's notion of "phronesis," or practical wisdom, has been exalted as the principal aim of moral education. However, this is not unproblematic insofar as the promotion of Aristotelian "phronesis" seems…

Moral disengagement is a cognitive mechanism that seeks to avoid the feeling of guilt in the face of transgressive behaviors and seems to be present in behaviors such as cyberbullying, cybergossip or bullying in adolescence. Few studies have explored this connection in the primary school years, even though gossip, bullying and cyberbullying are…

Humility is widely regarded as a moral excellence and telos, hence, openly inculcated-instructed. Character education in and for humility, however, sits uncomfortably against today's pedagogical maxims such as self-esteem and self-assertiveness. This article looks into this and other tensions from the perspective of humility as experience…

Middle childhood seems to be crucial for the emergence of a moral identity, that is, an evaluative stance of how important it is for someone's sense of self to be moral. This study investigates the effects of moral identity on the neural processing of moral content in 10-year-old children. Participants were presented with scenes portraying…

Evaluating other people's moral character is a crucial social cognitive task. However, the cognitive processes by which people seek out, prioritize, and integrate multiple pieces of character-relevant information have not been studied empirically. The first aim of this research was to examine which character traits are considered most important…

Effects of cuteness-perception on individual cognition, emotion, behavior have significant implications for moral education. On the one hand, cuteness perception will make individuals think that moral violations are more serious and lead to tougher moral judgments; on the other hand, cuteness perception can activate moral emotions such as…

The current study examined relations between distinct aspects of moral functioning, and their cognitive and emotional correlates, in preschool age children. Participants were 171 typically developing 3- to 6-year-olds. Each child completed several tasks, including (a) moral tasks assessing both performance of various moral actions and evaluations…

As a desired outcome of education, ethical thinking has roots in philosophy, developmental psychology, and political movements that advocate for developing knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions beyond those associated with traditional school subjects. Economists, business leaders, and educators have long advocated for preparing students for an…

This study contributes to a developmental approach focusing on emotions as being of key significance in explaining the Happy Victimizer pattern (HV pattern) among adults. Based on findings from our own research on moral emotions within the Happy Victimizer paradigm, we claim that a purely cognitive approach to explain the HV is overly narrow.…

For a service-learning course focusing on poverty, students from a Hong Kong university took a 12-day trip to engage in various poverty alleviation services in Cambodia. This course was border-crossing on five dimensions: (1) urban versus rural, (2) developed versus developing world location, (3) classroom versus practical and experiential, (4)…

In this essay, Mark Jonas argues that there are three broadly held misconceptions of Plato's philosophy that work against his relevance for contemporary moral education. The first is that he is an intellectualist who is concerned only with the cognitive aspect of moral development and does not sufficiently emphasize the affective and conative…

Social-emotional learning (SEL) and character education are important components of adolescent development. In this study, we evaluated a randomized controlled trial of CharacterStrong, a curriculum that combines SEL and character education that included 1609 students and 242 teachers across 14 schools. This study applied baseline target…

The moral reasoning development of college freshmen was investigated over the course of a semester. Participants were tested at the beginning of the semester and at the end of the semester and were either in a course that required active engagement in critical thinking (e.g. perspective-taking, reflection) about social and political issues or in a…

The authors of this volume showcase the unique insights that can be gained from examining the lives of exemplars. For example, as individuals who stand out for living reflective, ethical lives, exemplars can reveal the human capacity to behave in exceptional ways despite most people's tendency to not exhibit these behaviors. The authors also…