The research presented in this essay is grounded in Social Domain Theory. Research provides substantial evidence that children's social development is characterized by the formation of distinctly different systems of thought, including those in the moral, social-conventional, and personal domains. A main focus here is on morality, defined as…

Lawrence Kohlberg first published details of his research on the development of moral judgments in "Vita Humana" (later titled "Human Development"). Along with a series of other articles and essays, he greatly influenced research on moral development. He was instrumental in moving the field out of the narrow confines of analyses of psychological…

This research examined adolescents' judgments about lying to circumvent directives from parents or friends in the moral, personal, and prudential domains. One hundred and twenty-eight adolescents (12.1-17.3 years) were presented with situations in which an adolescent avoids a directive through deception. The majority of adolescents judged some…

Investigates whether children differentiate between the social-interactional, moral aspects of harm and the nonsocial, prudential aspects of harm. A total of 90 subjects 6, 8, and 10 years of age were administered an interview about two moral rules and one prudential rule. Three types of assessment were obtained: criterion judgments,…

Argues that contested meanings, multiple judgments, and conflicts are part of cultures and the individual's thoughts and actions. Contends that people make moral judgments that may affirm or contradict cultural norms and practices, and sometimes invoke concepts of welfare, justice, and rights. Notes that some key aspects of Baumrind's neo-Marxist…

Cultures include a combination of shared and contested understandings. Although individuals may identify with their culture, they are also critical of practices judged unfair. Cultural practices that privilege one group and restrict the practices of another are sources of conflict and change. (Author)

The relationship between moral judgment and moral actions as Kohlberg defined it is extended to include more comprehensive social psychological factors. (Author/BB)

Students in grades 1, 2, and 5 ranked moral transgressions as more wrong than conventional transgressions and rated moral rules as more important than conventional rules. The distinction between morality and convention on criterion judgments was made more comprehensively by older than younger children. Justifications differed by domains at all…

This critique of Nisan's (1987) study of morality and convention addresses methodological considerations for cross-cultural research on children's moral and conventional concepts. (PCB)

Two studies examined Amish-Mennonite, Dutch Reform Calvinist, and Conservative and Orthodox Jewish children's concepts of moral and nonmoral religious rules. It was found that the subjects differentiated between moral and nonmoral religious rules: judgments regarding moral issues were justified in terms of justice and human welfare considerations,…

Defends domain theory approach to children's moral development based on limitations of Piaget's original theory. Argues that Fowler's characterization of domain theory research omits important features and studies. Maintains that distinctions between morality and convention cannot be reduced to differences in perceptible harm and punishment; it is…

Findings of this experiment demonstrate the interdependence of reasoning and action in the development of morality. (Authors)

Aware that children conceive of different types of trust, a study examined 60 children's conception of trust. The subjects comprised three age groups: 6-7 years old, 8-9 years old, and 10-11 years old. Each subject was interviewed on the basis of three stories. The stories depicted a hypothesized violation of trust in a moral context (lying),…

Understanding parental influences and parent-adolescent relationships is difficult because individuals are involved in many activities and have varied goals. The chapters in this volume help address the complexities by focusing on variations in parental practices and domains of activities.

Argues that resistance and subversion are part of life and integral to development in most cultures. Notes that many theories of social and moral development do not account for resistance or view it as anti-social. Demonstrates that social conflict and resistance based on moral aims occur in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. (CAJ)