At the heart of positive school climate are strong relationships. Schools with positive climates have students and staff who are caring, respectful, and committed to their communities, both their immediate communities (e.g., school and neighborhood) and the broader world. These practices become part of the fabric of the school, permeating day to…

Emotion socialization begins within the family setting and extends outward as children transition into expanded social worlds. Children contribute to their socialization from the first years of life, so the dynamics between parents and children are reciprocal in nature. Because socialization influences are best inferred from patterns that unfold…

The present study tested the hypothesis of the cognitively competent but morally insensitive bully. On the basis of teacher and peer ratings, 212 young elementary school children were selected and categorized as bullies, bully-victims, victims, and prosocial children. Children's perspective-taking skills were assessed using theory-of-mind tasks,…

Considers how forgiveness is learned and what developmental features it has in common with other prosocial activities. Maintains that viewing forgiveness within a moral developmental framework does not consider its complex nature nor address related issues such as damage severity, restoring relationships, empathy, or altruism. Explores these areas…

The effects of rewards and expectations of future rewards on sharing were examined with 180 Israeli boys at three age levels (ages 6-7, 9-10, and 12-13). A relation between moral judgment and behavior was found. (BRT)

Over one year, mothers observed the responses of their one-year-old children to distresses the children caused and witnessed in others. Children's prosocial behaviors, and reparative behaviors after they had caused distress, increased in frequency over the year. These behaviors were accompanied by changes in self-recognition. (BC)

Aims to create awareness in early childhood professionals of the factors that contribute to emerging morality by suggesting ways to provide a developmentally appropriate social environment. (ET)

Some character education programs are based on assumptions about children and how they learn that may undermine camp programs' long-term objectives for children. Key elements to consider are the assumptions made about human nature and children; how program structures like competition or cooperation influence character; whether kids are involved in…

Examined the emotional reactions of toddlers to two mishaps. Children's reactions varied along two dimensions: tension and frustration and concerned reparation. Mishaps elicited more negative emotions than did free play, and most toddlers attempted to correct the mishap. Findings indicate that children's styles of emotional response to mishaps may…

There is growing concern that early childhood educators are not giving adequate attention to promoting their students' social development. This paper discusses the social developmental needs of young children, the importance of early intervention, and possible ways that early childhood educators can nurture healthy social skills through the school…

The Child Development Project (CDP) was designed to enhance the development of prosocial characteristics in school children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It was developed and evaluated in a school district (San Ramon) in the San Francisco, California area. The features of the program include: (1) an instructional approach that enhances…

Examines changes in patterns of prosocial motivation between grades 2 and 12 in samples from West Germany, Poland, Italy, and the United States. Uses a questionnaire to assess within-subject preference for 5 prosocial motives: hedonism, self-interest, conformity, task orientation, and other-orientation. (MW)

This computer printout is an extensive bibliography of books and journal articles concerned with moral development. Each item is accompanied by letter codes indicating subject population-preschool, preschool-elementary, elementary, elementary-high school, high school, high school-college, college, college-post college, combination and infrahuman.…

The Prosocial Attitude Blank (PAB) was designed to assess interpersonal values and ethical awareness of elementary school children. PAB was administered to 405 elementary students as one component of the evaluation of an intervention program designed to reduce interpersonal conflicts, increase literacy skills, and enhance children's ethical…

This book is the first volume of a collection of papers from the Seventh Interdisciplinary Conference on Piagetian theory and its implications for the helping professions social work and psychological services. More than 40 papers are included. Areas explored in the papers include development of prosocial behavior in children; the effect of…