As classrooms continue to diversify, there is an increasing need to understand children's inclusive behaviours and moral reasoning. Research shows that epistemic beliefs (beliefs about knowing and knowledge) can influence reasoning for adults, but we know little about this relationship in younger children or how classroom contexts relate to…

Children and adolescents evaluated group inclusion and exclusion in the context of generic and group-specific norms involving morality and social conventions. Participants ("N" = 381), aged 9.5 and 13.5 years, judged an in-group member's decision to deviate from the norms of the group, whom to include, and whether their personal…

In three experiments involving 207 preschoolers and 28 adults, we investigated the extent to which young children base moral judgments of actions aimed to protect others on utilitarian principles. When asked to judge the rightness of intervening to hurt one person in order to save five others, the large majority of children aged 3 to 5 years…

In order to unify two major theories of moral judgment, a novel task is employed which combines elements of Kohlberg's stage theory and of the theory of information integration. In contrast to the format of Kohlberg's moral judgment interview, a nonverbal and quantitative response which makes low demands on verbal facility was used. Moral…

Longstanding debates about whether morality is best defined in terms of emotions or judgments have been recently rekindled. In this essay, we review recent approaches from social psychology and moral neuroscience that have emphasized emotions and intuitions as central to morality. We assert that the results of developmental science research on…

The happy victimizer demarks a phenomenon in which there is a discrepancy between young children's understanding of moral rules and their attribution of positive emotions to wrongdoers. In this paper, we argue why developmental transitions in this aspect of emotion understanding have both theoretical and applied value. First, the research…

This presentation: (1) outlines three educational approaches to moral development; (2) explains Piaget's stages of moral judgment; (3) reviews Piaget's ideas about the development of children's concepts of justice; and (4) discusses comments by contemporary educators concerning moral education and its implications. Outlined in Part I are character…

Studied the development of moral judgment in 208 Dutch, Surinamese, Moroccan, Turkish, and mixed-ethnicity students from Dutch secondary schools of different types. Moroccan and Turkish students showed a lag in moral development, perhaps due to their parents' societal backgrounds. (SLD)

Adults must be willing to accept attitudes of criticism and rebellion as serious and valuable components of children's literature, but they should also expect a good children's book to make some sort of moral evaluation of those attitudes. For example, while one may respect the candor with which "Hansel and Gretel" depicts the struggle of children…

Alice Miller, the former psychoanalyst, has gained world renown for her controversial and provocative writings on child rearing. Miller contends that traditional child rearing practices--in schools, ecclesiastical settings, and the family--consist of physical and emotional cruelty that she labels "poisonous pedagogy." According to…

Proposes a cognitive mechanism that makes forgiveness possible. Revises Piaget's theory that ideal reciprocity is the underlying cognitive operation that makes understanding and appreciation of forgiveness possible. Draws on modern philosophical inquiry, empirical study, and theory to argue instead that abstract identity provides--philosophically…

The role of narrative and dramatic processes in mediating and shaping both moral judgment and moral action, two processes central to moral development, is examined. The notion of the "moral audience," in which individuals seem to rehearse, review, and redefine their moral actions, is proposed and illustrated. (LB)

Discusses Gilligan's explanation of the distinction between justice and care. Describes how she contrasts the two notions and explores the possibility of encompassing care within Piagetian developmental theory. Reviews Gilligan's position on justice and care as different forms of moral judgment. Examines different interpretations of universality…

Reviews a book which describes the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form. Compares the test to that of Lawrence Kohlberg, pointing out benefits and drawbacks of the test, and concludes the test represents a notable advance in the measurement of Kohlberg's first four stages of moral development. (TM)

Investigated how children's decisions about allocating money to story characters were affected by the relationship (friends versus strangers) among the characters. Children's rationales for their decisions showed that equality was the most salient principle for decisions at all ages and that older children provided rationales based on benevolence…