New Beginnings: An Interactionist and Constructivist Approach to Early Moral Development

Dahl, Audun

doi:10.1159/000492801

Cited by 24 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…These cross‐cultural differences suggest that certain aspects of children's socialization influence beliefs about traits and their centrality to category structure and use, so children's beliefs would be expected to differ from adults' as much of their socialization has not been completed (Wellman & Miller, ). Young children's socialization also makes deontic obligations highly salient for social categories, with parents and caregivers intentionally teaching what people should and should not do (Dahl, ). Yet, although adults are unlikely to focus on explicit norms of other categories, such as animal kinds, younger children nonetheless view these categories in more normative terms (Foster‐Hanson & Rhodes, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normative Social Role Concepts in Early Childhood

Foster‐Hanson

Rhodes

2019

Cognitive Science

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The current studies (N = 255, children ages 4–5 and adults) explore patterns of age‐related continuity and change in conceptual representations of social role categories (e.g., “scientist”). In Study 1, young children's judgments of category membership were shaped by both category labels and category‐normative traits, and the two were dissociable, indicating that even young children's conceptual representations for some social categories have a “dual character.” In Study 2, when labels and traits were contrasted, adults and children based their category‐based induction decisions on category‐normative traits rather than labels. Study 3 confirmed that children reason based on category‐normative traits because they view them as an obligatory part of category membership. In contrast, adults in this study viewed the category‐normative traits as informative on their own (not only as a cue to obligations). Implications for continuity and change in representations of social role categories will be discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normative Social Role Concepts in Early Childhood

Foster‐Hanson

Rhodes

2019

Cognitive Science

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“…Children need to understand the consequences of different violations for others and the implications of wrongdoing for social relationships; moreover, some of these judgments involve abstract concepts (e.g., rules) and hypothetical situations (e.g., "Would it be wrong if $?"). This takes social experience as well as developing cognitive abilities (Dahl, 2018;Smetana et al, 2014Smetana et al, , 2018.…”

Section: Yoo and Smetanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinctions between moral and conventional judgments from early to middle childhood: A meta-analysis of social domain theory research.

Yoo¹,

Smetana²

2022

Developmental Psychology

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Understanding distinctions between morality and conventions is an important milestone in children’s moral development. The current meta-analysis integrated decades of social domain theory research (Smetana, 2006; Turiel, 1983) on moral and conventional judgments from early to middle childhood. We examined 95 effect sizes from 18 studies (2,707 children; Mage = 7.30 years; 51% females; 42% Whites). Along with these, effects from additional 28 studies were estimated with imputed correlations in a secondary analysis of 248 effect sizes from 46 studies (4,469 children; Mage = 7.34 years; 46% females; 32% Whites). Across all judgments, moral/conventional distinction effects were significant, positive, and moderate. Consistent with social domain theory definitions of morality, children evaluated moral transgressions as more wrong independent of authorities’ commands or rules than conventional transgressions and moral rules as more generalizable and inalterable than conventional rules. Moral transgressions also were seen as more unacceptable and more deserving of punishment than conventional transgressions. The aggregated effects were also significant for each type of judgment. However, effects were stronger for criteria considered definitional of the domains than for acceptability or punishment judgments, which are not considered criteria. Moreover, children made greater domain distinctions with age across all types of judgments. When examined separately, age moderated effects only for criterion judgments, not for acceptability or punishment judgments. Effects for distinctions also were moderated by the types of moral and conventional rules assessed. Thus, moral/conventional distinctions were found across early and middle childhood, but there was variability in children’s developing understanding.

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“…Consequently, younger children generally have more experience with physical aggression (as both victims and transgressors) than with relational aggression. This is particularly important because children actively construct moral concepts from the information they receive from their environments and daily experiences ( Dahl, 2018 ; Smetana et al, 2018 ). Younger children may view acts of physical aggression as more damaging to group harmony than relational aggression, especially since they prioritize the physical dimensions of friendship (e.g., Selman et al, 1977 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s Navigation of Contextual Cues in Peer Transgressions: The Role of Aggression Form, Transgressor Gender, and Transgressor Intention

et al. 2022

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When faced with transgressions in their peer groups, children must navigate a series of situational cues (e.g., type of transgression, transgressor gender, transgressor intentionality) to evaluate the moral status of transgressions and to inform their subsequent behavior toward the transgressors. There is little research on which cues children prioritize when presented together, how reliance on these cues may be affected by certain biases (e.g., gender norms), or how the prioritization of these cues may change with age. To explore these questions, 138 5- to 7-year-olds (younger children) and 8- to 10-year-olds (older children) evaluated a series of boy and girl characters who partook in physical or relational aggression with ambiguous or purposeful intent. Children were asked to provide sociomoral evaluations (i.e., acceptability, punishment, and intention attribution judgments) and social preferences. Transgressor gender only impacted children’s social preferences. Conversely, aggression form and transgressor intent shifted children’s sociomoral judgments: they were harsher toward physical transgressors with purposeful intent over those with ambiguous intent but made similar evaluations for relational transgressors regardless of intentionality. The present results suggest that gender is perhaps not uniformly relevant to children across all contexts, as other cues were prioritized for children’s sociomoral judgments. Since children likely have less familiarity with relational aggression compared to physical aggression, it follows that intent would only shift judgments about physical transgressors. This research provides insight about how children simultaneously navigate multiple cues in aggression contexts, which is likely reflective of their real-world experiences.

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New Beginnings: An Interactionist and Constructivist Approach to Early Moral Development

Cited by 24 publications

References 83 publications

Normative Social Role Concepts in Early Childhood

Normative Social Role Concepts in Early Childhood

Distinctions between moral and conventional judgments from early to middle childhood: A meta-analysis of social domain theory research.

Children’s Navigation of Contextual Cues in Peer Transgressions: The Role of Aggression Form, Transgressor Gender, and Transgressor Intention

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