Saints, and the Rest of Us: Broadening the Perspective on Moral Identity Development

Wainryb, Cecilia; Pasupathi, Monisha

doi:10.1159/000437174

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Earlier, we noted that the longer memory horizons and more developed sense of self of older children mean that the impact of harmful exchanges require more psychological management in order to forgive. Those same capacities also may make it possible for them to make more clear‐eyed assessments of situations in which letting go and forgiving are not warranted or in their best interests; in such instances, non‐forgiveness is evaluated more favorably or as justifiable—a shift that links to other arenas where adolescents begin to manage complex tradeoffs between relational obligations and personal concerns (Wainryb & Pasupathi, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To err is human: Forgiveness across childhood and adolescence

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined children's and adolescents' narrative accounts and evaluations of an instance when they forgave a peer and an instance when they did not forgive, as well as their definitions of what it means to forgive. The sample included 100 participants in three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year olds). Regardless of age, forgiveness and non‐forgiveness accounts differed in interpersonal features, such as how they responded when hurt and whether the peer apologized. The psychological features of the experiences involving their own thoughts and feelings also distinguished between events that were forgiven and those that were not, but did so for 16‐year olds and, sometimes, for 11‐year olds, but never for 7‐year olds. The distinct ways in which younger and older children narrated their experiences also were reflected in their evolving definitions of what it means to forgive, though children's definitions revealed aspects of their thinking not captured in their narratives. Finally, children at all ages judged forgiving favorably but, with age, their evaluations of not forgiving became less negative. These findings challenge the narrow conceptual and methodological lenses through which forgiveness had been examined, and underscore meaningful age differences in the ways children make sense of and evaluate forgiveness and non‐forgiveness.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To err is human: Forgiveness across childhood and adolescence

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The vast majority of configurations over the entire age range involved understandable perpetration combined with various kinds of agency construction from a victim perspective (20 of the 30 cases). Cases where perpetrator narratives were incomprehensible typically involved pre‐adolescent youth (4 of 6 cases), supporting a role for perpetrator experiences in the development of moral agency (Pasupathi & Wainryb, ; Wainryb & Pasupathi, ). In a typical example, one pre‐adolescent described being hurt when her friend publically evaluated her work as mediocre while praising another classmate’s work, but did not articulate any sense of why this might have occurred.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Although this landscape of interpersonal harm includes major traumas and serious transgressions (e.g., Wainryb, ), it is dominated far more by everyday slings and arrows (Baumeister, Stilman, & Wotman, ; Wainryb, Brehl, & Matwin, ; Wainryb, Komolova, & Brehl, ). Through experiencing and narrating these harms, from both perspectives, people develop a sense of themselves and others as moral agents (Pasupathi & Wainryb, ; Wainryb & Pasupathi, ). Moral agency consists of the ways in which people construct relationships between actions and the psychological states that gave rise to those actions (Pasupathi & Wainryb, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a configuration allows for acknowledging harm, and for seeing that harm in understandable ways, and ultimately for self‐ and other‐forgiveness. This configuration does not rest on not harming people or not being harmed, because interpersonal conflict and harm are unavoidable aspects of daily existence (Wainryb & Pasupathi, ; Wainryb et al, ), but enables mutual understanding and forgiveness, thus reflecting an important developmental achievement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

When I hurt others, and when I get hurt: Integrating victim and perpetrator experiences of harm into a sense of moral agency

Pasupathi

Wainryb

2018

Social Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a social world, occasionally we all will harm others, as well as be harmed. Previous research has focused largely on how perpetration and victimization events are distinct rather than on how they might be integrated with one another, jointly shaping moral agency. We report on an exploratory qualitative analysis of narratives about perpetration and victimization. Our sample included 30 participants divided evenly by gender and age (ages 11-12, 16-17, and 19-26). Our aims were: (a) to identify potential forms of integration in moral agency across perpetration and victimization; (b) to explore developmental paths in integration; and (c) to examine forms of integration that were not tied directly to the construction of moral agency.We found three frequent integration patterns: harm was similarly understandable in perpetrator and victim narratives; harm was similarly incomprehensible in perpetrator and victim narratives; and harm was understandable in perpetration narratives but incomprehensible in victim narratives. Other forms of integration suggestive of how diminished moral agency can be reclaimed via narrative also were identified. K E Y W O R D S identity, moral development, narrative | 821 PASUPATHI And WAInRYB

show abstract

“…Second, in the scholarship on the relationship between religious teachings/commitment and misconduct, the spotlight has largely been on Western monotheistic religions and its punitive supernatural systems. Although non-religious people's moral attitude and behaviors can be drawn from their experiences and interactions with religious others (Sumerau and Cragun, 2016), the formulation of moral identity is a complex process involving conceptualization of the self over different developmental stages (Wainryb and Pasupathi, 2015). As such, one needs not define religion merely as a "belief in spiritual beings" but should include the in-between spaces of spirit and non-spirit (E. B. Tylor as cited in Day et al (2016)).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

On how religions could accidentally incite lies and violence: folktales as a cultural transmitter

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Folklore has a critical role as a cultural transmitter, all the while being a socially accepted medium for the expressions of culturally contradicting wishes and conducts. In this study of Vietnamese folktales, through the use of Bayesian multilevel modeling and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, we offer empirical evidence for how the interplay between religious teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) and deviant behaviors (lying and violence) could affect a folktale's outcome. The findings indicate that characters who lie and/or commit violent acts tend to have bad endings, as intuition would dictate, but when they are associated with any of the above Three Teachings, the final endings may vary. Positive outcomes are seen in cases where characters associated with Confucianism lie and characters associated with Buddhism act violently. The results supplement the worldwide literature on discrepancies between folklore and real-life conduct, as well as on the contradictory human behaviors vis-à-vis religious teachings. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of human decision-making, especially beyond the folklore realm.

show abstract

Saints, and the Rest of Us: Broadening the Perspective on Moral Identity Development

Cited by 8 publications

References 47 publications

To err is human: Forgiveness across childhood and adolescence

To err is human: Forgiveness across childhood and adolescence

When I hurt others, and when I get hurt: Integrating victim and perpetrator experiences of harm into a sense of moral agency

On how religions could accidentally incite lies and violence: folktales as a cultural transmitter

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About