Understanding perspectives and emotions in contract violation: development of deontic and moral reasoning

Children between the ages of 3 and 10 years were presented with a set of pictures representing a contract with bilateral cheating options between a parent and child (Study 1) and between 2 peers (Study 2). The children had to (a) evaluate which situations violated the contract when the relevant information was presented, (b) anticipate the feelings of the violator and the victim, and (c) infer possible contract violation from 2 different perspectives when relevant information was covered. Results show that logical inferences about contract violation differ according to the type of task. Negative feelings attributed to the violator were dependent on age and type of relationship, revealing a content-sensitive codevelopment of cognitive abilities and moral reasoning in young children.     

Success,failure and emotions: examining the relationship between performance feedback and emotions in diagnostic reasoning

Students experience a variety of emotions following achievement outcomes which stand to influence how they learn and perform in academic settings. However, little is known about the link between student outcome emotions and dimensions of performance feedback in computer-based learning environments (CBLEs). Understanding the dynamics of this relationship is particularly important for high-stakes, competency-based domains such as medical education. In this study, we examined the relationship between medical students’ (N = 30) outcome emotion profiles and their performance on a diagnostic reasoning task in the CBLE, BioWorld. We found that participants could be organized into distinct emotion groups using k-means cluster analyses based on their self-reported outcome emotion profiles: an expected positive emotion cluster and negative emotion cluster and an unexpected low intensity emotion cluster. A clear relationship was found between emotion clusters and diagnostic performance such that participants classified to the positive emotion cluster had the highest performance; those classified to the negative emotion cluster had the lowest performance; and those classified to the low intensity emotion cluster had performance outcomes that fell between the other two. Our discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of emotion classification and design recommendations for learning environments and emotional interventions in computer-based contexts.     

Recovering the role of reasoning in moral education to address inequity and social justice

This article reasserts the centrality of reasoning as the focus for moral education. Attention to moral cognition must be extended to incorporate sociogenetic processes in moral growth. Moral education is not simply growth within the moral domain, but addresses capacities of students to engage in cross-domain coordination. Development beyond adolescence in moral thinking is in two forms: (1) the gradual application of morality in broader adult contexts, and (2) the result of social discourse and progressive readjustments at the individual and societal level of views of the morality of societal practices. Postconventional moral reasoning is not a rarified stage of moral cognition, but an orientation and set of discourse skills potentially available to all normally developing adult moral reasoners.     

Development of moral emotions and decision-making from childhood to young adulthood

This study investigated the development of moral decision-making and moral emotion attributions in antisocial behavior and peer relationship dilemma scenarios. Participants were 540 school- and college-aged students, who were asked to explain their moral decision-making, subsequent emotions, and reasoning in regard to the scenarios. We combined moral decision-making (morally appropriate or morally inappropriate) and emotion (positive or negative) to create the four reaction patterns of happy victimizer (HV), unhappy victimizer (UHV), happy moralist (HM), and unhappy moralist (UHM). Across all four scenarios and age groups, there were very few HM reactions, and HV responses were more common among adolescents and adults than among children in jaywalking and peer exclusion scenarios. In contrast, there were no age differences in reaction patterns in shoplifting and broken-promise scenarios; however, more moral considerations in reasoning were revealed among older age groups. The role of peer relationship in emotion attribution is discussed.     

Links between empathy,social behavior,and social understanding in early childhood

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine both social behaviors (i.e., aggression, shyness-withdrawal, and prosocial tendencies) and social understanding (i.e., attitudes and responses to such behaviors in hypothetical peers) of empathic and low-empathic children. Participants were 136 children in kindergarten and grade one. Parents completed ratings of child empathy, shyness, aggression, and prosocial tendencies. Children were presented with vignettes depicting prosocial, aggressive, or shy peers, and asked questions concerning their understanding and responses towards these behaviors. Results indicated that as compared to low-empathic peers, more empathic children were reported to exhibit greater prosocial behavior and less aggression and social-withdrawal. In addition, empathic children demonstrated a more sophisticated understanding of shyness and aggression as compared to less empathic peers. These results suggest that empathic children are more socially sensitive, both in terms of their social understanding of others as well as their own social behaviors.     

What measures justice? What justifies happiness? Emersonian moral perfectionism and the cultivation of political emotions

Abstract

This article will highlight the distinctive role of Cavell in renewing a dawn of American philosophy. Following Emerson’s remark, ‘the inmost in due time becomes the outmost’, Cavell develops his distinctive line of antifoundationalist thought. To show how unique and valuable Cavell’s endeavor to resuscitate Emerson’s and Thoreau’s voice in American philosophy is, this paper discusses the political implications of Cavell’s Emersonian moral perfectionism. This involves a reconsideration of what measures justice and what justifies happiness. While Cavell is sometimes said to be too personal and too subjective to be political, I shall argue that his Emersonian perfectionism, with its concomitant idea of the conversation of justice, is in fact thoroughly political and democratic. I shall illustrate this by examining his writing on a Hollywood film, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). The film shows vividly that happiness is a condition for achieving democracy from within. In conclusion, I shall propose that a readiness for the risk inherent in speech, rather than, say, acquiescing in received ideas or hiding behind the words of others, is at the heart of perfectionist education for globally minded citizens.     

Conceptualizing identity,learning and social justice in community-based learning

This paper explores the process of learning to become a social justice teacher, drawing in particular on Bakhtin’s notions of dialogue in order to theorize pre-service teachers’ identity negotiations. Interpretations of learning and identity are based on the content of pre-service teachers’ narratives about community-based learning. Supported by theoretically-sensitive ways of conceptualizing identity and social justice, the author develops an understanding of the ways pre-service teachers shape their identities through participating in community events. Implications for teacher education, in terms of the design and pedagogic practices, are presented with the intent of enabling the realization of social justice teacher education.     

Concern for close or distant others: The distinction between moral identity and moral inclusion

Research has analyzed the relationship between moral identity—the extent to which people experience their moral character as being central to their self-conception—and the inclusion of other people within one’s own moral circle. These studies underline that the higher the moral identity, the larger the moral circle. However, recent studies have observed that a person with a high moral identity feels morally obliged towards close people and may be intolerant towards distant groups. The aim of the present research was to deepen the differences between moral identity and moral inclusion considering prejudicial attitudes, ethnocentrism, altruism and values. The results indicated that moral identity alone does not imply a reduction in intolerant attitudes. Instead, when moral inclusion is considered, the results even show a positive effect of moral identity internalization on prejudice and ethnocentrism. Moreover, moral identity internalization has an effect on values of benevolence, security, tradition and conformity. Hence, a strong moral identity does not denote an extension of one’s own moral circle. Instead, this variable is related to intolerance towards those groups considered not to be included in one’s own moral community.     

Pluralism in children's reasoning about social justice

To determine if children construe the fairness of societal practices as dependent on the implicit contract or definition of a situation, first (M = 6.8 years), third (M = 8.8 years), and fifth (M = 11.0 years) graders were questioned about 3 situations: one emphasizing learning or mastery, a contest, and a test. For each situation, they judged the fairness, alterability of fairness, effectiveness, and harmfulness of 3 teaching or coaching practices: having more able individuals help the less able, having individuals compete publicly, and having them perform independently. Children judged the fairness and effectiveness of each practice differently for each situation. They also recognized that unfair practices could become fair with participant consensus or over time, and that the potential of a practice to cause harm differed depending upon the context. These results were comparable for educational and athletic activities. In these respects, children's conceptions of the fairness of societal practices resemble those of philosophers who advocate pluralistic conceptions of justice.     

Oppositional defiance,moral reasoning and moral value evaluation as predictors of self-reported juvenile delinquency

This study investigated the relationships among oppositional defiant attitudes, moral reasoning, moral value evaluation and self-reported delinquent behaviour in adolescents (N = 351, M_AGE = 13.8 years, SD_AGE = 1.1). Of particular interest were the moderating effects of age, educational environment and gender on the relationship between moral reasoning and delinquency. The results indicate that oppositional defiance was a strong positive correlate of delinquent behaviour, particularly in late adolescence. Furthermore, moral reasoning was modestly and negatively related to delinquency, but only for males. No moderating effects for educational environment were observed. Moreover, moral value evaluation was uncorrelated with delinquent behaviour when controlling for other sociomoral processes. These findings invite further research on the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, with respect to causal links and practical applications within behavioural interventions.     

Development of moral reasoning in situational and cultural contexts

ABSTRACT

This article examines relationships between children and youths’ judgments and their justifications of truth telling and verbal deception, in situational and cultural contexts. Han Chinese, Euro-Canadians and Chinese-Canadians, seven- to 17-years of age were presented competitive scenarios in which protagonists told either lies to protect, or truths to harm, various levels of collectivity. Participants evaluated protagonists’ statements, using a 7-point scale, and justified their judgments. Cultural variations in moral evaluations emerged among the three groups of participants. Older Chinese participants reflected significant collective cultural values in their judgements; by contrast, Euro-Canadians identified more individualistically; and Chinese-Canadians demonstrated notable variability between these perspectives in their judgments. The article enhances understanding of situational and cultural sources in the development of moral reasoning within a sociocultural framework.     

Role theory, emotions, and identity in the department headship of secondary schooling

This paper traces the emotions of 29 Canadian secondary school department heads as they engage with their own and others’ educational purposes, with the power relationships of secondary schooling and with their relationships with other individuals around them who are affected by and have expectations for their role. Such interactions have embedded within them a range of emotions which point to internal ambiguities about power and position, in middle management in particular and within educational administration more widely, which seemed perpetuated by normative educational administrative practices. The findings revealed tensions between teaching and leading, experiences of loneliness, emotional misunderstanding and the resentment that comes from feelings of powerlessness.     

中学德育与心理健康教育异同比较研究

中学时期是道德形成长的关键时期,中学德育与心理健康教育具有重要的意义.本文通过对中学德育和心理健康教育的比较研究,揭示其区别及内在联系,通过对中学德育与心理健康教育特点、形式、手段及不足进行探讨,最后提出将中学德育与心理健康教育紧密结合,才能够达到教育的最佳效果.     

Promoting moral reasoning and multicultural competence during internship

This paper reports a study designed to increase the moral reasoning and multicultural competence of White students in a counselling internship. An intervention was conducted to determine the effectiveness of using a deliberate psychological education (DPE) approach that incorporated issues of cultural competence, oppression and diversity. This study attempted to discern if the DPE model could make a difference in the promotion of moral reasoning and multicultural competence of counsellor interns. The Intervention Group showed significant gains compared to Comparison Group 1 and 2 in moral reasoning as measured by the Defining Issues Test‐2, as well as significant gains on the Knowledge subscale of the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale.     

Autistic traits and self-conscious emotions in early childhood

Self-conscious emotions arise from evaluating the self through the eyes of others. Given that children with autistic traits may experience difficulties with understanding others' minds, they might show less attuned self-conscious emotions. Two-to-five-year-old children's (N = 98, M_age = 48.54 months, 50% girls, 92% White) self-conscious emotions (guilt, embarrassment, and shame-like avoidance) were observed after children “broke” the experimenter's favorite toy. Data were collected from March 2018 till June 2019. Children with more autistic traits showed less theory of mind (ToM), and more shame-like avoidance, but associations were not mediated by ToM. This provides initial evidence that children with more autistic traits may show disturbances in some but not all self-conscious emotions, which could hinder their social functioning.     

Emotion regulation tendencies,achievement emotions,and physiological arousal in a medical diagnostic reasoning simulation

Instructional Science - Despite the importance of emotion regulation in education there is a paucity of research examining it in authentic educational contexts. Moreover, emotion measurement...     

Early childhood mathematical development: the association between patterning and proportional reasoning

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Insight into early precursors of proportional reasoning is necessary to further our theoretical understanding of mathematical development and to guide early...     

主体性品德课程实施：追问、反思与应答

课程实施是课程研究的重要领域。一个课程体系能否产生所期望的效果，需要对课程实施结果进行检验。只有通过对课程实施过程中经验与教训的不断总结、提升和超越，才能顺利推进课程改革，进而实现教育目标。文章通过对主体性品德课程实施的绩效追问与实践反思，提出几点应时措施，以期对品德课程建设有所借鉴与启示。