Authentic moral conflicts and students’ moral development

This research deals with the different psychological processes people undergo when they experience firsthand authentic moral conflicts. It also discusses the value of authentic moral conflicts in students’ moral development, and reasons for the ineffectiveness of moral education in China. The main reason for the unsatisfactory effects of moral education in China over a period of time lies in the predominance of virtual moral education. In authentic situations, the proper arrangement of moral conflicts requires careful analysis of values hidden in the prearranged or generated moral conflicts so as to utilize, guide, and control them properly. Such arrangement of moral conflicts should be adapted to students’ life experience for deepening their understanding of the moral aspects of life. Also, special attention should be attached to students’ varied requirements, thus leaving enough options and space for their independent participation in activities of moral education. __________ Translated from Educational Research, 2005(3)     

The development of moral understanding and moral motivation

The purpose of the study was to gain a greater understanding of moral understanding by differentiating moral understanding from moral motivation. Moral understanding was assessed by presenting hypothetical moral conflicts and dilemmas and using a variety of measures to explore children’s understanding of moral principles and moral reasoning. Two measures of strength of moral motivation were used. For younger children (ages 4–9) emotion attributions to hypothetical wrongdoers was the measure. For older children (ages 10–11) a global evaluation was made based on their reactions to hypothetical moral conflicts and dilemmas. The results suggest that children’s moral understanding includes a grasp of abstract principles and is not just rote learning of concrete rules. However, their adequate cognitive moral understanding by no means implies they are competent moral actors. Implications for Kohlberg’s theory of moral development are discussed.     

Nonadmirable moral exemplars and virtue development

ABSTRACT

Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarist moral theory claims that admiration for a person is a necessary condition for her to be a moral exemplar. I argue that this claim is empirically unsupported. I provide two counterexamples, astronauts and brain data. I demonstrate that they play the role of exemplars well but receive no admiration and, accordingly, are entitled to be called nonadmirable moral exemplars. I conclude that my argument suggests why Aristotle, distinct from Zagzebski, does not emphasise the role of the praiseworthiness of virtue in his theory of virtue development in the Nicomachean Ethics.     

A social learning explanation of moral development

This paper presents a social learning explanation of moral development. From a social learning perspective, children abstract an array of generative rules which guide moral judgments and behaviors. Unfortunately, this social learning position has been misunderstood. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to clarify these misunderstandings and to discuss the educational implications of a social learning approach to moral development.     

Aggression and moral development: integrating social information processing and moral domain models

Social information processing and moral domain theories have developed in relative isolation from each other despite their common focus on intentional harm and victimization, and mutual emphasis on social cognitive processes in explaining aggressive, morally relevant behaviors. This article presents a selective summary of these literatures with the goal of showing how they can be integrated into a single, coherent model. An essential aspect of this integration is Crick and Dodge's (1994) distinction between latent mental structures and online processing. It is argued that moral domain theory is relevant for describing underlying mental structures regarding the nature and boundaries of what is moral, whereas the social information processing model describes the online information processing that affects application of moral structures during peer interactions.     

主体道德教育的凸现

“以人为本”是21世纪哲学领域的主要思潮。因此，在思想政治领域里主体道德教育的凸现也愈来愈明显。无论是回顾西方思想道德教育的发展历程，还是反思我国思想政治教育的历史，都可以发现，主体道德教育已经成为当前国际社会思想政治教育的发展趋势。主体道德教育力求对人的道德主体性的培养。主体道德教育具有双主体性的特点。需要教师和学生两个主体之间的互动才能实现。因此在道德教育过程中我们要注意两个主体的结合，而不能偏废任何一方。     

道德外化论的发展及其研究意义

道德外化是个体道德发展研究的一个重要概念。从外化入手,梳理道德外化概念的发展过程,从道德外化角度把握个体道德发展的复杂性,是变革德育观念的需要,也是个体道德发展的需求。     

关于加强师德建设的思考

师德建设是教育大计的重要课题。传统师德立足于社会要求和教师职业的崇高性面加以规范，以致时有理想与现实脱节之弊。本文试立足于“以人为本”的理念，探讨加强师德建设，阐述其必要性。并提出具体构建的思考。     

《周易》坤阴女德的延伸

女性阴柔观的产生与坤阴所处的位置是密不可分的.坤阴的"处下"位置,引发了后来人的种种理解、猜想及想象,其中附着了时代性的意识、观点.女性阴柔观从健康、平等向扭曲、歧视的另一侧面延伸,<周易>本真的阴柔观失落在纷杂的观念中.     

Moral foundations theory and moral development and education

This article reviews studies examining the effect of professional education on ethical development. Most studies limit assessment to the measurement of moral judgement, observing that moral judgement plateaus during professional school unless an ethics intervention is present. Whereas interventions influence the shift to postconventional reasoning (the DIT P score), a more illuminating picture of change may emerge if researchers examined DIT profiles. More importantly, limiting assessment to measures of moral judgement ignores important aspects of moral functioning suggested by the Four Component Model. Assessment methods have been validated for sensitivity, reasoning, role concept and ethical implementation that could be adapted to provide individuals in a particular profession with a more complete picture of abilities needed for real-life professional practice.     

主体发展性德育实践探求

主体性、发展性是现代德育的本质属性,体现以人为本、以学生发展为本的思想。从道德认知、道德情感和道德行为等方面阐述主体发展性德育实践的基本途径和方法。     

Assessing young children's social concept development

A number of questions regarding the nature of social concept development in young children were investigated in this study. In an earlier study, a social concept picture-sorting task was developed to obtain normative data on young children's social concept development. For this replication study, a larger more heterogeneous sample was used consisting of 64 kindergarten and 65 first grade public school students from lower to upper middle-class socioeconomic levels. Profile analysis was used to compare grades, sex, and racial groups. All three variables had a significant impact on performance. Significant differences in difficulty were found among the nine concepts measured. Three of the most difficult concepts (family-not family, those who protect us, and past-present) are commonly included in early childhood curriculum. These results suggest that the level of concept development needs to be considered in planning social studies curriculum and instruction for young children.