2-061 - The Roles of Moral Emotion and Moral Cognition in the Development of Aggression

Session Type: Poster Symposium

Integrative Statement

Aggression in childhood and adolescence, such as bullying and fighting, has been linked to poor social and mental health outcomes in adulthood (Moffitt, 2003). Despite much progress in identifying the developmental antecedents of aggression, many questions regarding the moral-affective and moral-cognitive precursors of aggression remain unanswered. Understanding how children’s affective and cognitive experiences make them more or less aggressive over time may promote the early intervention and prevention of aggression. This student poster symposium aims to increase our understanding of the distinct and joint relations of moral-affective and moral-cognitive processes to the development of aggression across childhood and adolescence. These six posters collectively address the roles of moral and related social-cognitive development in complex social situations involving aggression and moral conflict. The first poster investigates how children’s and adolescents’ physiological arousal and guilty responding to moral transgressions relate to their aggression. The second explores children’s aggressive cognitions and aggressive behavior in light of their amoral anger and regulatory capacities. The third examines developmental differences in the ways children’s and adolescents’ moral reasoning, moral decision-making, and regulation relate to their bullying behavior and the fourth examines bullying in relation to moral reasoning, perspective taking, and hostile attribution bias. Finally, the fifth and sixth posters embark from the child level to consider contextual effects on children’s and adolescents’ moral emotions and aggression in schools, respectively. With contributions from Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, and the U.S., this symposium provides a new perspective on the development of aggression and its moral antecedents.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto

Individual Presentations

• 1. Physiological and Emotional Responding to Moral Transgressions: Relations to Aggression in Childhood and Adolescence - Presenting Author: Tyler John Colasante, University of Toronto; Lixian Cui, Univ of Toronto; Tina Malti, University of Toronto

• 2. Hierarchical Motivational Systems of Aggressive Cognitions, Anger, and Effortful Control Guide Children’s Aggressive Behavior - Presenting Author: Sanna Roos, University of Turku; Ernest V. E. Hodges, St Johns University; Kätlin Peets, Utrecht University; Christina Salmivalli, University of Turku

• 3. The Role of Sympathy, Moral Decision Making, Moral Reasoning, and Inhibitory Control in Bullying among Elementary-School Children - Presenting Author: Dorinde Jansma, University of Groningen; Marie-Christine Opdenakker, University of Groningen

• 4. A Study of the Relations between Bullying, Victimization, and Social Cognition in 4- to 9-year-old Children - Presenting Author: Anouk van Dijk, Utrecht University; Bram Orobio de Castro, Utrecht University; Astrid Poorthuis, Utrecht University; Sander Thomaes, Utrecht University

• 5. Moving from Traditional Bullying to Cyberbullying: The Role of Moral Emotions and Reasoning - Presenting Author: Lauryn Conway, McGill University; Carlos Gomez-Garibello, McGill University; Victoria Talwar, McGill University

• 6. Individual, Family, and Neighborhood Predictors of Children’s Aggression at School - Presenting Author: Stevie N Grassetti, University of Delaware; Julie A Hubbard, Univ of Delaware; Marissa A Smith, University of Delaware