3-122 - Moral Thinking and (Im)moral Behavior: How does children’s thinking about morality influence their interpersonal interactions?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In recent decades, the study of moral cognition has become increasingly popular in the area of psychological development, with many researchers aiming to understand the connections between moral cognition, socio-cognitive development, and social behaviors. Although these relations are still unclear, numerous studies have found links between social thought and behavior are influenced by various moral factors.

Here, we present four studies that specifically address how children’s and adolescents’ developing moral understanding influences socio-moral behavior selection. These talks take four different approaches to exploring this important area of research, addressing a crucial gap in the existing literature by focusing on how the development of moral understanding influences moral behavior selection.

First, we discuss how attention allocation during witnessing moral transgressions is related to prosociality and aggression in young children. Next, we show that morally-relevant Theory of Mind, transgression judgment, and punitive preferences differentially predict self- and teacher-reported prosociality and specific types of aggression. Following, we discuss how parent-child relationships and moral-emotional attributions contribute to moral self-concept and aggression. Lastly, we examine how moral identity and interpersonal relationship skills uniquely influence adolescent bullying behaviors.

As the four papers in this session examine these important constructs from varied perspectives, we provide multiple insights in to how young children and adolescents understand their social world; reflect on their understanding; and use these reflections to interact with others in morally appropriate and/or inappropriate ways.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Erin Ruth Baker, University at Albany - SUNY

Individual Presentations

• Seeing Aggression Through the Eyes: Links Between Attention Allocation and Aggressive Behavior in Childhood - Presenting Author: Sebastian Dys, University of Toronto; Tina Malti, University of Toronto

• The Role of Moral Perspective-Taking on Social Behaviors in Early Childhood: More Mean, Less Nice, But It Depends On Who You Ask - Presenting Author: Erin Ruth Baker, University at Albany - SUNY; Marie S. Tisak, Bowling Green State University; Cjersti Jayne Jensen, Bowling Green State University

• Parent-Child Relationship Quality as a Mediator and Moderator to Children’s Moral Self, Emotion Attributions, and Aggression - Presenting Author: Sonia Sengsavang, Wilfrid Laurier University; Tobias Krettenauer, Wilfrid Laurier University

• Social Adjustment among Former Bullies and Non-Bullies: The Role of Social Cognition, Moral Identity, and Friendship Satisfaction - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Boerger, Slippery Rock University