1-034 - How Do Social Groups Guide Children’s Sociomoral Reasoning?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Group membership shapes children’s reasoning about the behaviors that one should perform in a social context. Although this link is well established, fundamental questions remain. The talks in this symposium ask four key questions that advance theory on the role of groups in sociomoral reasoning.
The first talk asks: What counts as a group in sociomoral reasoning? Their work suggests that young children expect sociomoral obligations to extend not just to members of social groups (e.g., one team member should share with another) but also—surprisingly—to members of social categories (e.g., one man should share with another). The second talk asks Does the reverse link hold—does evidence that an unfamiliar behavior is sociomorally relevant lead children to expect that it is shaped by group membership? Indeed, young children automatically assumed novel moral behaviors to apply differentially within vs. across group boundaries; this expectation wasn’t present for non-moral behaviors. The third talk asks: How do we overcome this “tribal” tendency to treat ingroups better than outgroups? Their results suggest that decategorization (i.e., seeing people as individuals) may be a powerful antidote. Finally, the fourth talk asks: How do descriptions of social categories impede the individuation process? One reason may be that children attribute fewer mental states to members of groups described as being homogeneous – a precursor to dehumanization.
With an international group of speakers and a diverse set of perspectives, this symposium will make a substantial contribution to theories of sociomoral development.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Ryan Lei, New York University

Individual Presentations

• The Development of Children’s Sociomoral Expectations of Social Groups Versus Social Categories - Presenting Author: Ryan Lei, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Andrei Cimpian, New York University

• Beliefs About Moral Obligation Structure Children’s Social Category-Based Expectations - Presenting Author: Lisa Chalik, Yeshiva University; Non-Presenting Author: Yarrow Dunham, Yale

• Decategorization Leads Preschoolers to Share the Same With Ingroup and Outgroup Members - Presenting Author: Anja Kassecker, LMU Munich; Non-Presenting Author: Marco F. H. Schmidt, LMU Munich; University of Bremen

• Examining the Influence of Generic Language on Children’s Attribution of a Mental Life - Presenting Author: Niamh McLoughlin, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Telli Davoodi, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Eleanor Castine, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Kathleen Helen Corriveau, Boston University