Premium
Capturing the Complexity of Moral Development and Education
Author(s) -
Nucci Larry,
Turiel Elliot
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
mind, brain, and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.624
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-228X
pISSN - 1751-2271
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-228x.2009.01065.x
Subject(s) - moral development , morality , social cognitive theory of morality , moral disengagement , psychology , moral reasoning , face (sociological concept) , social psychology , discretion , moral behavior , moral education , sociology , pedagogy , epistemology , social science , political science , philosophy , law
This article discusses challenges educators face when attempting to sequence moral education. Two factors are identified as primary sources hindering efforts to engage in effective moral education: (a) the premature application of research findings from developmental psychology to classroom practices and (b) the underestimation of the complexity of interactions between development in students' social and moral understandings and their applications in social contexts. Research is reviewed demonstrating that morality develops alongside concepts about societal conventions and zones of personal discretion and privacy. Results of an ongoing study are presented pointing toward a U‐shaped pattern in moral development in which frequency of moral choices is higher among younger children and older adolescents than among early adolescents. Research examining contextual moral decision making is discussed in relation to efforts to sequence moral education.