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The Role of Parents in Moral Development: A Social Domain Analysis

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Judith G Smetana at University of Rochester
Judith G Smetana
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Abstract

This article provides a social domain theory analysis of the role of parents in moral development. Social knowledge domains, including morality as distinct from other social concepts, are described. Then, it is proposed that, although morality is constructed from reciprocal social interactions, both affective and cognitive components of parents' interactions with their children may facilitate children's moral development. The affective context of the relationship may influence children's motivation to listen to and respond to parents; in addition, affect associated with responses to transgressions can affect children's encoding and remembering of those events. Although moral interactions occur frequently in peer contexts, parents' domain-specific feedback about the nature of children's moral interactions are proposed to provide a cognitive mechanism for facilitating moral development. Parents promote children's moral understanding by providing domain appropriate and developmentally sensitive reasoning and explanations about the child's social world, which may stimulate the development of more mature moral thought. Various findings from the socialisation literature are presented and interpreted from within the social domain framework.
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The role of parents in moral development: A social domain analysis
Judith G Smetana
Journal of Moral Education; Sep 1999; 28, 3; Research Library
pg. 311
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
... En este artículo asumiré la perspectiva de dominios sociocognitivos (Smetana, 1999(Smetana, , 2006Turiel, 1998Turiel, , 2008Turiel & Smetana, 1989;Wainryb, 1991). La definición de moralidad asumida en este artículo es la de Smetana (1999, p. 312), "el entendimiento prescriptivo de los individuos sobre cómo los individuos deben comportarse unos con respecto a otros". ...
... Turiel (1989) sostiene que el concepto de estructura debe considerarse como parcial y no ser pensado como un concepto englobalizador ni que se entienda que todo se relaciona con todo en el pensamiento; desprendido de este punto asume que no pueden aceptarse principios que sugieran que el desarrollo avanza de niveles globales a niveles específicos y cada vez más integrados. Por ejemplo, que primero aparezca un desarrollo sobre conceptos convencionales y posteriormente uno sobre morales o personales; este punto no es admitido y es una de las diferencias centrales con las perspectivas de Piaget y Kohlberg (Smetana, 1999). ...
... La perspectiva teórica y conceptual de la teoría de dominios sociocognitivos (Turiel, 1984(Turiel, , 1989(Turiel, , 1998Smetana, 1999Smetana, , 2006 permeó todo el proceso de mi investigación. Los sistemas normativos a través de los cuales se originan y modulan las interacciones humanas son construidos por los individuos como campos de conocimiento autónomos, pues los sujetos construyen conocimientos diferentes según el tipo de interacción que tienen. ...
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