Prosocial Moral Reasoning Research Articles

What Will My Parents Think?

Prior researchers confirmed socialization models depicting parenting practices and social cognitions associated with prosocial and antisocial behaviors. However, little research has focused on processes underlying the linkbetween parenting and these behaviors. Per Grusec and Goodnow’s internalization model, children and adolescents develop expectancies regarding their parents’reactions to their behaviors. Adolescents’ expected parental reactions to prosocial behaviors were hypothesized to predict prosocial behaviors; expectations regarding antisocial behaviors were expected to predict antisocial behaviors. For this study, 80 adolescents and their parents reported adolescents’ antisocial and prosocial behaviors. Adolescents completed a measure of prosocial moral reasoning and an assessment of how appropriately they expected each parent to react to prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Expected parental reactions to antisocial behavior predicted lower levels of delinquency and aggression (adolescent report). Expected parental reactions to prosocial behavior predicted higher levels of prosocial behavior (adolescent report) and lower levels of delinquency and aggression (mother report).

The Development of a Measure of Prosocial Behaviors for Late Adolescents

The correlates and structure of prosocial behaviors in late adolescents were examined using a newly constructed, multidimensional measure. In Study 1, 249 college students (145 women; M age = 19.9 years) were administered the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) which assesses 6 types of prosocial behaviors: altruistic, compliant, emotional, dire, public, and anonymous. Measures of sympathy, perspective taking, personal distress, social desirability, global prosocial behaviors, social responsibility, ascription of responsibility, vocabulary skills, and prosocial moral reasoning were also completed. Test-retest reliability and further validity of the PTM were demonstrated in Study 2 with a sample of 40 college students (28 women; M age = 22.9 years). Results from both studies yielded evidence of adequate reliability and validity of the PTM and support the notion of differentiated forms of helping.

Prosocial Moral Reasoning in Institutionalized Delinquent, Orphaned, and Noninstitutionalized Brazilian Adolescents

Researchers have postulated sociocognitive differences between delinquent and nondelinquent youths. However, prior studies have examined differences in prohibitive moral reasoning, and no studies of prosocial moral reasoning have been conducted with orphaned adolescents or in countries other than the United States. We examined prosocial moral reasoning in Brazilian institutionalized delinquent, orphaned, and noninstitutionalized adolescents. Delinquent, relative to nondelinquent, adolescents were expected to be less likely topreferhigherlevel, internalized types ofprosocial moral reasoning and more likely toprefer lowerlevels ofprosocial moral reasoning. No specific hypotheses were made regarding prosocial moral reasoning in orphaned adolescents. A total of 116 male andfemale Brazilian adolescents (38 delinquent, 38 orphaned, and 40 noninstitutionalized adolescents) were administered an objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning (PROM). In general, the main hypotheses were supported, and gender differences werefound. Discussionfocused on the correlates of prosocial moral reasoning and institutionalization in adolescence.

Child Rearing, Prosocial Moral Reasoning, and Prosocial Behaviour

This study examined the relations between child rearing, prosocial moral reasoning, and prosocial behaviour. The sample consisted of 125 children (6-11 years of age) and both their parents. Child-rearing behaviour was assessed by both observations at home and interviews with the parents; prosocial moral reasoning by interviews with the children, and prosocial behaviour by questionnaires filled in by their teachers and classmates. Positive relations were found between prosocial moral reasoning and prosocial behaviour, but only for the youngest children. Children growing up in a supportive, authoritative, and less restrictive environment behaved more prosocially and reasoned at a higher level about prosocial moral issues.

A cross-national study on the relations among prosocial moral reasoning, gender role orientations, and prosocial behaviors.

This research examined the correlates of prosocial moral reasoning (PMR) in 2 studies. Study I investigated age, gender, and culture group differences in PMR in Brazilian children and adolescents (n = 265) and U.S. adolescents (n = 67). Relations between PMR and both prosocial behaviors and gender role orientations in Brazilian adolescents (n = 136) were explored in Study 2. Self-reflective, internalized reasoning was positively related, and hedonistic reasoning was negatively related, to peer ratings of prosocial behaviors. Femininity was associated with more self-reflective, internalized concerns and with less concerns regarding gaining others' approval. In general, age and gender differences in PMR were similar for both Brazilian and U.S. adolescents. However, U.S. adolescents scored higher on internalized moral reasoning than Brazilian adolescents. Discussion focused on the correlates of PMR in Brazilian and U.S. children.

A cross-national study on the relations among prosocial moral reasoning, gender role orientations, and prosocial behaviors.

A cross-national study on the relations among prosocial moral reasoning, gender role orientations, and prosocial behaviors.

Prosocial Development in Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study

Change in prosocial moral reasoning over 15 years, gender differences in prosocial reasoning, and the interrelations of moral reasoning, prosocial behavior, and empathy-related emotional responses were examined with longitudinal data from 17-18- and 19-20-year-olds and data from adolescents interviewed for the first time. Hedonistic reasoning declined in use until adolescence, and then increased somewhat in early adulthood. Needs-oriented and stereotypic reasoning increased until mid-childhood or early adolescence and then declined in use. Direct reciprocity and approval reasoning, which appeared to be on the decline in mid-adolescence in previous follow-ups, showed no decline into early adulthood. Several modes of higher-level reasoning increased in use across adolescence and early adulthood. Females' overall reasoning was higher than males'. Scores on interview and objective measures of prosocial moral reasoning were positively correlated. Consistent with expectations, there was some evidence of relations among prosocial reasoning, prosocial behavior, sympathy, and perspective taking.

Developmental analysis of social cognitive and behavioral differences between popular and rejected children

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the relationship between peer status and the child's behavioral and social cognitive characteristics, and (b) to test the hypothesis that the relationship between child's social cognition and child's peer acceptance is mediated by the child's behavior in the interaction with peers. The sample consisted of 125 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children who were selected as either popular or rejected in the peer group. The child's social behavior with peers was assessed using teacher reports and peer nominations. Each child was individually interviewed at school to assess perspective taking ability, interpersonal understanding, prosocial moral reasoning, and empathy. The maturity in reasoning about the social world, positive orientation toward others and sensitivity to other's distress (both social-cognitively as well as behaviorally) are salient characteristics of children who are highly accepted by their peers at school at each grade level. The relationship between social cognition and child's peer acceptance seems to be mediated by the child's social behavior.

An Objective Measure of Adolescents' Prosocial Moral Reasoning

Due to limitations and concerns regarding traditional interview measures of moral reasoning, a new objective measure of prosocial moral reasoning was developed to facilitate assessment of adolescents' moral reasoning. Several psychometric properties of the new measure were examined including test-retest reliability and convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validity. Sixty-four seventh and tenth graders were administered a self-report measure of prosocial moral reasoning (PROM) and measures of school aptitude, verbal skills, perspective taking, sympathy, and personal distress. Adolescents, 2 weeks later, were either re-administered the PROM or administered an interview measure of prosocial moral reasoning. In general, the psychometric analyses suggested that the PROM was sufficiently reliable and valid for use with adolescents. In addition, research on the development and correlates of adolescents' prosocial moral reasoning were discussed.

Behavioral and sociocognitive correlates of ratings of prosocial behavior and sociometric status.

Although peers' and teachers' evaluations of children's prosocial behavior and peers' sociometric ratings frequently have been used in studies of social development, the validity of young children's ratings of others has been questioned, as has that for teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior. In this study, preschoolers' ratings of peers' sociometric status and prosocial behavior, as well as teachers' ratings of children's prosocial dispositions, were obtained. These were correlated with children's naturally occurring prosocial or social behavior; ratings of prosocial behavior also were correlated with children's prosocial moral reasoning and prosocial self-attributions. Peers' sociometric ratings were positively related to children's sociability whereas prosocial ratings were related to helping (but not sharing) behavior. Teachers' ratings of prosocial behavior were not related to frequency of prosocial behaviors, but were positively related to developmentally mature moral judgments and self-reported motives.

Adolescents' evaluations of Peers' motives for helping

Four groups of high-school students (N=92) were each informed about a pair of helpers, either male or female, who independently helped a sameor opposite-sex peer. Within each pair of same-sex helpers, one was presented as having helped for empathic reasons and the other was presented as having helped for nonempathic reasons. The adolescents' ratings of the helpers indicated that they generally favored empathically motivated helping in both male and female peers. However, a female helper who did not express sensitivity and emotional responsiveness to the feelings of the needy other in her prosocial moral reasoning tended to be judged more harshly by the adolescents than did a male helper who failed to express such sentiments.

Altruistic Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior

Preface and Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Philosophical and Theoretical Roots 3. Prosocial Emotion: Methods and Current Research 4. Attributions About Others and their Prosocial Actions 5. The Development of Self-Perceptions 6. Role Taking, Attributions About the Origins of Another's Dependency, and Problem-Solving 7. Altruistic Values and Moral Judgment 8. Prosocial Moral Judgment: Cross-Cultural Research 9. A Model of Prosocial Moral Reasoning 10. The Role of Altruistic Affect and Cognitions in Behavior. References. Author Index. Subject Index.

The Gifted Child: Perceived Competence, Prosocial Moral Reasoning, and Charitable Donations

Abstract Higher levels of cognitive functioning in intellectually gifted children suggest a potential for higher functioning in other domains as well. Thirty-eight children ages 4 to 7 years were administered a perceived competence scale, prosocial moral reasoning stories, and a measure of charitable donation behavior. The results indicated that gifted children perceived themselves as more competent than their agemates in the cognitive domain, although perceived social competence results were equivocal. Gifted 4- and 5-year-old children used significantly less hedonistic reasoning and significantly more mutual needs reasoning than did their age-mates; gifted 6- and 7-year-old children showed less frequent use of direct reciprocity and stereotypic reasoning and greater use of abstract internalized reasoning than did their age-mates. Charitable donation behavior occured at a high frequency, with both age and sex affecting the apparent motivations for donation behavior. The lack of a contingent relationship ...

The Development of Social Cognitive Processes among Juvenile Delinquents and Nondelinquent Peers

Using 10-11- and 14-15-year-old delinquents and nondelinquents, the present project was intended to investigate: (a) the extent of delinquent-nondelinquent differences on moral reasoning tasks; (b) whether delinquents display less knowledge about social problem solving, or social metacognition, in comparison to nondelinquents; (c) whether the deficiency by delinquents on a social problem-solving task could be lessened with clues to be more strategic; and (d) whether age differences would be observed on these tasks and whether age would interact with delinquency. Developmental differences for age, but not for delinquency, were observed in mortal judgment and prosocial moral reasoning. Under certain conditions, older nondelinquents performed better than other groups while considering some dimensions of social problem solving. Age differences were also noted on the social problem-solving task. When subjects were provided with clues as an organizing strategy on this latter task, all groups scored at levels higher than their no-clues performances. All groups except younger delinquents displayed comparable knowledge about strategies to solve social problems. The findings are discussed in terms of Flavell's processing model of social cognition.

Children's Differentiations among Potential Recipients of Aid

EISENBERG, NANCY. Children's Differentiations among Potential Recipients of Aid. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 54, 1983, 594-602. The purpose of this study was to determine whom children prefer to assist and how their discriminations among potential recipients of aid change with chronological age and moral development. 125 elementary and high school children were interviewed to assess their level of moral judgment regarding prosocial behavior and the discriminations that they make when thinking about helping various individuals (e.g., family and friends, disliked others, someone from a different country). In general, the most important discriminations for both older and younger children were between family and friends versus others and disliked individuals versus others. The tendency to make differentiations based on the recipient's identity decreased with age, especially for distinctions involving disliked others and criminals. Furthermore, children who verbalized higher-level prosocial moral reasoning were somewhat less likely to differentiate among potential recipients of aid (particularly if the distinction concerned family and friends, disliked others, criminals or people of a different race or religion). When the effects of age were controlled, the relationships between the tendency to differentiate among recipients and level of moral judgment were reduced but frequently were still statistically significant.

Young adults' moral reasoning about prohibitive and prosocial dilemmas

One hundred and five high school and college students were given tasks of social sensitivity, perspective taking, prosocial moral reasoning, and prohibitive moral reasoning. Social sensitivity and perspective taking were positively related to both types of moral reasoning, but only for females. For both males and females, level of principled moral reasoning was greater for the prosocial dilemmas than for the prohibitive dilemmas. Findings are generally viewed as being supportive of Piaget's and Kohlberg's conceptualizations of the nature of moral judgment. Differences between the two types of unrelated moral reasoning are discussed in terms of the relation between an individually constructed set of ethics and a more general social code of ethics.

Relationship of Prosocial Moral Reasoning to Altruism, Political Liberalism, and Intelligence.

Relationship of Prosocial Moral Reasoning to Altruism, Political Liberalism, and Intelligence.

Relationship of Prosocial Moral Reasoning to Altruism, Political Liberalism, and Intelligence.

Relationship of Prosocial Moral Reasoning to Altruism, Political Liberalism, and Intelligence.

Empathy and moral development in adolescence.

The relationship between empathy and two measures of moral development (prosocial moral reasoning and helping) and parental socialization practices was examined using a sample of 72 ninth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. Empathy was significantly related to moral reasoning for both sexes and to helping for males. Maternal child-rearing practices were related to sons' empathy; mothers of highly empathic boys were nonpunitive, nonrestrictive, egalitarian, encouraged their offspring to discuss their problems, and set high standards for their sons. Females' empathy was not associated with parental socialization practices, perhaps due to a ceiling effect. While the relationship between children's cognitive role-taking abilities (understanding the perspectives of others) and level of moral development has been well established, the role of affective role taking or empathy (matching one's own feelings with the corresponding feelings of someone else) is less clear. Yet it is entirely reasonable to hypothesize that affective role-taking ability is a significant antecedent of helping behavior and of level of moral judgment. Data bearing on the problem are limited and not entirely consistent, however; some investigators have found positive relationships between measures of empathy and helping among adults (Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), but children's empathy has not been consistently related to either moral judgment or generosity (Fay, 1970).

The relation of political attitude to constraint-oriented and prosocial moral reasoning.

The relation of political attitude to constraint-oriented and prosocial moral reasoning.