Emotion and Cognition in Moral Instruction

Author(s):

Lance Linke

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

3. Curriculum Innovation by Schools and Teachers

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 08 B, Citizenship and Moral Responsibility

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-30

08:30-10:00

Room:

JUR, HS 12

Chair:

Majella V Dempsey

Contribution

The aim of this presentation is to provide an empirically-grounded research perspective on how students develop moral judgments and how teachers may most effectively cultivate moral development in pedagogical settings. The primary empirical data for the presentation include studies that investigated social category as one of the important factors that mediates our moral sentiments. In the light of new evidence about how cognitive and emotional mechanisms influence moral development, new practices for character education are suggested and teachers are ask to appreciate the dynamic relationship they will share with students in exploring issues such as justice and virtue. The importance of understanding the developmental psychology of emotions and cognition will be addressed. Results from research on the emotional and cognitive processes of moral decision making will provide the foundation for proposed pedagogical interventions. Major theories in the literature on moral development will be reviewed in order to consider various perspectives on what factors contribute to the formation of our moral dispositions.

Method

In three experiments, the influence of social category on our moral evaluations and judgments was measured across developmental stages. Specifically, the research studies measured the influence of social category on participants’ third-party evaluations of moral transgressions. Participants’ intentional attributions, punitive sentiments, moral judgments, and emotional reactions were measured using responses to hypothetical vignettes that described socio-moral transgressions involving theft. Participants assigned different attributions, punishments, moral reprehension, and had diverse emotional responses when their social relationship with the perpetrator, and alternatively with the victim, of a transgression was varied. Evidence is provided for the supposition that morality is a construct of social cooperative exchange and that the perception of social category influences social evaluations and moral judgments. Subsequently, a consideration of an evolutionary explanation of morality attempts to discern whether this framework provides additional explanatory power to the current moral development literature and whether it may constructively inform moral education.

Expected Outcomes

The implications of these findings for the cultivation of morality in pedagogical settings will be discussed. Structuring character education programs that are congruent with empirical research on moral development is required to optimize the efficiency of early education and intervention programs. With a clearer understanding of the architecture of moral judgment, we may more effectively design educational environments that facilitate and activate moral responsibility. Moral education endeavors will benefit from incorporating current advances in cognitive and emotion research and by utilizing research findings when addressing the formation and guidance of moral judgments and decision making.

References

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Author Information

Lance Linke

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

Research and Evaluation

Honolulu

220

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