Moral behavior and the development of verbal regulation

The present paper examines the relationship between the development of moral behavior and the development of verbal regulatory processes. Relational frame theory and the distinctions among pliance, tracking, and augmenting forms of rule governance are applied to the domain of moral behavior and its development, in order to identify the specific social and verbal contingencies that are responsible for an evolving moral repertoire. It is argued that moral behavior is controlled by relational and rule-following repertoires, and that these can be arranged into a rough progression: pliance, tracking, augmenting, social concern for pliance, social concern for tracking, and social concern for augmenting. Congruence with data derived from other research traditions is examined, and applied implications are explored.     

Moral reasoning development and graduate education

The Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral reasoning development was administered to 20 advanced and 20 first-year graduate students, plus 40 college graduates matched to the graduate groups on sex, age, and verbal ability. A two-way ANOVA design was used to infer whether graduate education, selection, maturation, or a combination of these effects is (are) associated with group differences on the DIT. Results suggest that differences found between the graduate students and college graduates can be accounted for by a combination of maturational and selection effects, contrary to the hypothesized effects of formal education.     

Moral judgment and antisocial behavior in early adolescence

This project was designed to assess the relationship of moral judgment to a naturalistic measure of antisocial behavior—delinquent and predelinquent behavior. As a prelude, observations were made which confirmed that delinquents not only have low scores on the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview, but also that Rest's Defining Issues Test distinguishes incarcerated delinquent from nondelinquent groups. In the present study, each of a group of boys with disruptive and antisocial behavior was matched with a counterpart on 14 variables so designed as to minimize the effect of factors other than the stage of development of moral judgment in members of the two groups on the outcome of the testing procedures. When the impact of these extraneous factors was so minimized, results of Rest's Defining Issues Test revealed significant differences between the groups, while Kohlberg's interview did not. Clinical implications of this project are discussed.     

Moral judgment and the development of causal schemes

The present study investigated (i) the relationship between blame and perceived causality; (ii) the effect of the nature of causes on causal inference. Seventy-two persons from three age groups (5, 9 years and adults) responded to behavioural events which varied in outcome intensity, the nature of the cause (internal/external) and its presence (present/absent). The latter two factors had a marked effect on attributed blame and inferred causes as an age × nature × presence of cause interaction was found in both cases. However, inferred causes were not systematically related to attributed blame. Outcome severity led to more extreme blame ratings in all groups but only affected the causal scheme used by adults. The results are discussed in terms of over-attribution to persons and a more precise criterion for the use of the multiple sufficient cause scheme is evaluated.     

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human infant behavior and development.

B. F. Skinner's legacy to human behavioral research for the study of environment-infant interactions, and indeed for the conception of development itself, is described and exemplified. The legacy is largely the practicality, the efficiency, and the comparative advantage--relative to diverse other behavioral and nonbehavioral approaches--of using the operant-learning paradigm to organize and explain many of the sequential changes in behavior patterns conventionally thought to constitute infant development.     

Structure and development of behavior systems

Behavior systems are particular organizations of cognitive structures that are called behavior mechanisms: perceptual, central, and motor. Thus, behavior systems are defined here in structural terms and not in terms of their functional characteristics. In young animals, behavior mechanisms often develop independently of functional experience, though specific types of experience are usually necessary for integrated systems to develop. These concepts are illustrated here by the dust-bathing, feeding, aggressive, and sexual systems of the fowl, which are considered to be typical of behavior systems in other species. Aspects of neural development are examined and found to facilitate our understanding of a wide range of developmental phenomena, such as critical periods and irreversibility. Finally, various examples of classical conditioning and instrumental learning are analyzed in terms of the type of structures involved, and they are related to general developmental processes.     

Moral counselling: a method in development

This article describes a method of moral counselling developed in the Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen (The Netherlands). The authors apply insights of Paul Ricoeur to the non-directive counselling method of Carl Rogers in their work of coaching patients with moral problems in health care. The developed method was shared with other health care professionals in a training course. Experiences in the course and further practice led to further improvement of the method.     

Moral development and perceptions of attempted suicide and physician-assisted suicide

In a sample of 115 undergraduates, no association was found between a measure of moral development and the perception of attempted suicides. For the 85 women in the sample, a higher moral development score was associated with less approval of physician-assisted suicide.     

Brain development, plasticity, and behavior

Damage to the infant brain is associated with a complex array of behavioral and anatomical effects. Recent research is leading to a new understanding of the nature of, and mechanisms underlying, recovery from brain damage.     

Sex role development and teenage fertility-related behavior

Data from a 1975 survey of 369 females and 325 males aged 16-17 were analyzed to shed light on the relationship between the maturity of adolescent women and their sexual behavior and contraceptive practice. A straightforward decision-making process was found among males, but more complicated influences exist for females. When the data were submitted to regression and chi-squared analyses, it was found that whereas sexually active adolescents had more liberal sexual attitudes than virgins, their sex role attitudes were more stereotypical than virgins. Then the 2 groups were subdivided into virgins who did not intend to have premarital intercourse (20%); virgins who planned or considered premarital intercourse (40%); adolescents who experienced intercourse prior to age 16 (20%); and those who experienced intercourse after age 16 (20%). It was found that the virgins who did not intend to have premarital intercourse held the most stereotypical sex role attitudes, followed by sexually active women, and that virgins planning or considering intercourse held the least stereotypical views of all. It is suggested that this occurred because these adolescents were more mature and had resolved sexual identity problems earlier without resorting to intercourse. Birth control use was found to be more effective among the adolescents who experienced intercourse after age 16. Further studies are underway to test the hypotheses that the more mature a woman is when she experiences intercourse, the more likely it is that her development will be enhanced and that her contraceptive behavior will be effective.     

Sexual development and behavior in black preadolescents

As part of a longitudinal study of the sociosexual development of black preadolescents, sexual maturation and sociosexual behaviors were assessed and the relationships between these variables determined in a sample of 101 nine- to eleven-year-old middle- and low-income boys and girls. Sexual maturation was measured by Tanner's staging criteria of specific secondary sex characteristics. Involvement in heterosexual behaviors was elicited via self reports and was classified on a five-point heterosexual physical activity scale (HPA). The data corroborate other studies in demonstrating that girls were more advanced than boys in the process of sexual maturation. Considerable variation in stages of maturation for chronological age existed in both boys and girls, but was more pronounced for girls. In girls, there was no significant association between HPA and degree of biologic maturation. However, genital development in boys was significantly related to their sexual behavior. Income level was not significantly associated with the HPA score. A baseline from which to chart the progress of sociosexual behaviors in these developing preadolescents was established.     

Effects of self-generated rules on the development of schedule-controlled behavior.

College students responded under a multiple differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 5-s fixed-ratio 8 schedule, with components alternating every 2 min. After 40 programmed minutes of acquisition and 12 min of maintenance, without notice, both schedules changed to extinction for 28 min. During acquisition, between alternations of the multiple schedule, some subjects were asked to develop rules describing the schedule contingencies. Other subjects were given these same rules between alternations, and a third group neither received nor were asked to develop rules. By the end of the acquisition phase, self-generated-rule subjects were more likely to show schedule-typical behavior than were subjects not asked to generate rules. The behavior of those given rules was similar to those asked to generate rules at the end of acquisition, but yoked-rule subjects acquired schedule-typical behavior at a quicker rate. By the end of extinction, during the period corresponding to the previous fixed-ratio interval, all no-rule subjects who had earned points during acquisition and maintenance were responding at a rate of less than 30 responses per minute. Only 3 of the 9 self-generated-rule subjects and 2 of the 5 yoked-rule subjects were similarly responding at this low rate. Results suggest that asking subjects to develop self-rules facilitates acquisition, but can retard extinction. Results also suggest that self-generated rules function similarly to external rules.     

Moral emotions and the development of the moral self in childhood

Researchers have been emphasizing the importance of moral emotions for young children's moral self. However, the relationship between children's moral self and moral emotions has never been investigated empirically. The present study examined the relationship between children's self-representations about (im)moral behaviour and moral emotions attributions in a sample of 132 elementary-school children (M _age = 8.39 years, SD = 2.50). Participants were presented a newly developed moral self measure, along with a measure of moral emotion attributions. Two dimensions of children's moral self-concept were identified: preference for prosocial behaviour and avoidance of antisocial behaviour. Results revealed a slight decrease in preference for prosocial behaviour with age, as well as an increased correlation between preference for prosocial behaviour and moral emotion attributions. Overall, findings suggest that moral emotions do not play a pivotal role for young children's moral self-concept. Children's moral self-concept becomes increasingly coordinated with moral emotions as they approach adolescence.     

The relationship context of human behavior and development

The influence of social relationships on human development and behavior is receiving increased attention from psychologists, who are central contributors to the rapidly developing multidisciplinary field of relationship science. In this article, the authors selectively review some of the significant strides that have been made toward understanding the effects of relationships on development and behavior and the processes by which relationships exert their influence on these, with the purpose of highlighting important questions that remain to be answered, controversial issues that need to be resolved, and potentially profitable paths for future inquiry. The authors' thesis is that important advances in psychological knowledge will be achieved from concerted investigation of the relationship context in which most important human behaviors are developed and displayed.     

Moral judgment-situation interaction as a basis for predicting prosocial behavior1

In a situation where an “ailing” confederate needed help, three experimental conditions varied the permissibility of interrupting a task to perform prosocial acts. A Situation by Moral Judgment interaction was predicted: Stage 3 and 4 subjects defining right action in accordance with conventional expectations and obligations, respectively, would not help in any of the three conditions; stage 5 subjects defining right action in accordance with human rights and contractual obligations would help in the permission condition. It was hypothesized that only within the boundaries of the permission condition would stage 5 subjects be able to resolve the conflict between their responsibility to the welfare of the “ailing” person and their obligation to maintain a contractual agreement with the experimenter to continue working on the task. Results supported the prediction. The greatest incidence of helping, both in terms of responding to the “ailing” person's distress and providing active help, occurred among stage 5 subjects in the permission condition. Implications of a situational interaction approach for the study of moral action/moral behavior relationship are discussed.     

Moral spillovers: The effect of moral violations on deviant behavior

Two experiments investigated whether outcomes that violate people’s moral standards increase their deviant behavior (the moral spillover effect). In Study 1, participants with and without a moral mandate (i.e., a strong attitude rooted in moral conviction) read about a legal trial in which the outcome supported, opposed or was unrelated to their moral mandate. Relative to when outcomes supported moral mandates, when outcomes opposed moral mandates people judged the outcome to be less fair, were more angry, were less willing to accept the outcome, and were more likely to take a borrowed pen. In Study 2, participants who recalled another person’s moral violation were more likely to cheat on an experimental task relative to angry or neutral condition participants. Taken together, results provide evidence for moral spillover: outcomes that violate moral standards increase deviant behavior.     

Moral Accountancy and Moral Worth

People do good or bad things, and get or do not get good or bad credit for their actions, depending (in part) on knowledge of their actions. I attempt to unfold some of the interconnections between these matters, and between them and the achievement of moral worth. The main conclusion is that the heights of moral worth seem to appear in the oddest places.