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Choosing Biases, Using Power and Practicing Resistance: Moral Development in a World without Certainty
Human Development
|July 6, 2000
Summary
Moral development is shaped by ambiguous real-world situations and cognitive habits formed through socialization and experience, not just facts. This challenges modernist psychological models of moral growth.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Moral Development
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Modernist models of moral development rely heavily on factual interpretation.
- Real-world situations present inherent ambiguity, making moral significance underdetermined by facts alone.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present an alternative model of moral development.
- To emphasize the role of interpretive habits in understanding moral ambiguity.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of narratives.
- Study included working-class African-, European-, and Mexican-American men and women.
Main Results:
- Cognitive habits, formed by socialization and experience, shape moral interpretations.
- These habits perceive and constitute the moral world, influencing development.
Conclusions:
- Moral development is influenced by subjective interpretive habits within ambiguous contexts.
- This model contrasts with modernist approaches, highlighting the role of lived experience.
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