Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Human morality and temperament.

Jerome Kagan1

  • 1Harvard University, USA.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation
|December 13, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Morality develops through stages, influenced by temperament and brain maturation. Affective experiences, like guilt and empathy, play a crucial role in moral behavior and societal cohesion.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Temperamental and Theoretical Contributions to Clinical Psychology.

Annual review of clinical psychology·2022
Same author

The Ambiguity of Maltreatment.

The American journal of psychiatry·2020
Same author

Effect of Maternal Distress on Perceptions of Infant Behavior May Differ in Chinese-American and European-American Mothers and Infants.

Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP·2020
Same author

Kinds of individuals defined by patterns of variables.

Development and psychopathology·2018
Same author

Three Unresolved Issues in Human Morality.

Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science·2018
Same author

Perspectives on two temperamental biases.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2018
Same journal

Toward Narrative Theory: Interventions for Reinforcer Pathology in Health Behavior.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Dissecting Impulsivity: Brain Mechanisms and Neuropsychiatric Implications.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Engaging and Exploring: Cortical Circuits for Adaptive Foraging Decisions.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

Devaluation of Outcomes Due to Their Cost: Extending Discounting Models Beyond Delay.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

A Fuzzy-Trace Theory of Risk and Time Preferences in Decision Making: Integrating Cognition and Motivation.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
Same journal

From Risk and Time Preferences to Cultural Models of Causality: On the Challenges and Possibilities of Field Experiments, with Examples from Rural Southwestern Madagascar.

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation·2018
See all related articles

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Moral Philosophy

Background:

  • Morality encompasses inhibition of punished acts, representation of prohibited actions, and affective states like guilt and shame.
  • Moral development unfolds in stages, with concepts of good/bad emerging early, followed by guilt, fairness, and social obligations.
  • Individual temperament influences the intensity and frequency of moral emotions, with high-reactive infants showing greater physiological arousal related to guilt.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To delineate the developmental cascade of moral phenomena.
  • To explore the contribution of temperament to variations in moral emotions.
  • To examine the role of affect in moral adherence and societal functioning.

Main Methods:

  • Developmental timeline analysis of moral concepts and emotions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Comparative study of high-reactive and low-reactive infants' emotional responses to guilt.
  • Neurochemical and physiological arousal measurements in relation to temperament and guilt.

    • Main Results:

    • Moral phenomena emerge sequentially from infancy through school years, influenced by brain maturation.
    • Temperament significantly modulates the experience and physiological correlates of moral emotions like guilt.
    • Affective responses, such as empathic sadness, can affirm moral values and contribute to gratification.

    Conclusions:

    • Moral development is a complex interplay of universal developmental processes and individual temperamental variations.
    • Anticipation of guilt and shame, alongside empathy, serves as a crucial restraint on negative behaviors, even when reason fails.
    • The balance between rational and affective bases for morality is shifting in modern societies, with potential implications for social cohesion.