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Paradoxical consequences of prohibitions.
Sana Sheikh1, Ronnie Janoff-Bulman
1School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. s96@st-andrews.ac.uk
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|May 1, 2013
Summary
Parental restrictiveness and punishment foster a morality focused on prohibitions, not positive duties. This approach, however, impairs self-control, making resisting temptation harder for children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Moral Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Attribution theory suggests external controls hinder moral internalization.
- Parental restrictiveness and punishment are forms of external control.
- Existing theories posit that harsh parenting undermines moral development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of parental restrictiveness and punishment on moral socialization.
- To examine whether external controls foster a proscriptive or prescriptive moral orientation.
- To assess the relationship between parenting styles, moral orientation, and self-regulatory abilities.
Main Methods:
- Study 1: Assessed young adults' recall of parental restrictiveness/punishment and its link to moral orientation.
- Study 2: Examined the association between restrictive parenting and temptation suppression.
- Studies 3A & 3B: Investigated the effects of proscriptive orientation and thought suppression on ego depletion in relation to parenting.
Main Results:
- Parental restrictiveness and punishment were linked to a proscriptive moral orientation (focus on prohibitions).
- Restrictive parenting correlated with increased suppression of temptations.
- Individuals with restrictive parents showed lower self-regulatory ability to resist temptations after prohibitions were activated.
Conclusions:
- Parental punishment and restrictiveness socialize a specific type of morality (proscriptive).
- Harsh external controls do not prevent moral socialization but impair self-regulatory capacity.
- This challenges attributional theories by showing external controls can undermine resistance to temptation.
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