Extending Social Domain Theory with a Process-Based Account of Moral Judgments

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron B. Richardson ◽  
Kelly Lynn Mulvey ◽  
Melanie Killen
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Social Domain Theory

scholarly journals Inconsistent Definitions of Bullying: A Need to Examine People’s Judgments and Reasoning about Bullying and Cyberbullying

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Viviane Chang
Keyword(s):  
Prevalence Rate ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Moral Issue ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
Power Disparity ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Bullying Behaviors ◽  
Definition Of

Despite decades of research efforts, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the definition of bullying. There are ambiguities around the conceptualization of bullying relating to the intent, harm, repetitions of an act, and power disparity in episodes of bullying. Practically, the lack of differentiation between bullying and playful teasing as well as between bullying and other types of aggression has made it difficult to accurately measure bullying and derive the prevalence rate. There has been scant attention to how people evaluate an intent, harm, repetitions of an act, and power disparity between bullies and targets. If bullying is a moral issue, it involves people’s moral judgments and cannot be understood solely by empirical descriptions of the behavior. In this paper, I considered how social domain theory can be applied to help understand people’s judgments about bullying behaviors, which, in turn, is helpful in improving our conceptualization of bullying.

Moral responsibility, personal regulation, and helping others: A cultural approach to moral reasoning in U.S. evangelical Christian cultures

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison DiBianca Fasoli
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Personal Freedom ◽  
Evangelical Christian ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
Religious Cultures

The way that people think about moral responsibility and personal freedom in their moral judgments is a complex issue that has been extensively theorized and researched from the perspective of Social Domain Theory. In this study, I offer a cultural reinterpretation of the Social Domain Theory of moral reasoning to examine how judgments about helping others are linked to cultural visions of morality and personal freedom within U.S. evangelical Christian religious cultures. Sixteen parent–child dyads from an evangelical Christian church produced conversations in response to hypothetical vignettes about helping others in need. Mixed quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed conceptions of personal freedom that prioritized personal regulation of self in line with standards for helping actions and desires determined by God, rather than personal determination of correct action and desire. Findings are interpreted and discussed in light of local conceptions of morality, self, and helping. I conclude by using these findings to illuminate the role of culture in constituting domains of social knowledge.

Using social domain theory to seek critical consciousness with young children

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-260
Author(s):  
Robyn Ilten-Gee ◽  
Sarah Manchanda
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Developmental Theory ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
Developmental Appropriateness ◽  
Transition Points

The question of ‘developmental appropriateness’ in education can be both empowering and inhibiting. When are students ‘ready’ to talk about social injustices and systemic inequalities? How might educators introduce social inequities using developmental findings about reasoning? This article presents social domain theory as a lens through which educators can approach critical consciousness education with young children. An overview of Freire’s critical consciousness construct is presented, including educational interventions, methods, and approaches that support critical consciousness. An overview of social domain theory is also presented. Social domain theory is a developmental theory of sociomoral reasoning that describes three domains of social knowledge that develop independently, and get applied/coordinated/prioritized differently in context by individuals. This theory, and the research stemming from it, has shown that there are developmental transition points during which children come to view their previous logic as inadequate, and are likely to shift their understandings of moral, conventional, and personal issues. A parallel is drawn between these transition points and the process of wrestling with and overturning ‘contradictions’ in critical consciousness education. Contradictions are theorized as dehumanizing power dynamics that show up in students’ everyday circumstances. This article provides tables outlining example contradictions for young children, key domain–related reasoning shifts for young children, and examples for how to create lesson plans that take these two factors into account. Finally, we propose a method of facilitating self-assessment of critical consciousness with young children. Self-reflection questions are provided for teachers and students.

Moral Development

2013 ◽  
pp. 831-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Smetana
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
Knowledge Domains ◽  
Affective Consequences

This chapter describes moral judgment development through the lens of social domain theory. Morality, or individuals’ concepts of justice, welfare, and rights, is seen as a distinct system or organized domain of social knowledge that develops separately from concepts of social conventions and personal issues; these concepts are constructed from children’s differentiated social interactions and social experiences. In this chapter, basic theoretical propositions of social domain theory and methods used to test those propositions are described, and then relevant empirical research is reviewed. The chapter highlights how children’s understanding and interpretation of their social worlds are elaborated and change from infancy through adolescence. The complexity and diversity of social life is described as entailing a consideration of moral concepts as informed by informational assumptions and knowledge of regularities in the affective consequences of different events. It is also considered in terms of the coexistence of and coordination with other social knowledge domains.

The Influence of Power on U.S. and Chinese Individuals’ Judgments and Reasoning About Intrasocietal Conflicts

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-105
Author(s):  
Nan Zhu ◽  
Skyler T. Hawk ◽  
Judith G. Smetana
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
High Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
Moral Justifications

This study used a social domain theory framework to investigate Chinese and U.S. individuals’ evaluations of intrasocietal conflicts (defined as situations where some individuals’ rights clash with collective interests), and how those evaluations might be influenced by concepts of high versus low power. Undergraduate students in both the United States ( n = 92) and China ( n = 98) received either a high-power or a low-power prime and then evaluated (a) the acceptability of actions taken by different parties in hypothetical scenarios about intrasocietal conflicts, (b) moral and societal justifications for these actions, and (c) the appropriateness of actions by outside, third parties aimed at affirming individual rights. Results showed that moral justifications for individual actions were positively associated with pro-individual-rights judgments in both societies, regardless of power condition. In addition, U.S. individuals primed with high power and Chinese participants primed with low power showed lower support for third-party actions, based on societal concerns from the collective perspective. Chinese participants primed with high power also accepted collective actions based on moral and societal concerns. These results extend social domain theory by demonstrating how different power concepts affect the relative importance of moral versus societal concerns in individuals’ judgments, especially when evaluating third-party actions.

Contributions of Social Domain Theory for the Study of Exclusion: a Systematic Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-456
Author(s):  
Jackeline Maria de Souza ◽  
Luciana Maria Caetano ◽  
Betânia Alves Veiga Dell` Agli
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Social Domain Theory

scholarly journals Acceptance of Society-Level and Individual-Level Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in Three Societies

2021 ◽  
pp. 002202212199597
Author(s):  
Nan Zhu ◽  
Judith G. Smetana ◽  
Lei Chang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Social Domain Theory ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Drawing from social domain theory, this study examined people’s evaluation of society-level disease-prevention regulations (e.g., school closure) and personal precautions (e.g., wearing a facemask) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, as assessed in Spring, 2020. Participants from three countries (United States [US], China, and Japan; N = 528) rated their acceptance of a range of society-level and individual-level preventive measures and then indicated their main reasons for these ratings, which were categorized as moral, societal, personal, and prudential based on social domain theory. Consistent with this theoretical framework, we found both similarities and differences across the three societies. Specifically, we found that, across the three societies, moral considerations predicted higher acceptance of society-level preventive measures, whereas personal considerations predicted lower acceptance of both society-level and individual-level preventive measures. However, a stronger link between societal considerations and higher acceptance of society-level preventive measures was found for Chinese participants than for US and Japanese participants.

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