Feelings or cognitions? Moral cognitions and emotions as longitudinal predictors of prosocial and aggressive behaviors

There is debate regarding the roles of sociomoral cognitions and emotions in understanding moral development. The short-term longitudinal relations among perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors and aggression in adolescents were examined. Participants were 489 st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2010-06, Vol.48 (8), p.872-877
Main Authors: Carlo, Gustavo, Mestre, Maria Vicenta, Samper, Paula, Tur, Ana, Armenta, Brian E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Aggression
Aggressive behaviors
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Developmental psychology
Emotions
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Moral development
Moral reasoning
Perspective taking
Prosocial behaviors
Prosocial behaviour
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sympathy
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Summary:There is debate regarding the roles of sociomoral cognitions and emotions in understanding moral development. The short-term longitudinal relations among perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors and aggression in adolescents were examined. Participants were 489 students ( M age = 12.28 years, SD = .48; 232 boys) in public and private schools from predominantly middle class families in Valencia, Spain. Students completed measures of perspective taking, sympathy, prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behaviors, and aggressive behaviors. Overall, structural equation modeling analyses showed that moral reasoning and emotions were interrelated and predicted both prosocial behaviors and aggression. Discussion focuses on the relevance of both social cognitions and emotions in moral development.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.010