The Social Cognitive Development of Moral Character

Daniel K. Lapsley

University of Notre Dame (USA)

www.nd.edu/~dlapsle1

The Questions

What is the psychological foundation of moral character?

How should we characterize the moral personality?

Or the development of moral character?

Social cognitive theory

Three Objectives

Frame the narrative Outline the social cognitive option Propose a model for the social cognitive

development of moral character

Framing the Narrative

Study of moral rationality within context of personality, selfhood, identity

Topics neglected by cognitive-development tradition (Kohlberg’s stage-and-structure) Cannot help defeat ethical relativism

“One person’s integrity is another person’s stubbornness”

No guidance for moral educationThe “bag of virtues” problem

“traits” much in doubtCross-situational consistency not demonstrated

Yet…a growing recognition

--moral reasoning cannot be abstracted cleanly from the complex dynamic system of personality of which it is both part and product

If “character” is the moral dimension of personality…”

it must be compatible with well-attested models of personality

But which model?

The “two disciplines” of personality research --Daniel Cervone

Which units best conceptualize personality?

Two Disciplines of Personality Between-person

classification Of inter-individual variability “top-down” Latent variable taxonomic

systems The “Big Five” traits

Neuroticism Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness to Experience

Within-person Intra-individual Cognitive-affective

mechanisms “bottom-up” (specific

psychological systems) “social cognitive” units

Schemas Scripts Prototypes “Event representations”

Assumptions of Social Cognitive Approach Activation of mental representations is critical

for social information-processing Mental representations include

Knowledge of social situations Representations of self, others, events Personal goals, beliefs, expectations Knowledge of task strategies

Which are conceptualized as schemas, prototypes, scripts, plans, goals

There are individual differences in the availability and accessibility of these

knowledge structures

Accessibility and Individual Differences Accessibility a dimension of individual

differences 3 points

1. Chronically accessible at higher state of activation (“automaticity”)

2. Accessibility influenced by situational priming

3. Emerges from developmental history

Chronic Accessibility and the Moral Personality Moral person has chronically accessible

moral schemas High level of activation Dimension of individual differences

Moral v. non-moral schemas Different moral schemas

Link to “moral identity”?

Empirical Demonstrations

Prototypic Moral CharacterLapsley & Lasky (Identity, 2001, 1(4), 345-363)

Is conceptualization of moral character organized around a cognitive prototype?

Recognition memory paradigm

Prototype activation biases recognition memory

Ss show false recognition of novel items if consistent with activated prototype

More false recognition of prototype-consistent (“virtue-central”) traits

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M ean Recall

Study 3 Study 4

Lapsley & Lasky (2001, Identity)

Prototypic Moral Character

Novel Virtue-Central

Novel Virtue-Peripheral

Individual differences in moral chronicityNarvaez, Lapsley, Hagele, Lasky, (2006, J.Res.Personality, 40, 966-985)

Do Ss with chronically accessible moral schemas make more spontaneous moral trait inferences?

Spontaneous trait inference (STI) paradigm(cued-recall)

Meaning of events constructed routinely, habitually and unintentionally

There are stable individual differences in the types of STIs that are produced

e.g., aggressiveness, authoritarianism

Individual Differences in STIs

AggressivenessZelli et al., 1995, Aggressive Behavior, 21, 405-417)

“The policeman pushes Dave out of the way.”Hostile dispositional cues prompt twice as much recall in spontaneous trait

inference condition for aggressive Ss than non-aggressive Ss(No difference in recall in a deliberative processing condition)

AuthoritarianismUleman et al., 1986, JPSP, 51, 396-403)

“The architect loved the excitement of military parades”

Implied the trait attribution “patriotric” for authoritarian SsBut non-authoriarians could not reach consensus

Is moral chronicity an individual differences variable that influences production of STIs?

Hypothesis

Moral chronics (vs. non-chronics) would recall more target sentences when cued with moral dispositional cues (vs. semantic).

Non-chronics will recall more sentences when cued with semantic cues (than dispositional cue)

Examples Cue Type

Virtue Trait Dispositional Semantic

The librarian gives her son a hug before he leaves for school loving books

The tailor comforts a friend who lost his job. compassionate clothes

Non-Virtue (Filler)

The mother stumbles over her feet when walking clumsy father

The sailor takes a shower everyday clean sea

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M ean Recall

Dispositional Semantic Filler

Cue Type

Moral Chronicity of STIs

Moral Chronics

Moral Non-Chronics

The Developmental Challenge Social cognitive approach to personality

compatible with “developmental systems” Personality a dynamic cognitive-affective system In reciprocal interaction with changing ecological

contexts Dispositional signature at P x C Diversity, plasticity, normative variation

Generalized Event Representations Early prototypical knowledge structures Encode routines, rituals, scripts Working models of early experience Progressively elaborated Early episodic memory

Basic building blocks of cognitive development

(and social cognitive foundation of character)

The Characterological Turn

Event representations transformed into autobiographical memory

Episodic memories reference a self whose story it is Narratives constructed through dialogue and

interrogatories Helps kids identify key features of their experience

and action-guiding scripts Over-learned, routine, habitual, automatic Lessons about emotions, relationships and morality

Summary

Psychologize character, virtues Integration with social cognitive science Novel facts

Schema accessibility Individual differences in moral chronicity Tacit, implicit, automatic features Early developmental grounding

General event representations Autobiographical memory