Moral Development

Catalog description

How do children learn to tell right from wrong? How are they socialized into ethical practices of their culture? This course explores the sources of human morality by surveying major theories of moral development and analyzing the latest research on the emergence of the moral sense. It investigates the development of early prosocial behavior, socio-moral emotions (empathy, guilt, pride), cooperation, altruism, concepts of justice, moral identity, moral evaluation, and related phenomena. In addition to age-related changes, special attention is paid to cross-cultural comparisons. Prerequisite: Psychology 103 or Psychology 235 or Psychology 325 or consent of instructor.