Representations of authority and children's moral reasoning

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between alternative sources of authority which might in¯uence a child's moral reasoning. It returns to Piaget's (1932) work to explore features of a child's social relations which may act either to promote or constrain the communication and acceptance of moral knowledge. Children were asked to judge which of two boys was naughtier in one of Piaget's moral`stories'. Those who had independently given dierent responses were placed in a pair and asked to agree a response together. An authority of status was introduced into some pairs by varying the gender composition of the dyad and contrasted with epistemic authority derived from the arguments more closely associated with moral autonomy. In the absence of an authority of status (in same-sex pairs) in¯uence through epistemic authority occurred with relative ease. When status and epistemic authority con¯icted subjects took far longer to accept the legitimacy of the epistemic authority.

Social Representations and Teaching and Learning Processes of Social Knowledge

“…Al plantear la polifasia entre ciencia y sentido común, o entre formas del sentido común, los psicólogos sociales no han considerado las construcciones propiamente conceptuales de los individuos. Más aún, la elaboración individual de conceptos no es admitida por ellos, con la excepción de los trabajos de Duveen y sus colegas (Duveen & Rosa, 1992;Leman & Duveen, 1999). En este apartado se intenta abordar la diversidad de los saberes previos deteniendo se en la perspectiva psicogenética y la teoría de las RS.…”

The Use of Symbolic Resources in Developmental Transitions

“…Where asymmetries of knowledge are framed within mixed-sex pairs (such as a conserving girl or boy paired with a non-conserving boy or girl, Fm and Mf, respectively, in our notation), Duveen (1996, 1999) have reported clear gender-marked patterns of interaction in terms of argument style. For instance, in a study employing Piaget's moral development stories, autonomous girls faced with heteronymous boys were observed to make greater use of a wider range of arguments, in part because these boys were asserting their own position quite clearly (Leman & Duveen, 1999, 2003. At the microgenetic level such conduct could be described as a form of situational positioning at the inter-personal level.…”

“…From previous research (Leman & Duveen, 1999) we expected that the gender composition of dyads would influence the communication patterns of the discussions and the social representations of gender at the age we were interested in (6-to 8-year olds). By including gender as a dimension in the research design, the situations we constructed also provided children with potential moments for the organization and regulation of their social-gender identities.…”

“…In this study asymmetry in knowledge was always present during the interaction phase since a conserver was always paired with a non-conserver. As in Leman and Duveen (1999), the gender combination of pairs was also varied to produce four pair-types: conserving boys working with non-conserving boys (Mm); conserving boys working with non-conserving girls (Mf); conserving girls working with non-conserving girls (Ff); and conserving girls working with non-conserving boys (Fm). 2.…”

Interacción sociocognitiva entre pares en situaciones simétricas y asimétricas de competencia epistémica

“…Se analizaron tareas adaptadas de las propuestas originalmente por Piaget (por ejemplo, Piaget, 1923/2002, como ser trasvasamiento de líquido (Doise & Mugny, 1984;Psaltis & Duveen, 2006, 2007 o rotación de planos (Doise & Mugny, 1984;Psaltis, 2011;Zapiti & Psaltis, 2012). Otra variante dentro de esta línea son los trabajos sobre desarrollo moral, distinguiendo entre niños heterónomos y autónomos (por ejemplo, Leman & Duveen, 1999, 2003.…”