Cognitive and Moral Development, Academic Achievement in Adolescence

Richard M. Lerner, Jasna Jovanovic, Richard M. Lerner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780815332916
• eBook ISBN: 9781134828173
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This volume focuses on concepts central to the understanding of the key features of individuality which undergo significant transformations throughout the adolescent period: Personality, self, and ego. While rooted in distinct theoretical traditions, these three concepts, in combination, capture the core aspects of the formation of the individual's unique sense of self or identity, a psychosocial development fundamentally associated with adolescence. Consistent with the developmental-systems models of person-context relations at the forefront of current human development theory and research, the articles within this volume focus on the dynamic, reciprocal relations between youth and key socializing agents within their ecologies. Nevertheless, the articles represented in this volume illustrate that when attempting to understand the development of personality- and self-systems, scholars differ in the extent to which they place primary emphasis on the individual, on the context, or on the relationship between the two.

Prosocial Development in Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study

Nancy Eisenberg, Gustavo Carlo, Bridget Murphy, Patricia Van Court

Arizona State University

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (BNS8807784 and DBS-9208375), a Career Development Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (K04 HD00717), and a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Health (K02 MH00903) to Nancy Eisenberg. The authors thank the mothers and students in our longitudinal samples, and the principals, students, and teachers at McClintock High School for their participation. We also appreciated the assistance of Nicole Cordova, Susan Quezada, and My-Chau Tran with data entry. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Nancy Eisenberg, Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287.

EISENBERG, NANCY; CARLO, GUSTAVO; MURPHY, BRIDGET; AND VAN COURT, PATRICIA. Prosocial Development in Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1995, 66, 1179–1197. Change in prosocial moral reasoning over 15 years, gender differences in prosocial reasoning, and the interrelations of moral reasoning, prosocial behavior, and empathy-related emotional responses were examined with longitudinal data from 17–18-and 19–20-year-olds and data from adolescents interviewed for the first time. Hedonistic reasoning declined in use until adolescence, and then increased somewhat in early adulthood. Needs-oriented and stereotypic reasoning increased until mid-childhood or early adolescence and then declined in use. Direct reciprocity and approval reasoning, which appeared to be on the decline in mid-adolescence in previous follow-ups, showed no decline into early adulthood. Several modes of higher-level reasoning increased in use across adolescence and early adulthood. Females’ overall reasoning was higher than males’. Scores on interview and objective measures of prosocial moral reasoning were positively correlated. Consistent with expectations, there was some evidence of relations among prosocial reasoning, prosocial behavior, sympathy, and perspective taking.

Most research on moral judgment has concerned reasoning about moral dilemmas in which rules, laws, authorities’ dictates, and formal obligations are central (Kohlberg, 1969, 1981; Rest, 1979). There has been much less research on positive morality (Eisenberg, 1986; Gilligan & Attanucci, 1988). To eliminate this gap in the research, Eisenberg and her colleagues have studied age changes in, and correlates of, prosocial moral reasoning (reasoning about moral dilemmas in which one person’s needs or desires conflict with those of others in a context in which the role of prohibitions, authorities’ dictates, and formal obligations is minimal; Eisenberg, 1986). The primary purpose of the present study was to extend the existing longitudinal study on this topic into late adolescence/early adulthood—that is, to age 17 to 18 years and age 19 to 20 years—and to examine the relations of prosocial moral reasoning to prosocial behavior and empathy-related characteristics. A secondary goal was to examine the relations among empathy-related characteristics and prosocial behavior.

The age-related changes in prosocial moral reasoning found in childhood and early to mid-adolescence generally have been consistent with Kohlberg’s (1981) view that the capacities for complex perspective taking and for understanding abstract concepts are associated with advances in moral reasoning. Specifically, researchers have found that young children tend to use primarily hedonistic reasoning or needs-oriented (primitive empathic) prosocial reasoning. In elementary school, children’s reasoning begins to reflect concern with approval and enhancing interpersonal relationships as well as the desire to behave in stereotypically “good” ways, although such reasoning appears to decrease in use somewhat in high school (Eisenberg, 1986). Direct reciprocity reasoning, which reflects an orientation to self-gain, has been found to increase in the elementary school years, perhaps because of the cognitive sophistication involved in thinking about reciprocity over time (Eisenberg et al., 1987). However, according to longitudinal data, such reasoning drops off in use somewhat in midadolescence (Eisenberg, Miller, Shell, McNalley, & Shea, 1991). Beginning in late elementary school or thereafter, children begin to express reasoning reflecting abstract principles, internalized affective reactions (e.g., guilt), and self-reflective sympathy and perspective taking. Nonetheless, at all ages individuals sometimes verbalize less mature modes of reasoning, although hedonistic reasoning decreases with age in childhood (Eisenberg, 1986). Of particular interest is the finding that in mid-adolescence (particularly at age 15 to 16 years), hedonistic reasoning, which dropped off sharply until age 11 to 12, increased somewhat, particularly for boys (Eisenberg et al., 1991). The latter finding is consistent with Eisenberg’s (1986) view that levels of prosocial moral reasoning are not hierarchical, integrated structures (so an individual’s reasoning is not necessarily primarily at one stage) or invariant in sequence and universal.

At this time, to our knowledge there are no data on prosocial moral reasoning beyond high school. Longitudinal data on prosocial moral reasoning have been collected from children from 4 to 5 years of age to 15 to 16 years of age (Eisenberg et al., 1991). Because moral development in regard to justice-related issues continues into adulthood (Colby, Kohlberg, Gibbs, & Lieberman, 1983), and advances in logical and sociocognitive capabilities occur during adolescence and early adulthood (Kuhn, Amsel, & O’Loughlin, 1988; Selman, 1980), there are theoretical reasons to expect further development of prosocial moral reasoning in late adolescence and beyond. Moreover, changes in the complexity of the social environment as individuals move into late adolescence and college might be expected to stimulate perspective taking and, consequently, the development of higher-level moral reasoning (see Mason & Gibbs, 1993; Rest & Narvaez, 1991). Thus, we expected greater use of higher-level, internalized modes of reasoning with age. In contrast, stereotypic and approval/interpersonal-oriented reasoning, mid-level modes of prosocial moral reasoning, were expected to continue to decrease slightly with age (as they do in justice-oriented reasoning during late adolescence and adulthood; Colby et al., 1983).

It was more difficult to make predictions regarding changes in hedonistic (and, to some degree, direct reciprocity) reasoning. Although hedonistic reasoning reflects lower-level concerns and is most common in young children, some investigators have noted relative increases in such lower-level reasoning in late adolescence/early adulthood (Kohlberg & Kramer, 1969). Whether or not one finds evidence of an increase in lower-level reasoning at this age appears to depend on the method of coding of factors such as relativity in moral reasoning and structure of reasoning (see Candee & Kohlberg, 1987; Murphy & Gilligan, 1980). In the older coding system used with justice-oriented moral reasoning data—a system that tapped content of reasoning and structure of reasoning—regression in reasoning was noted in early adulthood (Kohlberg & Kramer, 1969). When the coding system was modified to assess primarily structure of justice-oriented moral reasoning and moral competence (rather than actual use of all types of moral reasoning), little evidence of moral regression was found (Colby et al., 1983). However, the more recently developed coding system involves several procedures that result in the discarding of lower-level reasoning (e.g., if such reasoning occurs infrequently or if a higher-level reason is stated for the same issue; see Colby & Kohlberg, 1987; Eisenberg, 1986). In the scoring of prosocial moral reasoning, content (e.g., an emphasis on egoistic issues) as well as structure, and performance rather than competence, are assessed; thus, a decrease in level of reasoning in late adolescence similar to that found with the older Kohlberg coding system might be expected. Such a “regression” might be due to the relativism, accompanied by seemingly egoistic reasoning due to an emphasis on individualism and individual rights. According to some theorists, relativistic reasoning and a seemingly individualistic focus are part of the process of rejecting conventional moral reasoning (moral reasoning oriented toward the arbitrary maintenance of social order, authority, and societal rules) and shifting to principled, internalized moral reasoning that emphasizes individual rights (Kohlberg & Gilligan, 1971; Turiel, 1974).

From another perspective, Gilligan (1977) noted a shift in early adulthood from a focus on goodness as self-sacrifice to an emphasis on responsibility for the self as well as others. In prosocial moral dilemmas, the conflict is between one’s own and another’s needs, wants, and desires; story protagonists can assist another, but at a cost. Thus, some older adolescents and young adults may express more self-oriented reasoning in response to prosocial moral dilemmas as they realistically weigh the relative costs, and their responsibilities, to self and other in moral dilemmas. Given all the aforementioned factors, it was difficult to predict age-related changes in hedonistic moral reasoning in late adolescence.

As in prior follow-ups of the longitudinal study, prosocial moral reasoning was assessed with Eisenberg’s interview procedures. However, at the 15-year follow-up (at age 19 to 20 years), an objective pencil-and-paper measure of prosocial moral judgment (the PROM) also was used (Carlo, Eisenberg, & Knight, 1992). This relatively new instrument had never been used with individuals past tenth grade; thus, we wanted to examine its relation to empathy, perspective taking, prosocial behavior, and moral reasoning as assessed in interviews for this age group.

As noted previously, a goal of this study was to examine the relations among prosocial moral reasoning, prosocial behavior, and empathy-related reactions in late adolescence/early adulthood. Few researchers have studied adolescents’ empathy-related reactions, and even studies of adolescents’ prosocial behavior are rare (Eisenberg, 1990).

Theorists such as Candee and Kohlberg (1987) and Rest (1979) have argued that moral reasoning influences individuals’ moral decisions and behavior. In fact, moral reasoning, including prosocial moral judgment, in general is modestly correlated with the performance of prosocial behaviors (Eisenberg, 1986; Underwood & Moore, 1982). Children’s and early-to midadolescents’ prosocial behavior generally has been positively related to needs-oriented reasoning, negatively related to hedonistic reasoning (Eisenberg, 1986; Eisenberg et al., 1987), and occasionally positively correlated with a composite measure of adolescents’ prosocial moral reasoning (e.g., at age 15 to 16, but not 13 to 14, in the longitudinal study; Eisenberg et al., 1991). Researchers have hypothesized that the relation between moral reasoning and behavior increases with age because higher-level reasoning is associated with the “progressive stripping away of bases for justifying behavior that are extrinsic to principle” (p. 104, Rholes & Bailey, 1983), resulting in stronger motivation to maintain consistency between attitudes and behaviors at higher stages of development (Kohlberg & Candee, 1984). Thus, measures of the longitudinal subjects’ prosocial behavior and inhibition of aggression in late adolescence/early adulthood were expected to be positively correlated with other-oriented and perhaps higher-level modes of reasoning, and negatively correlated with hedonistic reasoning.

Some types of prosocial moral reasoning explicitly reflect cognitive perspective taking and sympathetic tendencies; further, perspective taking is viewed as underlying advances in moral judgment (Colby et al., 1983; Eisenberg, 1986) and some types of prosocial behavior (Underwood & Moore, 1982). Nonetheless, there are very few studies of the relations of empathy-related dispositional characteristics to moral reasoning or adolescents’ prosocial behavior, particularly studies in which researchers have differentiated among various empathy-related responses. Investigators have argued that sympathy (concern for others based on the apprehension of another’s state) and empathy (an emotional reaction elicited by and congruent with another’s state) stimulate the development of internalized moral reasoning reflecting concern for others’ welfare (Hoffman, 1987) and prime the use of pre-existing other-oriented moral cognitions (Eisenberg, 1986). Further, sympathy, which frequently may stem from empathy and perspective taking (Hoffman, 1987), is viewed as resulting in other-oriented, altruistic motivation and has been associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1991). In contrast, personal distress (a self-focused, aversive reaction to cues regarding another’s negative state or emotion; Davis, 1983) has been theoretically linked to egoistic motives and empirically associated with low levels of prosocial behavior (Batson, 1991; Eisenberg & Fabes, 1991). Thus, cognitive perspective taking and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction Cognitive and Moral Development and Academic Achievement in Adolescence: A View of the Issues
• Intellectual Evolution from Adolescence to Adulthood
• Egocentrism in Adolescence
• Formal Reasoning Among Pre- and Late Adolescents
• Formal Operations as Regulatory Context in Adolescence
• Development of Physical and Social Reasoning in Adolescence
• Revisions in the Theory and Practice of Moral Development
• Children’s Reasoning About Interpersonal and Moral Conflicts
• Prosocial Development in Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study
• Socialization and Mothers’ and Adolescents’ Empathy-Related Characteristics
• The Youth Charter: Towards the Formation of Adolescent Moral Identity
• In the Mind of the Actor: The Structure of Adolescents’ Achievement Task Values and Expectancy-Related Beliefs
• Individual-Contextual Relationships and Mathematics Performance: Comparing American and Serbian Young Adolescents
• Ethnic Differences in Adolescent Achievement: An Ecological Perspective
• Explaining the School Performance of African-American Adolescents
• The Influence of Perceived Family and Personal Factors on Self-Reported School Performance of Chinese and Western High School Students
• Stability of Intelligence from Preschool to Adolescence: The Influence of Social and Family Risk Factors
• School Outcomes for Minority-Group Adolescent Mothers at 28 to 36 Months Postpartum: A Longitudinal Follow-Up
• Parental Child Rearing and Academic Achievement in Boys: The Mediational Role of Social-Emotional Adjustment
• The Relation of Parenting Style to Adolescent School Performance
• Full Service Schools: Revolution or Fad?
• Effects on Students of an Interdisciplinary Program Linking Social Studies, Art, and Family Volunteers in the Middle Grades
• Out-of-School Care of Young Adolescents and Self-Reported Behavior
• Acknowledgments