The aim of this study was to determine the socialization goals related to the moral education taught by preschool teachers of children aged 2-6 years in two different cultures, Indonesia and Germany. Thirteen preschools with 138 teachers from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and 20 preschools with 73 teachers from Bielefeld and Muenster, Germany answered a…

This explorative study is concerned with the issue of establishing a two-dimensional "mechanism" of moral education, relating to: (1) connections and continuity from primary to high school (vertical dimension); and (2) collaborations between parents-teachers-community-government (horizontal dimension). We use a primary school and a high…

What does it take know a moral truth or principle? Although testimony is an undisputed source of empirical knowledge of contingent facts, it is less clear whether it is possible to acquire "second-hand moral knowledge" (Jones, 1999; Wolff, 1998). In the present studies, 3- to 5-year-old Chinese (N = 124) and U.S. American (N = 90)…

The current study aimed to investigate the cultural differences in the developmental origins of children's intent-based moral judgment and moral behavior in the context of indirect reciprocity. To this end, we compared how German and Chinese children interpret and react to antisocial and prosocial interactions between puppets. An actor puppet…

This article examines relationships between children and youths' judgments and their justifications of truth telling and verbal deception, in situational and cultural contexts. Han Chinese, Euro-Canadians and Chinese-Canadians, seven- to 17-years of age were presented competitive scenarios in which protagonists told either lies to protect, or…

Maternal control is a major dimension of parenting and has different meanings, practices, and potential consequences across cultures. The present study aimed to identify and compare mothers' conceptualizations of parenting control across four cultures to reveal a more nuanced understanding regarding the meaning and practices of control: European…

This paper explores a volunteer teaching project that set out to meet a school's need for English instruction and instead encountered other more profound needs. This case study investigates these needs as they emerged in the written and oral reflections of the four volunteer teachers. In tandem with the teaching project, the study found that the…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a scale assessing students' moral thinking and communication (MTC) functioning as well as to explore the implications for moral development and education. The rationale of MTC functioning, including interaction of four independent competencies: moral awareness, moral judgement, moral discourse, and…

In this study, we investigated the culture-invariant and culture-dependent nature of teachers' ethical sensitivity in two countries. Our case study involves teachers from Finland (n = 864) representing Western culture, and from Iran (n = 556) representing Eastern culture. Culturally bound elements of ethical sensitivity were studied with the…

Whether moral conceptions are universal or culture-specific is controversial in moral psychology. One option is to refrain from imposing theoretical constraints and to ask laypeople from different cultures how "they" conceptualize morality. Our article adopts this approach by examining laypeople's associations of moral character in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of American and Japanese early childhood teachers regarding the nurturing of young children's moral development using literature. The data consisted of responses to a questionnaire and written explanations of 36 American and 36 Japanese teachers. By comparing responses of the two groups, it was…

To increase school psychologists' understanding of school contextual culture in China, this study used a qualitative research method to investigate 30 Chinese elementary school teachers' evaluation criteria as reflected in narrative student evaluations. In the study, 450 narrative student evaluations were coded and analysed. Overall, results…

This cross-cultural study of the moral judgements of Mainland Han-Chinese, Chinese-Canadian, and Euro-Canadian children aged seven to 11 examined the evaluations of narrative protagonists' modest lies and self-promoting truthful statements in situations where they had done a good deed. The story characters had thus either lied or told the truth…

In this study, the researchers examined how K-8 teachers approach morality, moral education, and the moral development of children in Turkey and in the United States. Both countries have diverse cultures and long histories with secular education systems. Surveys were sent to teachers in nine cities in both countries. Results suggest that Turkish…

Major psychological theories of morality and motivation make the assumption that an inverse relationship exists between guilt and satisfaction. To the extent that feelings of guilt are linked to a particular motivational or moral stance, it is assumed that feelings of satisfaction are unlikely also be linked to that stance. Empirical findings in…