This paper examined Early Childhood education as an instrument for good governance in Nigeria. Good governance, is a situation whereby those in power decides what is to be implemented or not without making the governed feel marginalized. Good governance requires certain characteristics before one can say it is good. Characteristics like…

Within psychology, most aspects of ownership have received scant attention or have been overlooked completely. In this chapter, the authors outline 21 reasons why it will be important (and interesting) to understand the psychological basis of ownership of property, including its developmental origins: (1) Daily life; (2) A human universal, and…

Higher education, as well as the larger society appears to be experiencing a serious decline in civility. In this article the author presents the case for introducing civility education in first-year general education courses. After citing some of the research documenting both faculty and student perceptions of incivility in the university and…

Research suggests children readily distinguish between moral wrongs and social norm violations. Moral concepts consistently focus on issues of justice and compassion regardless of religious belief. Moral education can be compatible with, and independent from, religious doctrine. Two principals for such education are suggested as useful for…

An instrument to measure various aspects of children's character, including self-esteem, altruism, and integrity or responsibility was developed. The 48-item test was given to 111 4- and 5-year-old Hawaiian children. Test reliability and factor structures were determined. The three factors are discussed. Further development is continuing;…

Two classrooms of first graders (n-40) were administered Damon's moral judgment measure, Spivack and Shure's social problems solving measure and Stanford-Binet vocabulary. Concurrently, two observers recorded in the children's school environment incidences of successful resolutions of interactions, amount of derogation, and the number of times a…

Reviews research on the effect of school climate on the social development of early adolescents and on three curricular programs (values clarification, moral development, and cooperative learning). Concludes that schools can positively influence socio-moral development through non-traditional schooling, i.e., open and democratic environments,…

A microanalytic description of teachers' interactions with children suggests that the sociomoral atmospheres of three types of classrooms differ considerably. Children in the direct-instruction classroom experience an almost totally unilateral relationship with the teacher; in the constructivist classroom, there is more reciprocity and intimacy;…

Reports on the results of 2 studies that use a non-Kohlbergian approach to categorizing justifications for moral judgments by Australian subjects from 7 to 15 and from 7 to 21 years. These studies support the view that moral reasoning up to late adolescence is largely a product of socialization. (KO)

The aim of this inquiry was to evaluate the existing literature on moral evaluation and development, to develop a model to clarify the concepts of moral judgement, development and commitment, and to specify their sources, structures, and interrelations. The purpose was to try to resolve whether these concepts are best understood from an…

Results of a study on the relationship between children's sociomoral development and the sociomoral atmospheres of three types of kindergarten classrooms suggest the possibility that heavily academic, teacher-centered programs hinder children's development of interpersonal understanding and their broader social-cognitive and moral development. (LB)

This report provides preschool and early elementary schoolteachers with a summary of current research and theories on the social development of young children, relating the findings of psychological studies to classroom practice in the areas of cooperative behavior, moral development, achievement motivation, and the dynamics of peer interaction.…

The Prosocial Attitude Blank (PAB) was designed to assess interpersonal values and ethical awareness of elementary school children. PAB was administered to 405 elementary students as one component of the evaluation of an intervention program designed to reduce interpersonal conflicts, increase literacy skills, and enhance children's ethical…