Social Cognition and Moral Development — Glossary

Social cognition

Thinking about the thoughts, feelings, motives, and behavior of the self and other people.

False belief task

A research paradigm used to assess an important aspect of a theory of mind, mainly the understanding that people can hold incorrect beliefs and be influenced by them.

Theory of mind

The understanding that people have mental states (feelings, desires, beliefs, intentions) and that these states underlie and help explain their behavior.

Desire psychology

The earliest theory of mind: An understanding that desires guide behavior (for example, that people seek things they like and avoid things they hate).

Belief–desire psychology

The theory of mind reflecting an understanding that people’s desires and beliefs guide their behavior and that their beliefs are not always an accurate reflection of reality; evident by age 4.

Mirror neurons

Neural cells in several brain areas that are activated not only when we perform an action but also when we observe someone else performing it; implicated in imitation, theory of mind skills, empathy, and language.

Mind-mindedness

The tendency to think and talk in elaborated ways about mental states; parents’ mind-mindedness contributes to the development of children’s theory-of-mind and other social cognitive skills.

Perspective-taking skills

The ability to assume other people’s perspectives and understand their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; role-taking skills.

Morality

The ability to distinguish right from wrong, to act on this distinction, and to experience pride when doing something right and to experience guilt or shame when doing something wrong; encompasses emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components.

Empathy

The vicarious experiencing of another person’s feelings.

Prosocial behavior

Positive actions toward other people such as helping and cooperating.

Antisocial behavior

Behavior that violates social norms, rules, or laws and harms others or society (for example, lying, stealing, behaving aggressively).

Moral reasoning

The cognitive component of morality; the thinking that occurs when people decide whether acts are right or wrong.

Preconventional morality

Kohlberg’s term for the first two stages of moral reasoning, in which society’s rules are not yet internalized and judgments are based on the punishing or rewarding consequences of an act.

Conventional morality

Kohlberg’s term for the third and fourth stages of moral reasoning in which societal values are internalized and judgments are based on a desire to gain approval or uphold law and social order.

Reciprocity

The mutual give and take by both parties in a human relationship that forms an important basis for morality.

Postconventional morality

Kohlberg’s term for the fifth and sixth stages of moral reasoning, in which moral judgments are based on a more abstract understanding of democratic social contracts or on universal principles of justice that have validity apart from the views of particular authority figures.

Moral disengagement

According to Bandura, the ability to avoid self-condemnation when engaged in immoral behavior by justifying, minimizing, or blaming others for one’s actions.

Amoral

Lacking any sense of morality; without standards of right and wrong.

Self-control

The ability to control or regulate one’s desires, impulses, and behavior.

Mutually responsive