Talking about Right and Wrong Parent-Child Conversations as Contexts for Moral Development

Though it is generally acknowledged that parents are directly implicated in how and what their children learn about right and wrong, little is known about how the process of moral socialization proceeds in the context of family life, and how it gets played out in actual parent-child conversations. This volume brings together psychological research conducted in different countries documenting how parents and their children of different ages talk about everyday issues that bear on right and wrong. More than 150 excerpts from real parent-child conversations about children's own good and bad behaviors and about broader ethical concerns that interest both parents and children, such as global warming or gender equality, provide a unique window into the moral-socialization process in action. Talking about Right and Wrong also underscores distinct psychological and sociocultural processes that explain how such everyday conversations may further, or hinder, children's moral development.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Parent-child conversations as contexts for moral development: why conversations, and why conversations with parents? Cecilia Wainryb and Holly E. Recchia; Part II. Parent-Child Conversations: Contents, Contexts, and Consequences: 2. Family talk about moral issues: the toddler and preschool years Judy Dunn and Claire Hughes; 3. Remember drawing on the cupboard? New Zealand Māori, European, and Pasifika parents' conversations about children's transgressions Elaine Reese, Mele Taumoepeau and Tia Neha; 4. Taiwanese parent-child conversations for moral guidance: uncovering the ubiquitous but enigmatic process Jin Li, Heidi Fung and Eva Chian-Hui Chen; 5. Constructing moral, emotional, and relational understanding in the context of mother-child reminiscing Deborah Laible and Tia Panfile Murphy; 6. Caught red-handed: how Italian parents engage children in moral discourse and action Laura Sterponi; 7. Parent mediation of sibling conflict: addressing issues of fairness and morality Hildy Ross; 8. Judging fairness in the face of gender stereotypes: examining the nature and impact of mother-child conversations Lacey J. Hilliard and Lynn S. Liben; 9. Discussions of moral issues emerging in family conversations about science Maureen Callanan, Araceli Valle, Megan Luce and Jennifer Rigney; 10. 'Did you apologize?' Moral talk in European American and Chinese immigrant mother-child conversations of peer experiences Qi Wang and Qingfang Song; 11. Mother-child conversations about hurting others: supporting the construction of moral agency through childhood and adolescence Holly E. Recchia and Cecilia Wainryb; 12. Voice and power: constructing moral agency through personal and intergenerational narratives Robyn Fivush, Natalie Merrill and Kelly Marin; Part III. Parent-Child Conversations: Processes and Mechanisms: 13. Moral development, conversation, and the development of internal working models Ross A. Thompson and Abby C. Winer; 14. Parent-child conversations from the perspective of socialization theory Joan E. Grusec; 15. Conversations in the home: the role of dialogue and resistance in children's emerging understandings of morality, convention, and the personal Larry Nucci; 16. Constructing the good enough self: mother-child conversations and moral development from an identity framework Monisha Pasupathi; 17. Placing discursive practices front and center: a sociocultural approach to the study of early socialization Peggy J. Miller.

Cecilia Wainryb is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Utah.
Holly E. Recchia is an Assistant Professor of Education at Concordia University, Montréal.