ABSTRACT

Adolescence has been highlighted as a significant period in an individual’s character development and autonomous decision-making. Social cognitive theories of character emphasise the importance of the interaction between person and context in making decisions which promote the good. A Grounded Theory methodology was used to explore how adolescents apply their virtue beliefs when faced with moral dilemmas, an ability which has been called ‘practical wisdom’ in some theories of character development. Eighteen participants aged 12–15 took part in interviews to explore their moral decision-making processes. The findings suggest the interaction between adolescents’ virtue beliefs and contextual factors can vary according to the individual’s prior experience, the factors salient to them within the immediate context (particularly social and emotional factors) and the weight they assign to possible consequences of their decisions. The study concludes that adolescents’ moral decision-making processes vary between individuals and across situations, with social cognitive theories of decision-making offering a possible explanation for these variations.

摘要

青春期被强调为个人性格发展和自主决策的重要时期。性格的社会认知理论强调人与环境之间的相互作用在做出促进善的决策中的重要性。扎根理论方法被用来探索青少年在面临道德困境时如何运用他们的美德信念，这种能力在一些性格发展理论中被称为“实践智慧”。十八名 12-15 岁的参与者参加了访谈，以探索他们的道德决策过程。研究结果表明，青少年的美德信念和背景因素之间的相互作用可能因个人先前的经验而异，在直接背景下对他们来说突出的因素（特别是社会和情感因素）以及他们对决定可能产生的后果的重视程度。该研究得出的结论是，青少年的道德决策过程因个体和情境而异，决策的社会认知理论为这些差异提供了可能的解释。