EDUCATORʼS RESOURCE GUIDE - Learning Seed

A Child's Mind: How Kids Learn Right & Wrong! ! ! ! ! ! ! Glossary
Autonomous! independent in mind, or self-governing.
Cluster schools! schools-within-a-school in Massachusetts and New York focused on moral discussions as a major
part of the curriculum.
Domain Theory" Elliot Turielʼs theory of moral development in which a moral domain, a social domain, and a
psychological domain evolve in a parallel way - all at the same time.
Conventional ! a way of thinking characterized by valuing the views of others - and the understanding that rules
Reasoning! are important to society.
Egocentric! unable to account for another personʼs perspective.
Heteronomous! subject to external law, rule, or authority.
Immanent justice" the expectation that punishments automatically follow wrong-doings.
Internalization ! the developmental change from externally controlled behavior to internally controlled behavior.
Moral development ! the process through which individuals develop attitudes and behaviors toward others, based on
social and cultural norms, rules and laws.
Moral domain ! domain in which morality is concerned with harm, welfare, and fairness.
Objective
responsibility" valuing the letter of the law, no matter what the circumstances.
personal domain! domain made up of choices a child makes: who they choose as friends and activities they decide to
do when they have the choice.
Post conventional
reasoning ! reasoning based on social contracts and individual rights as well as universal ethical principles.
Psychological
domain ! domain in which a child understands who they are as an individual and their thoughts about people
and situations. Eventually it includes understanding the thoughts of other people.
Social Learning
Theory " theory, of which Albert Bandura was a proponent, that describes learning as an occurrence within a
social context, and states that people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and
modeling.
Theory of mind ! the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to
oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are
different from one's own.