New Beginnings: An Interactionist and Constructivist Approach to Early Moral Development

Orientations toward harming and helping others are central to morality. These orientations undergo major transformations in early life. This paper proposes an interactionist and constructivist approach to early moral development and discusses how children construct orientations toward harming and helping through everyday social interactions. A major developmental acquisition - typically evident by age 3 - is the ability to make judgments of right and wrong based on concerns with others' welfare. The paper concludes by outlining issues for future research on the development of morality from infancy to childhood. (C) 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel