Social cognitive theory of morality

The social cognitive theory of morality attempts to explain how moral thinking, in interaction with other psychosocial determinants, govern individual moral conduct. Social cognitive theory adopts an 'interactionist' perspective to the development of moral behavior. Personal factors of the individual, such as individual moral thought, emotional reactions to behavior, personal moral conduct, and factors within their environment, all interact with, and affect each other. Social cognitive theory contests, in many ways, with the stage theories of moral reasoning. Social cognitive theory attempts to understand why an individual uses a lower level of moral reasoning when they are, theoretically, at a higher level. It also attempts explain the way social interactions help to form new, as well as change existing, moral standards. The influence of modeling and other such social factors are explored as functions of growth and development.Albert Bandura also believes that moral development is best understood by considering a combination of social and cognitive factors, especially those involving self-control. The social cognitive theory of morality attempts to explain how moral thinking, in interaction with other psychosocial determinants, govern individual moral conduct. Social cognitive theory adopts an 'interactionist' perspective to the development of moral behavior. Personal factors of the individual, such as individual moral thought, emotional reactions to behavior, personal moral conduct, and factors within their environment, all interact with, and affect each other. Social cognitive theory contests, in many ways, with the stage theories of moral reasoning. Social cognitive theory attempts to understand why an individual uses a lower level of moral reasoning when they are, theoretically, at a higher level. It also attempts explain the way social interactions help to form new, as well as change existing, moral standards. The influence of modeling and other such social factors are explored as functions of growth and development.Albert Bandura also believes that moral development is best understood by considering a combination of social and cognitive factors, especially those involving self-control. Theories grounded in the belief that different types of moral thinking appears in a sequence, from one way of thinking to another, invariantly, are considered stage theories. Both Kohlberg and Piaget's theories about the development of moral reasoning argue that development occurs in stages and that less complex reasoning strategies from lower stages are abandoned in favor of the more complex strategies from the next. In essence, a preference for higher levels of moral thinking is the underlying proposition of stage theories, although what makes higher level moral thinking superior to lower level moral thinking is unclear. However, stage theories tend to downplay the effect of social learning on the individual and the influence the environment can have in certain situations of moral reasoning. For example, even for individuals who are at a higher level stage in their moral development some reasoning may take into consideration the rule of law, some may be concerned with social consequences, and some may yet be concerned with personal feelings. As such, it is possible that developmental trends in moral reasoning do exist but the influence of society and the learning that takes place from it is much too varied to produce uniform moral types in the development of all individuals. Bandura argues that in developing a moral self, individuals adopt standards of right and wrong that serve as guides and restraints for conduct. In this self-regulatory process, people monitor their conduct and the conditions under which it occurs, judge it in relation to moral standards, and regulate their actions by the consequences they apply to themselves. They do things that provide them satisfaction and sense of self-worth. They often refrain from engaging in ways that violate their moral standards in order to avoid self-condemnation. Therefore, self-sanctions keep conducts inline with internal standards. In Bandura's view, morality is rooted in self-regulation rather than abstract reasoning. He also argues that moral reasoning follows the same developmental continuum as other mental processes; from concrete to abstract.