THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORALITY IN ADOLESCENCE: THE TRAINING OF CHARACTER
Abstract
There would be general agreement that antisocial behaviour among adolescents has become more apparent in the last decade in the very societies, like the United Kingdom, where its putative causes in poverty, bad housing, and social inequality have in fact diminished. Eysenck offers an alternative theory to that of sociological cause and effect that is based on a development of "conscience" by prolonged Pavlovian conditioning, a process that would be weakened by such toleration of bad behaviour as is involved in "permissiveness." Further, he identifies evidence for a process whereby a genetic factor in the cortex, that influences certain personality traits, also renders individuals less able to acquire such conditioned responses quickly and lastingly. Hypotheses would suggest that those children and adolescents that exhibit certain traits of personality would benefit from a regime of conditioning more rigorous than is needed for others. RÉSUMÉ On admet généralement qu'au cours des dix dernières années, le comportement antisocial des adolescents s'est manifesté avec plus d'acuité dans les sociétés mêmes, comme au Royaume-Uni, où les causes qu'on lui attribue généralement, pauvreté, mauvaises conditions de logement et injustice sociale, ont en fait diminué. Eysenck propose une théorie différente de celle de la cause et de l'effet sociologique; selon lui, c'est d'un conditionnement pavlovien prolongé qu'il faut attribuer le développement d'une "conscience," processus qui est altéré par une trop grande tolérance des écarts de comportement. En outre, il identifie des manifestations d'un processus en vertu duquel un facteur génétique du cortex qui influerait sur certains traits de la personnalité, diminuerait aussi la capacité des êtres d'acquérir rapidement des réactions conditionnées durables. L'on peut supposer que les enfants et adolescents qui manifestent certains traits de caractère profiteraient d'un conditionnement plus rigoureux que celui dont les autres ont besoin.Downloads
Published
1980-04-01
How to Cite
Eysenck, H. J. (1980). THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORALITY IN ADOLESCENCE: THE TRAINING OF CHARACTER. McGill Journal of Education / Revue Des Sciences De l’éducation De McGill, 15(002). Retrieved from https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/7326
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