About this session

Wednesday, 1:15 PM - 5:30 PM

Building Bridges, Burning Bridges: The Role of Intergroup Relations on Moral Development

Across the past decade, an Annual Moral Development Pre-Conference at one of the major conferences in the field has served as an important space for researchers and theorists to gather and exchange ideas about the state of the area of moral development. This year’s pre-conference will focus on intergroup relations, sociopolitical conflict, and their impact on children's moral development. Given the increasing sociopolitical challenges in our societies, understanding intergroup relationships and the ways for supporting moral development and inhibiting conflicts among groups is of critical concern. The pre-conference will include opening remarks, two keynote speakers with time for Q&A, two small-group breakout sessions for discussion, and closing remarks.

We are delighted that Dr. Laura Taylor of University College Dublin and Dr. E. Mark Cummings of University of Notre Dame will be the keynote speakers. Dr. Laura Taylor is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin. Her research program, which has spanned across the country contexts of Colombia, Croatia, Northern Ireland, and the United States, examines the impact of political violence on children, families, and communities. More specifically, her work employs a resilience framework to identify the adaptive processes that result in positive adjustment among youth experiencing current and protracted political conflict. Importantly, Dr. Taylor has recently proposed a developmental framework which challenges our field to reposition youth as active agents whose prosocial behavior across micro-, exo-, and macro-systems contributes to peace building and social cohesion. Dr. E. Mark Cummings is the William J. Shaw Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses on relations between adaptive and maladaptive family processes and development in childhood and adolescence, including both international contexts and diverse cultures. Additionally, Dr. Cummings’ work includes basic and intervention research on political violence, armed conflict, and their effects on child and family adjustment. Dr. Cummings’ distinguished research and expertise in intergroup relations, political violence, and armed conflict will provide valuable insights and greatly enrich our pre-conference and group discussions.