Though it is generally acknowledged that parents are directly implicated in how and what their children learn about right and wrong, little is known about how the process of moral socialization proceeds in the context of family life, and how it gets played out in actual parent-child conversations. This volume brings together psychological research conducted in different countries documenting how parents and their children of different ages talk about everyday issues that bear on right and wrong. More than 150 excerpts from real parent-child conversations about children's own good and bad behaviors and about broader ethical concerns that interest both parents and children, such as global warming or gender equality, provide a unique window into the moral-socialization process in action. Talking about Right and Wrong also underscores distinct psychological and sociocultural processes that explain how such everyday conversations may further, or hinder, children's moral development.

‘Common sense tells us that parents teach morality as part of raising their children but developmental theory tells us that children actively construct morality in the course of social interaction. In Talking about Right and Wrong, top contemporary researchers show us how to reconcile these two views of moral development.’

David Moshman - University of Nebraska, Lincoln

'This volume provides a new and much needed perspective on research about relationships between children and parents. Instead of the common emphasis on how parents influence children's moral development, the wide-ranging chapters in this volume explore how children and parents interact regarding morality through their conversations. The editors have done a masterful job of bringing together leading researchers in discussions that will reshape how we think about the active roles of both children and parents in the process of the development of morality.’

Elliot Turiel - University of California, Berkeley