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Just as the contexts surrounding socioemotional development are important, so are the elements that comprise it. Three such elements are discussed in this section: identity development, moral development, and emotional development. As such, domain theory is different from Kohlberg's theory, in which moral reasoning not only develops after social conventional reasoning but also is considered a higher level of development.
IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
Identity development involves the exploration of alternatives with the ultimate goal of committing to an identity (i.e. commitment). An individual's identity development can be classified according to one of the following four statuses:
1. Identity diffusion--neither an exploration of alternatives nor a commitment to an identity has occurred
2. Identity foreclosure--a commitment was made to a particular identity without first exploring alternatives
3. Identity moratorium--an exploration of alternatives is ongoing; no commitment has been made
4. Identity achievement--an exploration was made and a commitment was made to a particular identity
Another important aspect of identity is ethnicity. Studies have found that pride in one's ethnicity is linked to positive outcomes for ethnic minority students.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Santrock (2018) states that moral development "concerns the rules and conventions about just interactions between people" (p. 97). Two prominent theories of moral development include:
1. Kohlerg's theory--This theory developed by Lawrence Kohlberg consists of three levels, each of which has two stages. The theory is described in detail in Santrock (2018) on pages 97-99.
2. Domain theory--This theory places moral reasoning and social conventional reasoning in two different domains. In this theory, moral reasoning deals with ethical issues and morality; however, social conventional reasoning deals with rules that have been established to promote order (e.g., raising your hand before speaking). This is different from Kohlberg's theory in which moral reasoning develops after social conventional reasoning.
Issues of moral development which are relevant to the classroom are cheating, altruism (def. helping others unselfishly), and expressing gratitude. Several curricula and approaches have been created to promote moral development among students, such as character education, values clarification, and cognitive moral education.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Emotions are defined as "feelings...that occur when an individual is in a state or interaction that is important to him/her" (Santrock, 2018, p, 104). The following are some important aspects of emotional development in childhood and adolescence:
Middle & Late Childhood. There is an overall improvement the ability to manage and understand emotions, including being able to suppress one's emotions, hide negative reactions, and redirect one's feelings; a capacity for empathy also emerges
Adolescence. Emotional "highs and lows" occur, which may lead to lashing out, projecting their feelings onto someone else, blaming others, etc.
Several education programs and frameworks have been created to promote the development of emotional intelligence, including Second Step and CASEL's five learning domains.