MORAL REASONING ABOUT SCHOOL VIOLENCE - INFORMATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HARM WITHIN SCHOOL SUBCONTEXTS

Moral reasoning about violence-prone subcontexts in schools is an unde rstudied topic. I propose that concepts from cognitive developmental d omain theory, public health, and environmental psychology be used conj ointly to explore students' and teachers' understanding of violence-pr one subcontexts such as hallways, playgrounds, and cafeterias. It is a rgued that members of the school community have differing preformed in formational assumptions about violence-prone school subcontexts that s ystematically influence their judgments and interpretations of events in those locations. Two important informational assumptions are (a) th e individuals' or groups' estimation of risk for physical harm or pote ntial provocation in specific locations within the school, and (b) the individuals' or groups' beliefs about the school staffs professional role or responsibility to monitor and intervene in violence-prone area s. This article puts forth the hypothesis that different groups within the school community (e.g., aggressive vs. nonaggressive children, bo ys vs. girls, teachers vs. students) view violent school events in dif ferent ways because each group has different informational assumptions about the violence-prone subcontext. Therefore, each group focuses on different aspects of the physical and social context related to the v iolent event. Applications of this conceptual framework and future dir ections for research are explored.