Studies on the relationship between moral reasoning and moral behavior have yielded weak to modest correlations which vary in strength according to the behavior examined. This article describes a social-cognitive perspective which is geared toward more comprehensive behavioral predictions, particularly in cases of honesty and conformity where reasoning-behavior relationships have been identified to be particularly unimpressive. This perspective which is consistent with the symbolic interactionist approach of James Mark Baldwin focuses on children's self-definitions as related to perceptions of significant others. Aspects in which this form of social cognition is related to maladjusted behavior are explored as is selected recent research bearing on the development of autonomy and control in children.
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