Value Development in Middle Childhood
Do children have values? How do their values change over time and why? Are values related to prosocial and antisocial behavior?
In the Values in Middle Childhood project, funded by the Israel Science Foundation, we investigate social development across the elementary school years. We follow children in schools, interviewing them once a year. We ask children what they value and why, investigate their cognitive development and their social behavior. We want to understand children's perspective about their own values. We want to know more about the processes that enable their social development. Does cognitive, language, or socio-cognitive development contribute to these processes? Last, we want to know what motivations drive them to be caring and sharing.
The Reserch Team
Prof. Ella Daniel
Principal Investigator
Sapir Ben Dayan
Alumna MA student
Kati Abutabihi
Alumna MA student
Anat Chomsky
Phd student
Dr. Kineret Misgav
Alumna Graduate student
Chen Laufer
Alumna MA student
Avital Ben Dror Lankry
Phd student
Liraz Vered
Alumna MA student
Noam Garera
Phd student
Sapir Sharabi
Phd student
Mor Mizrahi
Alumna MA student
News & Events
May 30, 2025
On May 30, I participated in the Jean Piaget Society conference in Belgrade. I presented findings from my doctoral research, supervised by Prof. Ella Daniel and Prof. Dorit Ravid, which examines the association between language development and pro-social behavior in middle childhood.
(Avital Ben Dror Lankri- Phd st
_page-0001_edited.jpg)
Orian Shalev, a graduate of the Master’s program in Educational Counseling at Tel Aviv University, developed as part of her final project an innovative intervention program for parents on the topic of children’s value development. The program provides practical tools for understanding how values are shaped during childhood and for fostering meaningful value-based dialogue at home, with the aim of promoting moral thinking, empathy, and social responsibility.
Publications
Daniel, E., et al., (2024)
Value incoherence precedes value change: Evidence from value development in childhood and adolescence across cultures
European Journal of Personality, Early view.
Daniel, E., Misgav, K., & Chomsky, A (2024)
Journal of Personality, 92(5) 1283-1298.
Misgav, K., Daniel, E. (2022)
Cognitive Development, 64, 101267.
Daniel, E., Dӧring, A., & Cieciuch, J. (2022)
Journal of Personality, 91(2), 482-496.
Knafo-Noam, A., Benish-Weisman, M., & Daniel, E. (2023)
Current directions in Psychological Science. Early view
Misgav, K., Chomsky, A., & Daniel, E. (2023)
Social development, 32(3), 958-975
Misgav, K., Shachnai, R., Abramson, L, Knafo-Noam, A., & Daniel, E. (2022)
Current directions in Psychological Science. Early view