Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Role of Victims’ Emotions in Preschoolers’ Moral Judgments

  • Published:
Review of Philosophy and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Do victims’ emotions underlie preschoolers’ moral judgment abilities? Study 1 asked preschoolers (n = 72) to judge actions directed at characters who could and could not feel hurt and who did and did not cry. These judgments took into account only the nature of the action, not the nature of the victim. To further investigate how victims’ emotions might impact children’s moral judgments, Study 2 presented preschoolers (n = 37) with stories that varied in transgression type (Moral, Conventional, or None) and victim’s reaction (Crying Present or Crying Absent). As in Study 1, children’s judgments were affected primarily by transgression type, and not by emotion. In an analogous task, judgments of children with autism spectrum disorders (Study 3; n = 12) were affected by both transgression type and crying. Typically developing children’s moral judgments are thus concerned primarily with action type, not with emotional displays, but the judgments of children with autism spectrum disorders can be swayed by victims’ emotions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing out that there may be different types of crybabies. Our Crybaby character cries without feeling hurt, but someone could also be a crybaby becuase s/he is overly sensitive and is genuinely hurt by things that would not hurt most other people. It is possible that children may respond differently to these two different types of crybabies. But because the current investigation focuses on the role of felt harm, we chose to emphasize that no harm has been caused in the case of our Crybaby character.

References

  • Arsenio, W., and A. Lover. 1995. Children’s conceptions of sociomoral affect: Happy victimizers, mixed emotions, and other expectancies. In Morality in everyday life: Developmental perspectives, ed. M. Killen and D. Hart, 87–128. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., A.M. Leslie, and U. Frith. 1985. Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind”? Cognition 21: 37–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair, R.J.R. 1996. Brief report: morality in the autistic child. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 26: 571–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair, R.J.R. 1999. Psychophysiological responsiveness to the distress of others in children with autism. Personality and Individual Differences 26: 477–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, D.M. 1992. “Theory of mind” in Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 33(5): 877–893.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cushman, F. 2008. Crime and punishment: distinguishing the roles of causal and intentional analyses in moral judgment. Cognition 108: 353–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darley, J.M. 1993. Research on morality: possible approaches, actual approaches. Psychological Science 4: 353–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, L.M., and L.M. Dunn. 1997. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT III). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U. 2004. Confusions and controversies about Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45: 672–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., J. Morton, and A.M. Leslie. 1991. The cognitive basis of a biological disorder: Autism. Trends in Neurosciences 14: 433–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, C.M., J. Boucher, K.J. Riggs, and A. Grayson. 2005. Moral understanding in children with autism. Autism 9(3): 317–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J.D., R.B. Sommerville, L.E. Nystrom, J.M. Darley, and J.D. Cohen. 2001. An fMRI investigation of emotional engagement in moral judgment. Science 293: 2105–2108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. 2001. The emotional dog and its rational tail: a social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review 108: 814–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. 2007. The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science 316: 998–1002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J. 2008. Morality. Perspectives on Psychological Science 3: 65–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F.G.E. 1995. The role of age and verbal ability in the theory of mind task performance of subjects with autism. Child Development 66(3): 843–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobson, J.A., R. Harris, R. Garcia-Perez, and R.P. Hobson. 2009. Anticipatory concern: a study in autism. Developmental Science 12(2): 249–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kagan, J. 1984. The nature of the child. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Killen, M., K.L. Mulvey, C. Richardson, N. Jampol, and A. Woodward. 2011. The accidental transgressor: morally-relevant theory of mind. Cognition 119: 197–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. 1969. Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In Handbook of socialization theory and research, ed. D.A. Goslin, 347–480. Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L., C. Levine, and A. Hewer. 1983. Moral stages: A current formulation and a response to critics. Basel, Switzerland: Karger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, A.M., J. Knobe, and A. Cohen. 2006a. Acting intentionally and the side-effect effect. Psychological Science 17(5): 421–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, A.M., R. Mallon, and J.A. DiCorcia. 2006b. Transgressors, victims, and cry babies: is basic moral judgment spared in autism? Social Neuroscience 1: 270–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran, J., L. Young, R. Saxe, S. Lee, D. O’Young, P. Mavros, and J. Gabrieli. 2011. Impaired theory of mind for moral judgment in high functioning autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 2688–2692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, S. 2002. Norms with feeling: towards a psychological account of moral judgment. Cognition 84: 221–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, S. 2004. Sentimental rules: on the natural foundations of moral judgment. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nucci, L. 1985. Social conflict and the development of children’s moral and conventional concepts. New Directions for Child Development 29: 55–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nuñez, M., and P.L. Harris. 1998. Psychological and deontic concepts: separate domains or intimate connection? Mind & Language 13: 153–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pizarro, D.A., and P. Bloom. 2003. The intelligence of the moral intuitions: comment on Haidt (2001). Psychological Review 110: 193–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prinz, J. 2006. The emotional basis of moral judgments. Philosophical Explorations 9: 29–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selman, R.L. 1971. The relation of role taking to the development of moral judgment in children. Child Development 42: 79–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senju, A., V. Southgate, S. White, and U. Frith. 2009. Mindblind eyes: an absence of spontaneous theory of mind in Asperger syndrome. Science 325(5942): 883–885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, L.A., and C. Wainryb. 2006. When victims don’t cry: children’s understanding of victimization, compliance, and subversion. Child Development 77(4): 1050–1062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegal, M., and C.C. Peterson. 1998. Preschoolers’ understanding of lies and innocent and negligent mistakes. Developmental Psychology 34: 332–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smetana, J.G. 1981. Preschool children’s conceptions of moral and social rules. Child Development 52: 1333–1336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smetana, J.G. 1983. Social-cognitive development: domain distinctions and coordinations. Developmental Review 3: 131–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smetana, J.G. 1985. Preschool children’s conceptions of transgressions: effects of varying moral and conventional domain-related attributes. Developmental Psychology 21: 18–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turiel, E. 1978. Social regulations and domains of social concepts. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 1: 45–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turiel, E. 1983. The development of social knowledge: morality and convention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turiel, E., and M. Killen. 2010. Taking emotions seriously: The role of emotions in moral development. In Emotions, aggression, and morality in children: Bridging development and psychopathology, ed. W.F. Arsenio and E.A. Lemerise, 33–52. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Vaish, A., M. Carpenter, and M. Tomasello. 2009. Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Developmental Psychology 45(2): 534–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, L., J.A. Camprodon, M. Hauser, A. Pascual-Leone, and R. Saxe. 2010. Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(15): 6753–6758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, L., F. Cushman, M. Hauser, and R. Saxe. 2007. The neural basis of the interaction between theory of mind and moral judgment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(20): 8235–8240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zalla, T., L. Barlassina, M. Buon, and M. Leboyer. 2011. Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Cognition 121: 115–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelazo, P.D., C.C. Helwig, and A. Lau. 1996. Intention, act, and outcome in behavioral prediction and moral judgment. Child Development 67: 2478–2492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the child participants and their parents and teachers for their cooperation in this research. Thanks also to the members of the Cognition and Development Lab, especially Melissa Kibbe, Katya Saunders, and Lu Wang, for their assistance in developing stimuli and testing subjects. This research was supported by NSF grants BCS-0725169 and BCS-0922184.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 North 13th St., Weiss Hall, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Deena Skolnick Weisberg

  2. Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, 152 Frelinghuysen Rd., New Brunswick, NJ, 08854, USA

    Alan M. Leslie

Authors
  1. Deena Skolnick Weisberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alan M. Leslie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deena Skolnick Weisberg.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weisberg, D.S., Leslie, A.M. The Role of Victims’ Emotions in Preschoolers’ Moral Judgments. Rev.Phil.Psych. 3, 439–455 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0101-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0101-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation