Are they good or bad?

Developmental - MoralityWhen did you start to make moral judgements good & bad? Age 0-1? 1-4? 5-7? 8-11?

Have your views of good and bad changed as youve grown older? How? When?

Where do your views come from?

Nelson, S.A. (1980)Factors influencing young childrens use of motives and outcomes as moral criteriaChild Development, 51, 823-829

BackgroundJean Piaget

Morality develops gradually during childhood

Under 10 no consistent evidence for motive as basis for judgement good/bad, only outcomeAbove 10 judgements based on motive

Background

Moral orientation heteronomous & autonomous

heteronomous subject to anothers laws/rulesautonomous subject to ones own laws/rulesc. 7 years old

Example a moral dilemmaFranks wife is dyingMedicine costs 4000 to buy but 400 to makeFrank borrows 2000 from friends and asks for a discount or to pay laterDruggist insists on 4000What should Frank do? Steal? What if Frank doesnt love his wife? Woman is a stranger?

Design Study 1Sample60 preschool children mean age 3.430 primary school children mean age 7.4: c. 50:50mostly white middle-class

Parental consent given

Method4 versions of a storyFactorial design:2 levels of motive2 levels of outcomeEach child heard all 4 versions of the storyEach child in one condition (=independent measures design)+ motive+ motive+ outcome- outcome

motive- motive+ outcome- outcome

IV: Story conditionOne of threeDV: rating out sevenVery bad (1), very good (7)Design Study 1

IV: story conditionVerbalV+pics+implied motive (facial expressions)V+pics+explicit motive (thought bubble)

DV: childs judgementResponseIs the actor good or bad?How good/bad? scale 1 to 7After the childs judgement, they were asked to tell the story exactly as they had heard it.Why?Checking for errors of valenceDoes inconsistent (+/- & -/+) consistent

ResultsBy motive:Good 5.35; bad 2.27By outcome:Good 4.70; bad 2.92

What does this indicate?Motive is a more decisive factor in moral judgements than outcome (p

Results p826By age can you compare the 3-y/o and 7-y/o?

Compared to 7-y/o children, 3-y/o children judge the actor worse after one ve cue (whether motive or outcome)

3 y/o (n=60)7 y/o (n=30)+ motive- motive+ motive- motive+ outcome6.552.276.203.46- outcome4.171.604.471.56

Results p827By conditionMotive made little differenceOutcome had a greater effect on moral judgements in the explicit motive condition (p

ResultsRecallInter-coder reliability 97%3-y/o children made more errors (0.41) than 7-y/o (0.16)More recall errors in motive than outcomeFewer recall errors in picture presentations

Do all children make more valence errors when information is conflicting?3-y/o7-y/o

DiscussionDo children learn the concept of bad before the concept of good? (Piaget 1932)

Do young children define good as the absence of bad, e.g. being good is not lying (Hill & Hill 1977)?

Study 2 backgroundIn study 1, one ve cue was sufficient to produce ve judgement.3-year-olds judgements in bad motive stories were affected by motive but not by outcome.Was that because motive was presented first?Study 2: reverse the order, i.e. present outcome first then motive

Study 2 MethodMaterials and procedure same as before27 preschool and , mean age 3.8In all stories and conditions, outcome preceded motive

Study 2 Results p828As in study 1:When one cue is ve, the other cue has less effectChildren made more recall errors when cues were inconsistentAs predicted:Judgements in Verbal condition were less affected by motive than picture conditionsSo...?

Discussionwhat does it all MEAN?moral judgement cuesverbal/picture & order of presentationchildrens use of motive/outcome infoFor 3-y/o, one ve cue ve judgementIn verbal presentations its first cue encounteredJudgements are primed for any of ve valence, whether motive or outcome

EvaluationReliable?Complicated effects but yes, replicable

Valid?Exp: measured moral judgement?Ext: generalisable?Eco: realistic task?Eth: consent?

ApplicationSocial relationships e.g. helping, sharing, hurting

Social education: primary, PSHE, citizenship

Understanding mental processes & beliefs

Key termsMoral criteriaMoral judgement

Independent measures design

Experimental conditionImplicitExplicitStatistical significanceValence