Are they good or bad?

Developmental Morality
When

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 criteria
Child Development, 51, 823-829

Background

Jean Piaget

Morality develops gradually during

childhood

Under 10 no consistent evidence for

motive as basis for judgement good/bad,
only outcome
Above 10 judgements based on motive

Background
Moral

orientation heteronomous &

autonomous

heteronomous subject to anothers

laws/rules
autonomous subject to ones own
laws/rules
c. 7 years old

Example a moral
dilemma
Franks

wife is dying
Medicine costs 4000 to buy but 400
to make
Frank borrows 2000 from friends and
asks for a discount or to pay later
Druggist insists on 4000

What should Frank do? Steal? What if Frank

doesnt love his wife? Woman is a stranger?

Design Study 1
Sample

60 preschool children mean age 3.4

30 primary school children mean age 7.4
: c. 50:50
mostly white middle-class

Parental

consent given

Method

4 versions of a story
Factorial design:

2 levels of motive
2 levels of outcome

+motive
+outcome

Each child heard all 4

motive
versions of the story
+outcome
Each child in one
condition
(=independent
measures design)

+motive
outcome
motive
outcome

Design Study 1
IV:

Story condition

One of three

DV:

rating out seven

Very bad (1), very good (7)

IV: story condition

Verbal
V+pics+implied motive (facial expressions)
V+pics+explicit motive (thought bubble)

DV: childs judgement

Response

Is the actor good or bad?

How good/bad?
scale 1 to 7

After the childs judgement, they were

asked to tell the story exactly as they
had heard it.
Why?
Checking for errors of valence

Does inconsistent (+/- & -/+) consistent

Results
By

Good 5.35; bad 2.27

By

motive:
outcome:

Good 4.70; bad 2.92

What

does this indicate?

Motive is a more decisive factor in
moral judgements than outcome
(p<0.001)

Results

p826

By age can you compare the 3-y/o and

7-y/o?
3 y/o (n=60)
7 y/o (n=30)
+
motive

- motive

+
motive

- motive

+
outcome

6.55

2.27

6.20

3.46

outcome

4.17

1.60

4.47

1.56

Comparedto7y/ochildren,3y/ochildrenjudgetheactor
worseafteronevecue(whethermotiveoroutcome)

Results
By

p827

condition

Motive made little difference

Outcome had a greater effect on moral
judgements in the explicit motive condition
(p<0.01)
Outcome information was used more (i.e.
made more difference to judgements) in
bad motive stories in the two picture
conditions than verbal only (p<0.01)

Results

Recall
Inter-coder reliability 97%

3-y/o children made more errors (0.41) than 7y/o (0.16)

More recall errors in motive than outcome
Fewer recall errors in picture presentations

Do all children make more valence

errors when information is
conflicting?

3-y/o 7-y/o

Discussion
Do

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 background
1.

2.

In 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 Method

Materials and procedure same as before

27 preschool and , mean age 3.8
In all stories and conditions, outcome
preceded motive

Study 2 Results
As

in study 1:

When one cue is ve, the other cue has

less effect
Children made more recall errors when
cues were inconsistent

As

p828

predicted:

Judgements in Verbal condition were less

affected by motive than picture conditions
So...?

Discussion
what

does it all MEAN?

moral judgement cues

verbal/picture & order of presentation
childrens use of motive/outcome info

For

3-y/o, one ve cue ve

judgement
In verbal presentations its first cue
encountered
Judgements are primed for any of ve
valence, whether motive or outcome

Evaluation
Reliable?

Complicated effects but yes, replicable

Valid?

Exp: measured moral judgement?

Ext: generalisable?
Eco: realistic task?
Eth: consent?

Application

Social relationships e.g. helping,

sharing, hurting

Social education: primary, PSHE,

citizenship

Understanding mental processes &

beliefs

Key terms

Moral criteria

Independent measures design

Moral judgement

Experimental condition

Implicit

Explicit

Statistical significance

Valence