The neurocognitive development of moral and conventional judgments was examined. Event-related potentials were recorded while 24 adolescents (13 years) and 30 young adults (20 years) read scenarios with 1 of 3 endings: moral violations, conventional violations, or neutral acts. Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable…

This study examined judgments and reasoning about four parental discipline practices (induction or reasoning and three practices involving "psychological control"; Barber, 1996; two forms of shaming and love withdrawal) among children (7-14 years of age) from urban and rural China and Canada (N = 288) in response to a moral…

Children and adolescents evaluated group inclusion and exclusion in the context of generic and group-specific norms involving morality and social conventions. Participants ("N" = 381), aged 9.5 and 13.5 years, judged an in-group member's decision to deviate from the norms of the group, whom to include, and whether their personal…

Studied the emotional attributions which 60 children aged four-eight gave to a story figure who violated a moral rule. Results suggested a clear change from outcome-oriented toward morally oriented attributions to a moral wrongdoer between the different age groups. (RJC)

Investigated 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds' and adults' integration of information about intentions, acts, and outcomes in moral judgments of psychological harm. Found that participants at all ages judged it wrong to inflict fear or embarrassment on unwilling participants. Younger children tended to use outcome rules when assigning punishment; older…

Compared the behavioral prediction and moral judgment of 72 preschoolers and 24 college students. Found that most participants of all ages made categorical judgments of act acceptability based solely on outcome. When assigning punishment, many 3-year-olds used a simple intention or outcome rule, whereas older participants were more likely to use a…

Examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year olds' conceptions of flags as social conventions and their understandings of the symbolic and psychological consequences associated with transgressions toward flags. Found that despite age-related increases in understanding of flags as meaningful collective symbols, children at all ages considered transgressions to be…

Investigated 4-, 8-, and 11-year-olds' ability to categorize intentionally false and true statements as lies and truths. Found that older children were more likely to categorize false statements as lies and true statements as truths than were 4-year-olds. Antisocial lies were rated as most serious, and "white lies" as least serious.…

A recognition measure of Kohlbergian moral reasoning, developed on the basis of a production measure, was psychometrically evaluated. Results showed that the Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure has acceptable concurrent validity and high levels of test-retest reliability and internal consistency. (Author/CI)

Videotaped stories depicting deliberate lies and unintentionally untrue statements were presented to 200 subjects evenly divided into the following age groups: 5, 8, 9, 11 years, and adult. Definitions of lying were seen to change gradually over this age range. (Author/RH)

Interviewed 4- and 6-year-old Hong Kong preschoolers about familiar moral, social-conventional, and personal events. Found that children judged children as deciding personal issues, based on personal choice justifications, and judged parents as deciding moral and conventional issues. With age, children granted increased decisionmaking power to the…

Examined violent and nonviolent inner-city children's moral reasoning about violence in family and peer situations. All of the children condemned unprovoked violence. With provoked situations, the violent group focused more on the immorality of the provocation and perceived force akin to reciprocal justice, whereas the nonviolent group perceived…

Takes issue with Lawrence Walker's literature review on developmental and individual differences in moral reasoning which found no consistent evidence for sex differences in moral development. Argues instead that the source and specific nature of these differences have yet to be established. (HOD)

Investigated development of reasoning about the teaching of values in school and family contexts among 8-, 10-, and 13-year olds and college students. Found that children and young adults' reasoning is multifaceted and distinguishes between moral values that reflect justice, rights, and moral character traits and other forms of desirable…

Examined three and four year olds' judgments about transgressions. Children judged moral transgressions to be more serious, punishable, and wrong than conventional transgressions; hypothetical transgressions to be more wrong independent of rules than actual transgressions; and hypothetical moral transgressions to be more independent of rules than…