We assessed 5-to 11-year-olds' (N = 76) judgments of straightforward moral transgressions (prototypical harm) as well as their evaluations of complex, hypothetical scenarios in which an actor transgresses in order to prevent injury (necessary harm). The nature of the actor's transgression (psychological or physical harm) varied across…

We examined within- and between-person variations in parental legitimacy beliefs in a sample of 883 Arab refugee youth (M[subscript age] = 15.01 years, SD = 1.60), 277 Iraqis, 275 Syrians, and 331 Palestinians, in Amman, Jordan. Latent profile analyses of 22 belief items yielded 4 profiles of youth. The "normative" profile (67% of the…

Longstanding debates about whether morality is best defined in terms of emotions or judgments have been recently rekindled. In this essay, we review recent approaches from social psychology and moral neuroscience that have emphasized emotions and intuitions as central to morality. We assert that the results of developmental science research on…

Children's moral judgments, attributions of emotion, and their associations were examined in hypothetical, prototypical situations and situations of provocation and peer retaliation. Children judged prototypical and provoked moral transgressions (hitting and teasing). Hypothetical moral transgressions were judged to be more serious and deserving…

Discusses problems in Pratt, Golding, and Hunter's investigation (in this issue) of two propositions central to Gilligan's (1982) thesis on the mismeasurement of women's moral orientation and development. Describes research addressing the problems and indicates directions for further research. (RH)

Two studies examined children's inferences of personality for actors engaging in different domains of behavior. In both studies, first, fourth, and seventh graders were given two descriptions of actors engaging in either moral or conventional transgressions. Findings indicated that children's concepts of persons were inferred from information…

The effect of child maltreatment on children's social-cognitive development was examined by investigating abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children's judgments regarding the permissibility of social-conventional and moral transgressions pertaining to physical harm, psychological distress, and the unfair distribution of resources. (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…

Preschool children reasoned and made judgments about stories that varied in dimensions previously found to be associated with judgments in two social-cognitive domains, moral and conventional, to examine types of information that produce differentiated judgments in young children. (Author/DST)

Examines the development of toddlers' moral and conventional judgments and effects of language development on such judgments. Rudimentary distinctions between familiar moral, social and conventional transgressions are made during the child's third year. (Author/BB)

Compared judgments of maltreated and nonmaltreated preschoolers regarding moral transgressions. Found that all children evaluated moral transgressions as very serious, punishable, and wrong in the absence of rules. Moral judgments and justifications differed as a function of context and type of transgression but not maltreatment status. Affective…

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…

Two studies of third, sixth, and ninth graders were conducted to determine whether the children made judgments about both justice and interpersonal relations in conflict situations. Results demonstrate that concerns with justice and interpersonal relationships coexist in judgments of male and female children. The ways in which these concerns are…