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False Belief Understanding and Moral Judgment in Young Children

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posted on 2022-12-02, 22:42 authored by KD Ochoa, JF Rodini, Louis Moses
Although the influence of intent understanding on children’s moral development has been long studied, little research has examined the influence of belief understanding on that development. In two studies we presented children with morally relevant belief vignettes to examine the extent to which they incorporate both intent and belief information in their moral judgments. In Study 1 (N = 64), 5-year-olds with higher false belief understanding (FBU) rated agents with false beliefs as more positively intentioned in good intent trials (even though the outcome was bad) than in bad intent trials (even though the outcome was good). In contrast, 4-year-olds with higher FBU were generally unable to integrate their belief understanding with their moral evaluations, performing no better on intention questions than children with lower FBU. Neither age group significantly differentiated reward and punishments as a function of intent when a false belief was involved. In Study 2 (N = 109 children, N = 42 adults), we found that by simplifying our study design and reducing the task demands, 4-year-olds with higher FBU were able to make appropriate intent judgments. Yet, as in Study 1, all children had difficulty assigning punishment/ reward based on intent. For both moral intentions and moral consequences, 4 and 5-year-olds with higher FBU differed from those of adults in several respects, indicating that moral reasoning develops substantially beyond the preschool years.

History

Preferred citation

Ochoa, K. D., Rodini, J. F. & Moses, L. J. (2022). False Belief Understanding and Moral Judgment in Young Children. Developmental Psychology, 58(11), 2022-2035. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001411

Journal title

Developmental Psychology

Volume

58

Issue

11

Publication date

2022-01-01

Pagination

2022-2035

Publisher

American Psychological Association (APA)

Publication status

Published

Online publication date

2022-11-01

ISSN

0012-1649

eISSN

1939-0599

Language

en