Moral judgments and moral emotions are a ubiquitous feature of social interactions. Humans decide quickly and intuitively whether an action is morally right or wrong. Schadenfreude and sympathy, as emotional reactions to the misfortunes of others, are prototypical moral emotions. So far, however, little evidence exists concerning children’s understanding of schadenfreude. Within three studies, we investigated the experience of schadenfreude and sympathy among N = 364 children of different age groups. We interviewed the children while showing them picture stories. In the picture stories, we varied the behavior of the protagonist prior to a misfortune: (1) whether his behavior had been morally right or wrong, (2) whether the protagonist attained his goal, (3) whether the protagonist was responsible for the misfortune. In addition, in one study we varied (4) the emotional relationship of the interviewed children to the protagonist. Furthermore, we asked the children to decide whether they want to sit next to the protagonist or do him a favor. Results show that children experience sympathy as well as schadenfreude at the age of 4 years. Sympathy is more likely to arise when the protagonists of a story are likable, when these actors typically pursue morally positive goals, and if they are not responsible for their misfortune. In contrast, schadenfreude is more likely when the protagonist is disliked, when actors pursue immoral goals and if they are responsible for their misfortune. In addition, sympathy increases approach (helping behavior, sitting next to the agent and doing favors), whereas schadenfreude increases avoidance tendencies.
Moral emotions are typically elicited in everyday social interactions and regulate social behavior. Previous research in the field of attribution theory identified ought (the moral standard of a given situation or intended goal), goal-attainment (a goal can be attained vs. not attained) and effort (high vs. low effort expenditure) as cognitive antecedents of moral emotions. In contrast to earlier studies, mainly relying on thought experiments, we investigated autobiographical recollections of N = 312 participants by means of an online study. We analyzed a diverse range of moral emotions, i.e., admiration, anger, contempt, indignation, pride, respect, schadenfreude, and sympathy, by using a mixed-method approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods clearly corroborate the important role of ought, goal-attainment, and effort as eliciting conditions of moral emotions. Furthermore, we built categorical systems based on our participants’ descriptions of real-life situations, allowing for more fine-grained distinctions between seemingly similar moral emotions. We thus identify additional prerequisites explaining more subtle differences between moral emotion clusters as they emerge from our analyses (i.e., cluster 1: admiration, pride, and respect; cluster 2: anger, contempt, and indignation; cluster 3: schadenfreude and sympathy). Results are discussed in the light of attributional theories of moral emotions, and implications for future research are derived.
ZusammenfassungHerstellung, Besitz und Verbreitung von kinderpornografischem Material (besser „child sexual exploitation material“, CSEM) stellt in Deutschland einen Straftatbestand dar und ist stark im öffentlichen Fokus. Laut Bundeskriminalamt haben sich die aufgedeckten Straftaten in diesem Bereich in den letzten Jahren dramatisch erhöht. Nach einer Gesetzesreform aus dem Jahr 2021 wurden sämtliche diesbezügliche Handlungsvarianten zum Verbrechen hochgestuft. Im Sinne universeller und selektiver Präventionsansätze ist daher wichtig, frühzeitig auf mögliche Risiken bei CSEM-Delikten hinzuweisen. Erste internationale Daten belegen, dass das Rechtswissen in diesem Bereich sehr unsicher ist. Außerdem werden Frauen als Täterinnen bisher wenig beachtet. In einer vignettenbasierten Online-Studie befragten wir 407 Personen zu ihrem CSEM-Rechtswissen. Zusätzlich erfassten wir die Gefährlichkeitsschätzungen sowie die emotionalen Reaktionen gegenüber den beschriebenen Tatverdächtigen (männlich vs. weiblich). Wie auch international zeigt sich für die deutsche Stichprobe eine große Unsicherheit für bestimmte CSEM-Delikte. Die beschriebenen Tatverdächtigen werden überwiegend als gefährlich eingeschätzt, besonders für Kinder und Jugendliche. Frauen als Täterinnen werden weniger gefährlich eingeschätzt und erhalten weniger negative Reaktionen als ihre männlichen Pendants. Wir diskutieren die Ergebnisse vor dem Hintergrund weiterer möglicher Präventionsansätze und der Überlastung der Behörden im Zusammenhang mit dem Anstieg der CSEM-Delikte.
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