Children across societies enforce conventional norms but in culturally variable ways

Kanngießer, Patricia; Schäfer, Marie; Herrmann, Eva; Zeidler, Henriette; Haun, Daniel B. M.; Tomasello, Michael

doi:10.1073/pnas.2112521118

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(99 reference statements)

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“…Our results align with the idea that even members of WEIRD societies are likely more "collectivistic" towards our social groups than is generally accepted in standard psychological models of moral thought and action (Wellman & Miller, 2008;Tomasello, 2020). A belief in the direct force of prosocial motives and/or obligations to others may be culturally universal (Aknin et al, 2013;Kanngiesser et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

When it’s not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

Zhao¹,

Kushnir

2022

Preprint

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Recent work (Starmans & Bloom, 2016) identified a shift in judgments of moral praiseworthiness that occurs late in development: adults recognize the virtue of moral actions that involve resolving an inner conflict between moral desires and selfish desires. Children, in contrast, praise agents who do the right thing in the absence of inner conflict. This finding stands in contrast with other work showing that children incorporate notions of cost and effort into their social reasoning. Using a modified version of Starmans & Bloom’s (2016) vignettes, we show that understanding the virtue of costly moral action precedes understanding the virtue of resolving inner conflict. In two studies (N=192 children, Range=4.00-9.95 years; and N=193 adults), we contrasted a character who paid a personal cost (psychological in Study 1, physical in Study 2) to perform a moral action with another who acted morally without paying a cost. We found a developmental progression; 8- and 9-year-old children and adults recognized the praiseworthiness of moral actions that are psychologically or physically costly. Six- and 7-year-old children only recognized the praiseworthiness of moral actions that are physically costly, but not actions that are psychologically costly. Moreover, neither adults nor children inferred that paying a cost to act morally required having a moral desire or resolving inner conflict. These results suggest that both adults and children conceptualize obligation as a direct motivational force on actions. They further suggest that costly choice – a hallmark of moral agency – is implicated in judgments of praiseworthiness early in development.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

When it’s not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

Zhao¹,

Kushnir

2022

Preprint

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“…Children in the study readily enforced fairness‐related social norms among their peers in culturally relevant ways, consistent with ethnographic and experimental findings from culturally diverse settings (Kanngiesser et al., 2021). For example, when children made a line to buy candy at the camp shop, they actively enforced order according to mutual understandings.…”

Section: The Importance Of Autonomysupporting

confidence: 83%

Fairness, partner choice, and punishment: An ethnographic study of cooperative behavior among children in Helsinki, Finland

Sequeira

2023

Ethos

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This article draws upon ethnographic fieldwork among children in Helsinki, Finland, to determine how cooperative behaviors unfold in their everyday lives. Two conceptsfairness and partner choice-emerged as particularly relevant, and related behaviors were examined in the context of ongoing debates regarding cooperation in human societies. Children consistently invoked fairness as an important moral value, and they showed evidence of undergoing a developmental shift from equality-based to equity-based fairness by around seven years old. Children mediated disagreements primarily through partner choice strategies (avoidance and disengagement) rather than partner conflict (punishment). Local social values and child-rearing practices that promote personal autonomy and independence make punishment undesirable and rare in this context. The observed aversion to punishment in Helsinki differs from typical characterizations of so-called WEIRD societies and demonstrates the value that nuanced ethnographic studies in diverse societies can bring to understandings of human cooperation.

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“…Our results align with the idea that even members of WEIRD societies are likely more “collectivistic” toward our social groups than is generally accepted in standard psychological models of moral thought and action (Tomasello, 2020; Wellman & Miller, 2008). A belief in the direct force of prosocial motives and/or obligations to others may be culturally universal (Aknin et al., 2013; Kanngiesser et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When it's not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

Zhao

Kushnir

2022

Developmental Science

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Recent work identified a shift in judgments of moral praiseworthiness that occurs late in development: adults recognize the virtue of moral actions that involve resolving an inner conflict between moral desires and selfish desires. Children, in contrast, praise agents who do the right thing in the absence of inner conflict. This finding stands in contrast with other work showing that children incorporate notions of cost and effort into their social reasoning. Using a modified version of Starmans and Bloom's (2016) vignettes, we show that understanding the virtue of costly moral action precedes understanding the virtue of resolving inner conflict. In two studies (N = 192 children, range = 4.00–9.95 years; and N = 193 adults), we contrasted a character who paid a personal cost (psychological in Study 1, physical in Study 2) to perform a moral action with another who acted morally without paying a cost. We found a developmental progression; 8‐ and 9‐year‐old children and adults recognized the praiseworthiness of moral actions that are psychologically or physically costly. Six‐ and 7‐year‐old children only recognized the praiseworthiness of moral actions that are physically costly, but not actions that are psychologically costly. Moreover, neither adults nor children inferred that paying a cost to act morally required having a moral desire or resolving inner conflict. These results suggest that both adults and children conceptualize obligation as a direct motivational force on actions. They further suggest that costly choice—a hallmark of moral agency—is implicated in judgments of praiseworthiness early in development.

show abstract

Children across societies enforce conventional norms but in culturally variable ways

Cited by 17 publications

References 55 publications

When it’s not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

When it’s not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

Fairness, partner choice, and punishment: An ethnographic study of cooperative behavior among children in Helsinki, Finland

When it's not easy to do the right thing: Developmental changes in understanding cost drive evaluations of moral praiseworthiness

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