Developmental Changes and Individual Differences in Young Children’s Moral Judgments

Smetana, Judith G.; Rote, Wendy M.; Jambon, Marc; Tasopoulos-Chan, Marina; Villalobos, Myriam; Comer, Jessamy

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01714.x

Cited by 125 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…These findings are consistent with the findings of other authors who have analyzed the moral judgments expressed by children of different age groups [7,28]. However, unlike moral assessments, no differences have been found in the development of environmental awareness over the same period of time.…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultssupporting

confidence: 82%

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Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

2018

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Abstract:There is currently a growing theoretical discussion about the foundations that underlie the development of environmental awareness and nature care in early childhood. The aim of this study is to analyze how the environmental concerns of young children emerge and evolve during early childhood and whether these concerns are connected to an understanding of the biological notion of the living being. This study is designed to address methodological limitations of previous studies through a longitudinal axis and an extensive age sample. A sample of 178 children between the ages of four and nine participated at two different testing times for a period of one year. The methodology includes the categorization of various images of living beings and inert entities in order to analyze their understanding of living organisms. Dilemmas involving environmental, moral and socio-conventional situations are presented to examine and compare how young children view transgressions against plant life. The results reveal that young children's judgments about environmental behaviors may arise before the development of an understanding of the concept of the living being. It is therefore proposed that this type of understanding does not support environmental awareness. Previous research indicates that complex biological concepts may be successfully introduced at the preschool age, provided that suitable educational interventions are designed for the initial stages of education. In this regard, there is evidence that a basic understanding of the issue of the ecological interactions among organisms may be achieved in the preschool years.

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Section: Discussion Of Resultssupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Thus, it is reasonable to think that if environmental concern is acquired as a socio-conventional rule, its categorization will be valued in the same way by children [5,7]. However, different studies in early childhood hold that judgments about environmental behavior differ from socio-conventional dominance [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

2018

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“…It should be noted that there are age-related differences in the ways young children apply all of the criteria for treating harm as a moral transgression [Smetana, Rote, Jambon, Tasopoulos-Chan, Villalobos, & Comer, 2012]. Children below the age of 4 years do not view acts such as hitting and teasing as wrong independent of the dictates of authority.…”

Section: Harm and Human Welfare In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continuities and Discontinuities in the Development of Moral Judgments

2017

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Prior research has outlined developmental changes within the conventional and personal domains. Research thus far has provided only limited understanding of age-related changes within the moral domain. That research indicates that there are continuities and discontinuities across ages in moral judgments. The aims of the research presented here were to examine moral judgments in childhood and adolescence, taking into account applications of moral judgments in contexts and the coordination of different considerations in evaluations and decisions. Participants were 167 children and adolescents drawn from two regions of the United States, from diverse ethnic and SES backgrounds, distributed across four age groups from 8 to 17 years. Moral judgments were assessed through interviews around issues of direct harm (hitting), indirect harm (returning dropped money), and helping. Each situation was presented within three conditions: unconflicted situations; situations of conflict with needs of self; and conflicts with needs of another. Situations varied in terms of characteristics of the person who was the object of moral decisions: a generic other, vulnerable other, or antagonistic other. Participants made two types of judgments: whether the action was right or wrong; and whether the actor would have a right to engage in the action if that was the actor's choice. Justifications were elicited for judgments. Cross-age continuities in moral judgments were observed in judgments of acts as wrong in the unconflicted contexts. In contrast, a U-shaped age-related pattern was revealed in judgments of acts as well as the right to engage in acts in the conflicted situations with 8- and 16-year-olds judging acts as wrong and 10- to 14-year-olds more likely to judge acts as right and the actor as having a right to engage in the action. This U-shaped pattern was accompanied by three age-related levels in the coordination of moral and nonmoral elements of situations.

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“…115 Understanding of the "wrongness" of moral transgressions as a precursor for later moral reasoning (initially seen in the time period from 2.5-4 years). 116 Language based perceptual categories as a precursor for later word learning (appearing around 18 months). 111 Deferred imitative play as a precursor to the development of abstract thinking (appears between 18-24 months).…”

Section: Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Issues in the Timing of Integrated Early Interventions: Contributions from Nutrition, Neuroscience, and Psychological Research

Wachs¹,

Georgieff²,

Cusick³

et al. 2015

Prenatal and Childhood Nutrition

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A central issue when designing multi-dimensional biological and psychosocial interventions for children who are exposed to multiple developmental risks is identification of the age period(s) in which such interventions will have the strongest and longest lasting impact (sensitive periods). In this paper we review nutritional, neuroscience and psychological evidence on this issue. Nutritional evidence is used to identify nutrient sensitive periods of age-linked dimensions of brain development, with specific reference to iron deficiency. Neuroscience evidence is used to assess the importance of timing of exposures to environmental stressors for maintaining neural, neuroendocrine and immune systems integrity. Psychological evidence illustrates the sensitivity of cognitive and social-emotional development to contextual risk and protective influences encountered at different ages. Evidence reviewed documents that the early years of life are a sensitive period where biological or psychosocial interventions or exposure to risk or protective contextual influences can produce unique long-term influences upon human brain, neuroendocrine and cognitive or psychosocial development. However, the evidence does not identify the early years as the sole sensitive time period within which to have a significant influence upon development. Choice of age(s) to initiate interventions should be based on what outcomes are targeted and what interventions are used.

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Developmental Changes and Individual Differences in Young Children’s Moral Judgments

Cited by 125 publications

References 46 publications

Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

Environmental Awareness and Its Relationship with the Concept of the Living Being: A Longitudinal Study

Continuities and Discontinuities in the Development of Moral Judgments

Issues in the Timing of Integrated Early Interventions: Contributions from Nutrition, Neuroscience, and Psychological Research

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