Inhibitory Control and Moral Emotions: Relations to Reparation in Early and Middle Childhood

Abstract

This study examined links between inhibitory control, moral emotions (sympathy and guilt), and reparative behavior in an ethnically diverse sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 162). Caregivers reported their children's reparative behavior, inhibitory control, and moral emotions through a questionnaire, and children reported their guilt feelings in response to a series of vignettes depicting moral transgressions. A hypothesized meditation model was tested with inhibitory control relating to reparative behavior through sympathy and guilt. In support of this model, results revealed that high levels of inhibitory control were associated with high levels of reparative behavior through high levels of sympathy and guilt. However, the mediation of inhibitory control to reparation through guilt was significant for 4-year-olds only. Results are discussed in relation to the temperamental, regulatory, and affective-moral precursors of reparative behavior in early and middle childhood

Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format

“…While previous research has shown a positive correlation between 4-and 8-year-old children's negative emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task and caregiver-rated inhibitory control (Colasante et al, 2014), such correlational studies can only be suggestive of underlying causal relationships. Thus, we believe that the experimental approach with the direct manipulation of cognitive demands, as adopted in the current study, can add a more detailed understanding of how specific cognitive abilities affect moral emotion attribution.…”

“…Previous research indicated young children's difficulty with attributing negative emotions to the violator of a moral norm in the happy victimizer task might at least be partly due to their limited cognitive abilities (e.g., Colasante et al, 2014;Gummerum et al, 2013;Krettenauer et al, 2008). While previous research has shown a positive correlation between 4-and 8-year-old children's negative emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task and caregiver-rated inhibitory control (Colasante et al, 2014), such correlational studies can only be suggestive of underlying causal relationships.…”

“…This points to the role of cognitive abilities for children's moral emotion attribution (see Colasante et al, 2014;Gummerum et al, 2013).…”

“…As discussed above, there is correlational and experimental evidence that cognitive abilities, such as inhibitory control and counterfactual reasoning, play a role for children's moral emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task (Colasante et al, 2014;Gummerum et al, 2013). Since children showed improved performance in inhibitory control and counterfactual reasoning tasks with alternative response formats, we expected that such alternative response formats would also increase the attribution of negative emotions to the victimizer.…”

Resting heart rate, guilt, and sympathy: A developmental psychophysiological study of physical aggression

“…Alternatively, the effects of resting HR may be more susceptible to moderation by guilt and sympathy in older children if temperamental variables give way to increasing social‐emotional factors (and therefore have a lesser impact on social behavior over time; Bates, ). For empirical support of this theorizing, see Colasante, Zuffianò, Bae, and Malti ().…”