Relations between moral reasoning, theory of mind and executive functions in children with autism spectrum disorders

Kretschmer, Anett; Lampmann, Sara-Ann; Altgassen, Mareike

doi:10.1179/2047387714y.0000000045

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…They also felt more upset about the intentional harms than the accidental ones. These findings were consistent with previous evidence that children with ASD have relatively intact abilities to make appropriate judgments about the “wrongness” of actions and the “badness” of the perpetrator, by considering the mental states of the agent of the action (Grant et al., ; Kretschmer et al., ; Leslie et al., ). More importantly, we have examined the children's implicit sensitivity to the perpetrator's intention by using the eye tracking technique as implicit measures of emotional arousal and attention allocation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Children with ASD also judge injuries to people as more blameworthy than damage to properties (Grant, Boucher, Riggs, & Grayson, ). These findings suggest that a basic moral understanding is spared in children with ASD (Blair, ; Fadda et al., ; Kretschmer et al., ). Despite their spared basic moral understanding, children with ASD show some abnormality when moral judgment requires high‐level cognitive processing, as compared to TD children.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication impairments, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, ). Despite impairments in theory of mind, individuals with ASD have shown preserved abilities in several aspects of moral evaluations, such as judging perpetrators of harming actions as culpable (Blair, ; Kretschmer, Lampmann, & Altgassen, ; Lecciso, Lucchini, Liverta, & Marchetti, ; Leslie, Mallon, & Dicorcia, ). However, previous findings on moral reasoning in ASD have all built on explicit verbal evaluations of morally laden scenarios, whereas the implicit processing underlying them remains undiscovered.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Third‐Party Sociomoral Evaluations in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Decety

et al. 2019

Child Development

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We examined explicit and implicit processes in response to third-party moral transgressions in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty 4-to 7-year-old children with ASD and 19 typically developing controls evaluated dynamic visual stimuli depicting intentional or accidental harm to persons or damage to objects. Moral evaluations, eye fixations, and pupil dilations toward the stimuli were collected. Results indicate a preserved capacity to understand the mental states of perpetrators and an implicit moral sensitivity to the third-party harms in children with ASD. Nonetheless, children with ASD showed specific sensitivity and emotional arousal when viewing damage to objects. These findings contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of moral reasoning in ASD and its possible association with the autistic symptoms.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Third‐Party Sociomoral Evaluations in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Decety

et al. 2019

Child Development

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“…However, there are few studies addressing the specific link between EF and MR in childhood and their results support the need for further investigation. A recent study in healthy school-aged children demonstrated that executive skills are positively associated with MR ( Hinnant et al, 2013 ), consistent with findings in school-aged children with developmental disabilities and frontal lesions ( Couper et al, 2002 ; Kretschmer et al, 2014 ). Recent research also supports this link in adolescents, in whom more mature MR was found to be associated with several executive functions (conceptual reasoning, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, and feedback utilization), with flexibility and verbal fluency independently predicting MR maturity, after controlling for the effects of age and intelligence ( Vera-Estay et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 77%

All for One: Contributions of Age, Socioeconomic Factors, Executive Functioning, and Social Cognition to Moral Reasoning in Childhood

et al. 2016

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Moral reasoning (MR) is a socio-cognitive skill essential to appropriate social functioning in childhood, and evolves in quality and complexity during ontogenetic development. Past research suggests that MR is related to age, socioeconomic factors, as well as some social and cognitive skills, such as executive functioning (EF), theory of mind (ToM), empathy, and affect recognition. However, their contributions have been studied in silos rather than comprehensively, with little integration of the relative and combined contribution of these skills to MR. Furthermore, few studies have addressed the putative links between these factors in childhood, a period during which these skills are in maturation. The aim of this study was to explore what factors predict moral maturity in typically developing children (n = 76, 47.4% males, M = 9.2, SD = 1.67 years), explore the potential moderating and mediating role of executive functions and social cognition in the relationship between age and MR maturity, and identify the specific contributions of age, socioeconomic factors, EF, and social cognition, using an innovative visual MR assessment tool (So-Moral). The results indicate that MR maturity was correlated with age, EF (inhibition, verbal fluency, and attentional control), and social cognition (ToM and affect recognition). Neither EF nor social cognition moderated the effect of age on MR maturity. However, verbal fluency and third-order false beliefs had a moderating role in this link. MR maturity in children was predicted by three variables from each of the three domains: age, verbal fluency, and third-order ToM. These results contribute to a better understanding of the underpinnings of MR during childhood, suggesting that MR is not reducible to general developmental factors such as age, but that higher order skills, such EF and social cognition also contribute to moral maturity. The findings have relevance for both typically developing and clinical populations in which social skills may be reduced, as well as for the identification of potential loci for intervention in children at-risk for socially maladaptive behaviors.

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“…Recently, Kretschmer et al (2014) investigate relations between moral reasoning, executive functioning and ToM in children with ASD compared to TD children. A dilemma was presented to participants and they had to judge if the protagonist’s behavior was correct or not.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Role of Theory of Mind in Moral Judgment: The Case of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

et al. 2016

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This paper adds to the growing research on moral judgment (MJ) by considering whether theory of mind (ToM) might foster children’s autonomous MJ achievement. A group of 30 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was compared in MJ and ToM with 30 typically developing (TD) children. Participants were tested for MJ with a classical Piaget’s task and for ToM with a second order False Belief task. In the moral task, children were told two versions of a story: in one version the protagonist acted according to a moral intention but the action resulted in a harmful consequence; in the other version the protagonist acted according to an immoral intention, but the action resulted in a harmless consequence. Children were asked which of the two protagonists was the “naughtier.” In line with previous studies, the results indicated that, while the majority of TD participants succeeded in the second order False Belief task, only few individuals with ASD showed intact perspective taking abilities. The analysis of the MJ in relation to ToM showed that children with ASD lacking ToM abilities judged guilty the protagonists of the two versions of the story in the moral task because both of them violated a moral rule or because they considered the consequences of the actions, ignoring any psychological information. These results indicate a heteronomous morality in individuals with ASD, based on the respect of learned moral rules and outcomes rather than others’ subjective states.

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Relations between moral reasoning, theory of mind and executive functions in children with autism spectrum disorders

Cited by 10 publications

References 40 publications

Third‐Party Sociomoral Evaluations in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Third‐Party Sociomoral Evaluations in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

All for One: Contributions of Age, Socioeconomic Factors, Executive Functioning, and Social Cognition to Moral Reasoning in Childhood

Exploring the Role of Theory of Mind in Moral Judgment: The Case of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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