Moral Judgement and Moral Reasoning in 3- and 5-Year Olds: Aggressive Behavior
Jin Hui Park , Soon Hyung Yi
Abstract
This study investigated moral judgment and moral reasoning about aggressive behavior by intention, presentation of results of aggressive behavior, and age of child. Forty-four 3-year old and forty-six 5-year-old day-care children in Seoul and Kyonggi Province were interviewed individually with 20 pictorial tasks. Data analysis was by frequencies, percentiles, means, standard deviations, paired t-test, and ANOVA(repeated measures). Both age groups judged instrumental and resentment-based types of aggression to be worse than prosocial or rule observance-based aggression. Both age groups judged aggressive behavior to be worse when results of aggression were presented. Five-year-olds judged aggression to be worse on instrumental than on retributive types of intent. Level of reasoning on aggressive behavior was lowest in cases of satisfying resentment Level of reasoning about aggression increased with age.
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