MORAL JUDGMENTS OF PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN

Thirty preschool children (mean age levels of 44 months, 52 months, and 60 months) were presented with a moral judgment task to determine whether they could reliably and differentially respond to intent and/or consequences. Half the children were boys, half were girls, and all were middle SES. It was hypothesized that only the older children would respond consistently and reliably to consequences of an act, that no children would be a.ble to respond differentially to good or bad intent (with outcome held constant), and that, if intent was used at all in making judgments, older child.ren would do so when the valence of the consequences was positive. A 3 (age level) × 3 (levels of intent) × 2 (levels of consequences) ANOVA indicated that the two older groups did respond reliably and differentially (p < .01) to consequences (good or bad), but the younger group did not. Contrary to the hypotheses, these children responded differentially (p < .001) to good and bad intent: “bad” intent was punished while good intent and neutral intent were neither rewarded nor punished. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.