Premium
Moral emotions and moral judgments in children's narratives: Comparing real‐life and hypothetical transgressions
Author(s) -
GutzwillerHelfenfinger Eveline,
Gasser Luciano,
Malti Tina
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cd.273
Subject(s) - psychology , narrative , moral development , social psychology , interpersonal communication , context (archaeology) , meaning (existential) , cognition , social cognitive theory of morality , moral reasoning , social cognition , developmental psychology , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics , neuroscience , psychotherapist , biology
How children make meaning of their own social experiences in situations involving moral issues is central to their subsequent affective and cognitive moral learning. Our study of young children's narratives describing their interpersonal conflicts shows that the emotions and judgments constructed in the course of these real‐life narratives differ from the emotions and judgments generated in the context of hypothetical transgressions. In the narratives, all emotions mentioned spontaneously were negative. In contrast, emotions attributed in the interview part covered a broader spectrum. One's own real‐life transgressions were judged less severe and more justified than hypothetical transgressions. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.