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Children's Reasoning About the Refusal to Help: The Role of Need, Costs, and Social Perspective Taking
Author(s) -
Sierksma Jellie,
Thijs Jochem,
Verkuyten Maykel,
Komter Aafke
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12195
Subject(s) - indignation , psychology , perspective (graphical) , obligation , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , social psychology , perspective taking , moral reasoning , moral obligation , moral development , helping behavior , developmental psychology , empathy , artificial intelligence , politics , political science , computer science , law
Children ( n = 133, aged 8–13) were interviewed about helping situations that systematically varied in recipient's need for help and the costs for the helper. In situations where helping a peer involved low costs, children perceived a moral obligation to help that was independent of peer norms, parental authority, and reciprocity considerations. When helping a peer involved high costs this overpowered the perceived obligation to help, but only in situations involving low need and when in line with reciprocity. When both need and costs were high, younger children expressed stronger moral indignation while older children were less negative and reasoned in terms of other solutions. Furthermore, stronger moral indignation was related to more advanced social perspective taking skills when need and costs were high.