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Victimizers and Their Victims: Children's Conceptions of the Mixed Emotional Consequences of Moral Transgressions
Author(s) -
Arsenio William F.,
Kramer Rivka
Publication year - 1992
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/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01671.x
Subject(s) - psychology , harm , salience (neuroscience) , developmental psychology , valence (chemistry) , cognition , social psychology , emotional valence , moral development , cognitive psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
4–8‐year‐old children's conceptions of the emotional consequences of moral transgressions were assessed in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, most children expected victimizers to feel positive emotions and victims to feel negative emotions, but 8‐year‐olds who assessed victims first subsequently attributed less positive emotions to victimizers. Despite efforts to manipulate the salience of victims' losses in Experiment 2, children had similar expectations about the emotional consequences of transgressions. However, a developmental shift emerged: 4‐year‐olds attributed extremely positive emotions to victimizers due to the material gains produced by victimization, whereas 8‐year‐olds attributed less positive emotions to victimizers, in part due to the unfairness and harm produced by victimization. Probe questions revealed that older children also attributed additional negative‐valence emotions to victimizers, suggesting that victimizers are expected to feel conflicting rather than exclusively positive emotions. Discussion focused on potential cognitive constraints in children's conceptions of moral emotions.