Open AccessChildren's moral judgments of commission and omission based on their understanding of second‐order mental states 1
Author(s) -
HAYASHI HAJIMU
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5884.2007.00352.x
Subject(s) - commission , psychology , order (exchange) , developmental psychology , social psychology , political science , law , finance , economics
Children's moral judgments about acts of commission and omission with negative outcomes were studied based on their understanding of mental states. Children ( N = 142) in the first, third, and fifth grades made judgments about four tasks composed of two levels of mental states (first‐order or second‐order) and two types of acts (commission or omission). The results showed that the 7‐year‐olds responded considering only first‐order mental states, but the 9‐ and 11‐year‐olds also used second‐order mental states in their judgments. Whether the acts were commission or omission did not make a difference. These results indicate that children can make moral judgments regarding acts of commission and omission based on an understanding of second‐order mental states by approximately the age of 9 years.