Open AccessCultural Differences in Children’s Recommended Punishment of Moral Transgressions
Author(s) -
Richard L. Miller,
Tyler Collette
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
athens journal of social sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2408-0004
pISSN - 2241-7737
DOI - 10.30958/ajss.9-3-1
Subject(s) - collectivism , individualism , psychology , punishment (psychology) , social psychology , morality , value (mathematics) , individualistic culture , developmental psychology , political science , machine learning , computer science , law
The purpose of this research was to examine the severity of punishment recommended by children for moral transgressions. Using Hofstede’s (1980) distinction between individualism and collectivism, we examined the severity of punishment recommended by eight to twelve year old children for moral transgressions that violated a cultural value. Participants were children of various nationalities enrolled in a summer camp on the island of Mallorca, Spain. The children were classified as either individualist or collectivist using the Children’s Self-Construal Scale (Lewis et al. 2000). Each child reacted to nine moral transgressions, two of which were universal and seven of which reflected transgressions of either individualist or collectivist values. The results indicated that children classified as collectivists recommended harsher punishments for transgressions of collectivist values, whereas individualists did not vary in their recommended level of punishment for transgressions against both collectivist and individualist values. Keywords: individualism, collectivism, moral judgments, cultural orientation, moral transgressions