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Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hardecker, S; Schmidt, MFH; Roden, M; Tomasello, M
Published in: Journal of experimental child psychology
October 2016

From an early age, children can talk meaningfully about differences between moral and conventional norms. But does their understanding of these differences manifest itself in their actual behavioral and emotional reactions to norm violations? And do children discriminate between norm violations that affect either themselves or a third party? Two studies (N=224) were conducted in which children observed conventional game rule violations and moral transgressions that either disadvantaged themselves directly or disadvantaged an absent third party. Results revealed that 3- and 5-year-olds evaluated both conventional and moral transgressions as normative breaches and protested against them. However, 5-year-olds also clearly discriminated these types of transgressions along further dimensions in that (a) they tattled largely on the moral violation and less on the conventional violation and (b) they showed stronger emotional reactions to moral violations compared to conventional violations. The 3-year-olds' responses to moral and conventional transgressions, however, were less discriminatory, and these younger children responded rather similarly to both kinds of violations. Importantly, most children intervened both as victims of the transgression and as unaffected third parties alike, providing strong evidence for their agent-neutral understanding of social norms.

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Published In

Journal of experimental child psychology

DOI

EISSN

1096-0457

ISSN

0022-0965

Publication Date

October 2016

Volume

150

Start / End Page

364 / 379

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Norms
  • Social Behavior
  • Morals
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Emotions
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child Behavior
 

Citation

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Hardecker, S., Schmidt, M. F. H., Roden, M., & Tomasello, M. (2016). Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150, 364–379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.06.012
Hardecker, Susanne, Marco F. H. Schmidt, Meike Roden, and Michael Tomasello. “Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 150 (October 2016): 364–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.06.012.
Hardecker S, Schmidt MFH, Roden M, Tomasello M. Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations. Journal of experimental child psychology. 2016 Oct;150:364–79.
Hardecker, Susanne, et al. “Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 150, Oct. 2016, pp. 364–79. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2016.06.012.
Hardecker S, Schmidt MFH, Roden M, Tomasello M. Young children's behavioral and emotional responses to different social norm violations. Journal of experimental child psychology. 2016 Oct;150:364–379.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of experimental child psychology

DOI

EISSN

1096-0457

ISSN

0022-0965

Publication Date

October 2016

Volume

150

Start / End Page

364 / 379

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Norms
  • Social Behavior
  • Morals
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Emotions
  • Child, Preschool
  • Child Behavior