Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children.

Erin Elizabeth Dempsey,Shannon A Johnson,Chris Moore,Sherry H Stewart,Isabel M Smith

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.782610

Erin Elizabeth Dempsey, Shannon A Johnson + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.782610

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Abstract

Morality can help guide behavior and facilitate relationships. Although moral judgments by autistic people are similar to neurotypical individuals, many researchers argue that subtle differences signify deficits in autistic individuals. Moral foundation theory describes moral judgments in terms of differences rather than deficits. The current research, aimed at assessing autistic individuals’ moral inclinations using Haidt’s framework, was co-designed with autistic community members. Our aim was to describe autistic moral thinking from a strengths-based perspective while acknowledging differences that may pose interpersonal challenges among autistic youth. We assessed 25 autistic and 23 neurotypical children’s moral judgments using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire for Kids. We used semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis with a subset of participants to describe children’s moral reasoning. Analyses suggested that autistic and neurotypical children make similar judgments about moral transgressions across all five moral foundations. General linear mixed modeling showed that the greatest predictor of recommending punishment was how bad children deemed moral transgressions to be. We also found a trend that autistic children were more likely to recommend punishment for harmless norms violations than were neurotypical children. Future research could use longitudinal methods to understand the development of moral judgments among autistic and neurotypical children.

Highlights

IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (hereafter autism) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social-communication skills and the presence of repetitive or inflexible patterns of behavior or interests (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013)
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social-communication skills and the presence of repetitive or inflexible patterns of behavior or interests (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013)
Our quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that autistic and neurotypical children evaluate moral transgressions across Haidt’s (2001) five moral foundations despite previous research suggesting possible group differences in the relative salience of the authority/respect and purity/sanctity foundations. This was the case despite some differences in their moral reasoning and in the emotions elicited in response to the scenarios we presented

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (hereafter autism) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social-communication skills and the presence of repetitive or inflexible patterns of behavior or interests (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). The differences in social-communication skills have been attributed to differences in social cognition including commonsense psychology (e.g., Baron-Cohen, 2000 for review), which is the general human tendency to make sense of other people’s actions by attributing psychological states to them (Moore, 2006). Moral psychology is a related aspect of social cognition that involves reflecting on norms. Moral Foundations Theory in Autism for how to treat other people and non-human animals and coexist with them in society.. Moral psychology is often assumed to require typical commonsense psychology skills for its development. Aspects of moral psychology have been theorized by some to be underdeveloped among autistic individuals (e.g., Shoemaker, 2015). In this study we aimed to describe autistic moral thinking from a strengths-based perspective rather than adopting a deficits lens

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