Preschoolers' Judgments Regarding Realistic and Cartoon-based Moral Transgressions in the US

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate young children's informational assumptions about realistic and cartoon-based moral transgressions. Seventy-two urban US preschoolers were presented with drawings of transgressions, such as hitting, pushing, stealing, and failing to share. Preschoolers were asked whether the transgressions were permissible and deserved punishment, and to assess the severity or level of harm caused by the transgression and punishment warranted. Preschoolers judged cartoon-based transgressions as having a more serious impact on an individual's well-being than realistic transgressions. The results attest to young children's ability to evaluate the impropriety of transgressions and their punishing consequences in realistic and cartoon-based contexts, which were found to be independent of the amount of television the children watched or their ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy. The results of the study ultimately have implications for what children may learn from exposure to transgressions in media, especially on the television screen.