Moral Emotion Attributions Research Articles

Stability and cross-lagged relations among callous-unemotional traits, moral identity, moral emotion attribution and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents

This study investigates the associations of adolescents callous-unemotional traits with moral constructs and the interplay of various outcomes. The present study builds on the lack of research and focuses on the longitudinal relationships between CU-traits, moral identity, moral emotion attribution and externalizing behavior problems in adolescence. The included variables were collected at test time points T1 and T2. To determine the predictive, and stability links among the variables, a cross-lagged model in SPSS AMOS 26 was conducted. Time stability path estimates were moderate to highly stable over time for all included variables. Significant cross lagged paths of moral identityT1 on moral emotion attributionT2, CU-traitsT1 on moral identityT2, externalizing behavior problemsT1 on moral emotion attributionsT2 and externalizing behavior problemsT1 on CU-traitsT2, could be found.

The Role of Social Value Orientation in Chinese Adolescents' Moral Emotion Attribution.

Previous studies have explored the role of cognitive factors and sympathy in children's development of moral emotion attribution, but the effect of personal dispositional factors on adolescents' moral emotion expectancy has been neglected. In this study, we address this issue by testing adolescents' moral emotion attribution with different social value orientation (SVO). Eight hundred and eighty Chinese adolescents were classified into proselfs, prosocials and mixed types in SVO and asked to indicate their moral emotions in four moral contexts (prosocial, antisocial, failing to act prosocially (FAP) and resisting antisocial impulse (RAI)). The findings revealed an obvious contextual effect in adolescents' moral emotion attribution and the effect depends on SVO. Prosocials evaluated more positively than proselfs and mixed types in the prosocial and RAI contexts, but proselfs evaluated more positively than prosocials and mixed types in the antisocial and FAP contexts. The findings indicate that individual differences of adolescents' moral emotion attribution have roots in their social value orientation, and suggest the role of dispositional factors in the processing of moral emotion.

The association between moral identity and moral decisions in adolescents.

The present study explores moral identity, moral emotion attribution, moral responsibility, acceptability, and moral decisions in adolescents. We hypothesized that moral identity predicts moral decisions in adolescents. Furthermore, we hypothesized that moral emotions mediate the relationship between moral identity and moral decisions and moral identity and moral responsibility/acceptability. A total of 749 adolescents were recruited. Questions regarding moral identity, moral emotion attribution, moral responsibility, acceptability, and moral decisions were answered by the participants. SPSS and AMOS wereused to analyze the data obtained.The results showed that moral identity was related positively to moral decisions and negatively to moral emotion attribution in adolescents. Mediation analysis showed that moral emotions were a significant mediator between moral identity and moral decisions. The findings indicate that moral identity plays an essential role in the moral decision-making processes in adolescents.

Students’ moral emotions and judgments of cyberbullying: The influence of previous cyberbullying experiences

The current study examined the effects of previous cyberbullying experiences and age on moral judgments and emotions about cyberbullying incidents within a sample of Chinese elementary and high school students. One hundred and sixty-six students between the ages of 8 and 16 years from elementary and junior high schools in China read vignettes about cyberbullying incidents. They were then asked to take the perspective of either the perpetrator or bystander within the vignettes, and to evaluate the perpetrator’s or bystander’s behaviour and consider their emotions. Students’ experiences with cyberbullying were then measured using a series of scales to see whether they had been bullies, victims, bully-victims, or bystanders in the past. Results showed that students’ previous cyberbullying experiences influenced both moral emotions and judgments, but that this depended on whether they were taking the perspective of a perpetrator or bystander. Specifically, previous cyberbullying experiences influenced students’ moral emotion attributions when they took the perspective of a bystander but not when they took the perspective of a perpetrator. On the other hand, previous cyberbullying experiences and age influenced students’ moral judgments when they took the perspective of a perpetrator but not when they took the perspective of a bystander. Moral emotion attributions predicted moral judgments only when students took the perspective of a perpetrator. Findings from this study could help teachers and school psychologists understand the psychological mechanisms behind students’ cyberbullying behaviours and develop interventions accordingly.

Moral Emotions and Moral Motivation Beyond Childhood: discussion to the special issue

Research on the role of moral emotions in moral judgment, both in hypothetical dilemmata and in real-life moral decision making, has focused on preschool and elementary school age, with few studies spanning a larger age range, into adolescence and adulthood. The present special issue addresses a neglected area, the development of moral emotions and moral motivation in adolescence and adulthood. The focus is on the “Happy Victimizer Phenomenon”, a pattern of emotion attributions to a moral transgressor that has been primarily observed in childhood, but that does not seem to disappear with age. We begin by briefly reviewing 30 years of developmental research on moral emotion attribution and the “happy victimizer phenomenon”. This review is followed by a discussion of the present papers.  

Deaf Children's Moral Behavior, Moral Reasoning and Emotion Attribution.

The present study examined deaf children's moral development with experimental tasks. Experiment 1 investigated lying and sharing behavior in 37 six- to 11-year-old deaf children, 39 age-matched hearing children and 33 twelve- to 16-year-old deaf adolescents who were matched with the hearing children on vocabulary ability. The results showed that the deaf children did not lie more but shared less than the hearing children. The deaf adolescents' sharing behavior was similar to the hearing children. Experiment 2 further investigated moral reasoning and emotion attribution among 20 deaf children and 30 age-matched hearing children. The results showed that the deaf children did not lag behind the hearing children in moral reasoning but did so with regard to attributing emotions to themselves in moral contexts. Therefore, the present study indicates that moral cognition might be sufficient for deaf children to avoid rule-breaking behavior but insufficient for them to show prosocial behavior.

Understanding mixed emotions and moral emotion attributions in children aged 5–6 years

Understanding mixed emotions and moral emotion attributions in children aged 5–6 years

Developing Moral Emotion Attributions in Happy Victimizer Task: Role of Victim Information

AbstractPrevious happy victimizer (HV) studies have shown that preschool and early elementary school children attribute happy emotions to the violator of moral rules. This study examines the effects of information pertaining to the victim in HV stories on children's emotion attributions. In Study 1, 55 children (aged 5–6 and 7–8 years) participated. Participants heard three types of stories: (a) victim sadness resulting from a character's wrongdoing (normal HV story); (b) victim happiness resulting from a character's wrongdoing (non‐canonical HV story); and (c) victim sadness resulting from an accident (accident story). The children were required to infer the victimizer's feelings and to justify their attributions. Children demonstrated more positive emotion attributions for non‐canonical HV stories than the normal and accident versions. In Study 2, 57 children (aged 5–6 and 7–8 years) judged two types of HV tasks (a story featuring a younger child as victim and a normal HV story). Both groups demonstrated more negative emotion attributions for the young victim stories than the normal HV stories, indicating that children's judgment varied according to contexts and different information in determining emotion attributions.

Young Children's Moral Judgments, Justifications, and Emotion Attributions in Peer Relationship Contexts.

Children (n=160, 4- to 9-year-olds; Mage =6.23years, SD=1.46) judged, justified, attributed emotions, and rated intent for hypothetical physical harm, psychological harm, and resource distribution transgressions against close friends, acquaintances, disliked peers, or bullies. Transgressions against bullies were judged more acceptable than against friends and disliked peers and less deserving of punishment than against acquaintances and disliked peers. Transgressions against friends were judged least intended and resulting in more negative emotions for transgressors; actors transgressing against disliked peers, as compared to bullies or acquaintances, were happy victimizers. Across relationships, children viewed moral transgressions as wrong independent of rules and authority, based primarily on welfare and fairness justifications. Peer context colors but does not fundamentally change moral evaluations.

The Effects of Moral Judgment, Emotion, and Emotional Attribution of Lower Grades in Elementary School on Externalized Behaviors in a Moral Transgression Context

The Effects of Moral Judgment, Emotion, and Emotional Attribution of Lower Grades in Elementary School on Externalized Behaviors in a Moral Transgression Context

Development of moral emotions and decision-making from childhood to young adulthood

This study investigated the development of moral decision-making and moral emotion attributions in antisocial behavior and peer relationship dilemma scenarios. Participants were 540 school- and college-aged students, who were asked to explain their moral decision-making, subsequent emotions, and reasoning in regard to the scenarios. We combined moral decision-making (morally appropriate or morally inappropriate) and emotion (positive or negative) to create the four reaction patterns of happy victimizer (HV), unhappy victimizer (UHV), happy moralist (HM), and unhappy moralist (UHM). Across all four scenarios and age groups, there were very few HM reactions, and HV responses were more common among adolescents and adults than among children in jaywalking and peer exclusion scenarios. In contrast, there were no age differences in reaction patterns in shoplifting and broken-promise scenarios; however, more moral considerations in reasoning were revealed among older age groups. The role of peer relationship in emotion attribution is discussed.

Children's Moral Emotion Attribution in the Happy Victimizer Task: The Role of Response Format

ABSTRACTPrevious research in the happy victimizer tradition indicated that preschool and early elementary school children attribute positive emotions to the violator of a moral norm, whereas older children attribute negative (moral) emotions. Cognitive and motivational processes have been suggested to underlie this developmental shift. The current research investigated whether making the happy victimizer task less cognitively demanding by providing children with alternative response formats would increase their attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation. In Study 1, 93 British children aged 4–7 years old responded to the happy victimizer questions either in a normal condition (where they spontaneously pointed with a finger), a wait condition (where they had to wait before giving their answers), or an arrow condition (where they had to point with a paper arrow). In Study 2, 40 Spanish children aged 4 years old responded to the happy victimizer task either in a normal or a wait condition. In both studies, participants' attribution of moral emotions and moral motivation was significantly higher in the conditions with alternative response formats (wait, arrow) than in the normal condition. The role of cognitive abilities for emotion attribution in the happy victimizer task is discussed.

Moral Emotion Judgment and Attribution: Development and Contributing Factors

Previous research has shown developmental differences in moral emotion judgment. In general, the pattern of attribution changes from outcome-oriented to morality-oriented. Factors such as social cognitive ability, context, and personality all contribute to children's judgment and attribution. There are also some cross-cultural differences in children's judgment and attribution of moral emotions. The patterns of children's moral judgment are significantly associated with their moral behavior. Future research can explore moral emotion judgment and attribution in children with cognitive or behavioral disorders for intervention purposes.

Children's Moral Emotions, Narratives, and Aggression: Relations With Maternal Discipline and Support

ABSTRACT. Children who attribute more positive emotions to hypothetical moral victimizers are typically more aggressive and have more behavior problems. Little is known, however, about when individual differences in these moral emotion attributions first emerge or about maternal correlates of these differences. In this study, 63 4–6-year-olds judged how they would feel after victimizing peers for gain and enacted event conclusions using narrative methods adapted from the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. In addition, children's mothers completed assessments of their disciplinary styles and social support, and children's aggressive tendencies were assessed based on ratings from mothers and a second familiar adult. Results revealed that most preschoolers expected to feel happy after their victimizing acts, but variations in happy victimization were unrelated to children's aggression. Several of children's narrative themes, including making amends (e.g., apologizing, reparations), aggressive acts, and mentions of death/killing, however, were related to children's aggression. Moreover, two maternal disciplinary dimensions, higher warmth and reasoning, as well as greater social support were also related to lower child aggression. Children's emotion attributions and moral narratives, however, were unrelated to maternal disciplinary practices or social support.

Developmental relations between sympathy, moral emotion attributions, moral reasoning, and social justice values from childhood to early adolescence

This study examined the development of sympathy, moral emotion attributions (MEA), moral reasoning, and social justice values in a representative sample of Swiss children (N = 1273) at 6 years of age (Time 1), 9 years of age (Time 2), and 12 years of age (Time 3). Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that sympathy predicted subsequent increases in MEA and moral reasoning, but not vice versa. In addition, sympathy and moral reasoning at 6 and 9 years of age were associated with social justice values at 12 years of age. The results point to increased integration of affect and cognition in children's morality from middle childhood to early adolescence, as well as to the role of moral development in the emergence of social justice values.

Children’s and adolescents’ moral emotion attributions and judgements about exclusion of peers with hearing impairments

Children and adolescents with hearing impairments are at risk of being excluded from activities with hearing peers. Moral emotion attributions may represent important indicators for children’s identification with the moral norm not to exclude peers based on disability. Against this background, we investigated how 10-, 12- and 15-year-olds (N = 215) feel and judge about social exclusion of peers with hearing impairments. Emotion attributions and moral judgements were assessed using four different hypothetical scenarios about the exclusion of peers with hearing impairments (school vs. leisure time, group vs. dyad). Moreover, children’s and adolescents’ inclusive behaviour was assessed by a peer nomination procedure. Results revealed that moral emotion attributions differed as a function of exclusion context and grade. Moreover, participants with inclusive behaviour attributed moral emotions more often than participants with less inclusive behaviour. Implications of the results for moral education are discussed.

The development of children’s sympathy, moral emotion attributions, and moral reasoning in two cultures

The current study investigated the development of children’s sympathy, moral emotion attributions, and moral reasoning in two cultures: Chile and Switzerland. One hundred seventy-six children in two age groups (i.e., 6 and 9 years old) were asked to report their sympathy. Moral emotion attributions and moral reasoning were measured using two hypothetical moral transgressions (i.e., omitting a prosocial duty, stealing from another child). Younger Chilean children reported higher levels of sympathy than younger Swiss children. Across cultures, older children attributed more moral emotions than did younger children. Younger Swiss children used more moral reasoning following judgements about rule violations than did younger Chilean children. The findings are discussed from both a developmental and cross-cultural perspective.

Developmental Trajectories of Sympathy, Moral Emotion Attributions, and Moral Reasoning: The Role of Parental Support

AbstractWe examined the role of parental support to children's sympathy, moral emotion attribution, and moral reasoning trajectories in a three‐wave longitudinal study of Swiss children at 6 years of age (N = 175; Time 1), 7 years of age (Time 2), and 9 years of age (Time 3). Sympathy was assessed with self‐report measures. Moral emotion attributions and moral reasoning were measured with children's responses to hypothetical moral transgressions. Parental support was assessed at all assessment points with primary caregiver and child reports. Three trajectory classes of sympathy were identified: high‐stable, average‐increasing, and low‐stable. Moral emotion attributions exhibited high‐stable, increasing, and decreasing trajectories. Moral reasoning displayed high‐stable, increasing, and low‐stable trajectories. Children who were in the high‐stable sympathy group had higher self‐reported support than children in the increasing and low‐stable trajectory groups. Children who were in the high‐stable moral emotion attribution group or the high‐stable moral reasoning group had higher primary caregiver‐reported support than children in the corresponding increasing trajectory groups. Furthermore, children who were members of the high‐stable group in all three moral development variables (i.e., sympathy, moral emotion attribution, and moral reasoning) displayed higher levels of self‐reported parental support than children who were not.

Counterfactual reasoning and moral emotion attribution

Studies in the happy victimizer paradigm have shown that preschool children attribute positive emotions to a norm violator whereas older elementary-school children tend to attribute negative emotions. The current research explored the possibility that children's counterfactual reasoning ability (i.e., their capacity to imagine alternatives to reality) can explain this age difference in moral emotion attribution. In Study 1, 100 4- and 8-year-old children attributed significantly more negative emotions to victimizers in a counterfactual-prime condition, in which an alternative course of action was presented before the emotion attribution, than in a no-prime condition, where no counterfactual prompt was given. Counterfactual reasoning ability significantly predicted negative emotion attribution in the no-prime condition. In Study 2, the counterfactual reasoning of 143 4- and 8-year-old children significantly predicted negative emotion attribution to the victimizer. When controlling for counterfactual reasoning, focusing on the victim of a violation did not affect emotion attribution to the violator.

Moral emotions and the development of the moral self in childhood

Researchers have been emphasizing the importance of moral emotions for young children's moral self. However, the relationship between children's moral self and moral emotions has never been investigated empirically. The present study examined the relationship between children's self-representations about (im)moral behaviour and moral emotions attributions in a sample of 132 elementary-school children (M age = 8.39 years, SD = 2.50). Participants were presented a newly developed moral self measure, along with a measure of moral emotion attributions. Two dimensions of children's moral self-concept were identified: preference for prosocial behaviour and avoidance of antisocial behaviour. Results revealed a slight decrease in preference for prosocial behaviour with age, as well as an increased correlation between preference for prosocial behaviour and moral emotion attributions. Overall, findings suggest that moral emotions do not play a pivotal role for young children's moral self-concept. Children's moral self-concept becomes increasingly coordinated with moral emotions as they approach adolescence.