Children's use of motives and intentionality in person perception and moral judgement

Abstract

Preschool, second-, and fifth-grade children watched films and heard stories which portrayed an actor who intentionally or accidentally injured another for either good or bad motives. After each film or story, children were interviewed to determine their understanding of the actor motives and the intentionality of his act and their moral judgements. The results suggest that children of all ages understood the concepts of motive and intentionality, but that the ability to make accurate inferences about motives and intentionality develops with age. Motives affected children's evaluations at all ages, but intentionality affected only grade school children's evaluations. The results for moral judgment were discussed in terms of a theory which included features of both cognitive-developmental and social learning explanations of moral development.