Children's Reasoning With Peers and Parents About Moral Dilemmas

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2019-11, Vol.55 (11), p.2324-2335
• Main Authors: Mammen, Maria, Köymen, Bahar, Tomasello, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abstract Reasoning; Age Groups; Child; Child Development - physiology; Child, Preschool; Childhood Development; Children; Children & youth; Developmental Stages; Female; Human; Humans; Interpersonal Communication; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Moral Development; Moral dilemmas; Moral Issues; Moral judgment; Morality; Morals; Mother-Child Relations; Mothers; Norms; Parent Child Relationship; Parents; Peer Group; Peer Relationship; Peers; Power Structure; Reasoning; Social Dilemma; Social environment; Social Perception; Thinking - physiology; Value Judgment; Young Children
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/dev0000807

Children encounter moral norms in several different social contexts. Often it is in hierarchically structured interactions with parents or other adults, but sometimes it is in more symmetrically structured interactions with peers. Our question was whether children's discussions of moral norms differ in these two contexts. Consequently, we had 4- and 6-year-old children (N = 72) reason about moral dilemmas with their mothers or peers. Both age groups opposed their partner's views and explicitly justified their own views more often with peers than with mothers. Mothers adapted their discussions to the cognitive levels of their children (e.g., focused more on the abstract moral norms with 6-year-old children than with 4-year-old children), but almost always with a pedagogical intent. Our results suggest that with mothers, moral judgments are experienced mostly as non-negotiable dictums, but with coequal peers they are experienced more as personal beliefs that can be actively negotiated.