The present study examined the effects of moral judgments and moral
emotion attributions on prosocial behavior of preschoolers. Participants in
this study were 135 five-year-old children (73 boys and 62 girls) from
eight preschools located in Seoul an...
The present study examined the effects of moral judgments and moral
emotion attributions on prosocial behavior of preschoolers. Participants in
this study were 135 five-year-old children (73 boys and 62 girls) from
eight preschools located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province, Korea. They were
interviewed individually to assess moral judgments and moral emotion
attributions. The prosocial behavior of children were measured by
teacher-rated questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive
statistics, correlational analysis, and multiple regressions.
The main findings of this study were as follows. First, preschoolers
showed a slightly high level of prosocial behavior. In moral judgments,
children judged moral transgressions as morally wrong, justified the
judgments with moral/altruistic reasons, and judged moral transgressions as deserving of punishment. In addition, children evaluated that moral
transgressions were wrong even in the absence of authority or rule, and in
other contexts. In moral emotion attributions, children attributed positive
emotions to hypothetical victimizer, the so-called happy victimizer
phenomenon, and negative emotions to self-as-victimizer. Children referred
to hedonistic reasons when they justified the moral emotion attributed to
the victimizer, and referred to moral/altruistic reasons with the
self-attributed moral emotion attributions.
Second, justification of severity judgments, moral evaluation, and
self-attributed moral emotion positively predicted prosocial behavior. In
moral judgments, referring that the transgression was wrong due to moral
and altruistic reasons and evaluating that the validity of the moral rule
must be followed in various situations had a significant effect on prosocial
behavior. In moral emotion attributions, prosocial behavior were more
frequent when children attributed negative emotions to oneself but not
others.
In conclusion, the prosocial behavior of 5-year-old children are influenced
by the justification of severity judgments about moral transgression, moral
evaluation, and self-attributed moral emotion.