Poster #175 - The Role of Adult Testimony in Children’s Moral Decision Making: Evidence from two Cultures

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

Introduction: When children face conflicts between adult testimony and what they can see for themselves, they might stick to their own judgment or they might be deferential. On one hand, children resist testimonies that are obviously discrepant from their own knowledge (Koenig & Echols, 2003). On the other hand, they do accept information that contradicts their perception (Jaswal & Markman, 2007), and they are more likely to defer to an unexpected claim if the information comes from more than one informant (Fusaro & Harris, 2008; Corriveau, Fusaro, & Harris, 2009). Children’s rate of deference also varies by cultural group (Corriveau & Harris, 2010). However, much less is known about how children respond when they are confronted with the same dilemma in the world of morality. Previous studies have shown that children’s moral judgments are independent of external rules set by adults. This study asked children to judge novel moral transgressions and examined whether they defer to adult testimony that runs counter to their own moral intuition.

Method: Three- to five-year-old Chinese (N = 124) and American (N = 81) children listened to stories with illustrations in which the protagonists engaged in actions that made others cry, referred to only by means of unfamiliar words such as “mibbing” or “lepping”. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: the Single Informant condition and the Multiple Informants condition. All children received a control trial and an informant trial. In the informant trial, children watched either a single adult informant or three informants claim that it was good to “mib” or “lep”. In each trial, children received questions asking for their moral judgments on a four-point scale and the explanations of their judgments. They also received a practical judgment question (whether they wanted to play with the protagonist), and comprehension check questions.

Results: Although participants were able to make correct moral judgments independently - guided by the distress caused by the novel actions, children from both countries were affected by the counter-intuitive testimony provided by the adult informant(s). 4- and 5-year-old Chinese preschoolers were significantly more likely than their U.S. counterparts to endorse the counter-intuitive testimony and rated the transgressions more positively. We also found condition-related differences in 3-year-old U.S. children’s responses to adult testimony. Compared to moral judgments of permissibility, children’s practical judgments of whether they would like to play with the misbehaving characters were less influenced by testimony. Overall, the results suggested that preschool-aged Chinese and American children were receptive to adult testimony and were likely to adopt a moral stance counter to their initial moral intuitions based on perceived harm and distress. Children’s level of deference was influenced by culture, with Chinese children more likely to endorse the counter-intuitive testimony.

Authors

• Pearl Han Li, Institute of Child Development
  Presenting Author

• Paul Harris, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa A Koenig, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author