Poster #50 - The Moral Self-Concept Predicts Guilt-Related Behavior in 5-Year-Olds

• In Event: Poster Session 12

Abstract

Guilt is proposed to be an important psychological factor supporting human cooperation. The experience of guilt motivates transgressors for prosocial and guilt-related behavior to repair the damage they may have caused. Previous studies have shown that for children as young as 3 years of age guilt functions as a distinct motivator for prosocial behavior (Vaish, 2016). Importantly, it remains unclear what determines the extent to which children show guilt-related behavior. Theoretical views have proposed that guilt emerges from comparing one’s own behavior to a moral standard (e.g. Rosenberg, 1979), presupposing thus a moral view on oneself. We therefore investigated whether preschool children’s moral self-concept (MSC) predicted their guilt-related behavior. Other accounts assume that children’s emotion attributions to hypothetical victimizers relate to prosocial behavior (meta-analysis: Malti & Krettenauer, 2013). We therefore also investigated whether children’s appreciation of moral emotions relate to behavior in the context of guilt.
To this end, the current study examined guilt-related behavior, MSC and moral emotion attribution of 5-year-old preschool children (Mean (Age): 5,43 years, N=133, 57% female). Children’s behavioral responses following a minor transgression (accidently destroying the selfdrawn painting of the experimenter) were assessed in an experimental setting in the laboratory (cf. Kochanska et a., 2003). Children’s MSC was assessed through a child-friendly puppet-interview (Krettenauer et al., 2013). Moral motivation was measured by emotion attributions following hypothetical transgressions (happy victimizer paradigm; Keller et al., 2003).
Guilt related behavior increased with increased MSC (r = .23; p=.019). There was no relation between the attribution of moral emotions in hypothetical transgressions and own behavior following a minor transgression (r = -.08; p=.241). This indicates that the MSC relates to guilt.
In addition, a moderation analysis was run to determine whether the interaction between MSC and attribution of moral emotions significantly predicts guilt related behavior. Analysis did not show that attribution of moral emotions moderated the effect between MSC and guilt related behavior significantly (ΔR² = 6.5%, F (3, 78) = 1.80, p = .154). Following recommendations by Hayes (2018), the interaction term was dropped from the model, resulting in a new simple effects model. This new model revealed a significant relationship between MSC (B = .251, p = .033), but not attribution of moral emotions (B = -.117, p = .369), for guilt-related behavior.
These results suggest that children’s MSC, but not their moral emotion attribution, relates to guilt-related behavior. From a theoretical point of view, this fits well with the idea that guilt emerges in dependence of children’s moral view of themselves. To our knowledge, this study is the first to link early indicators of guilt with children’s moral self-concept in preschool age. Furthermore, these findings indicate that guilt-related behavior underlays similar mechanisms than in other morally relevant situations. This opens up new avenues for developmental research to gain a better understanding of what motivates children’s reaction in guilt-inducing situations.

Authors

• Lena Anna Soeldner, Ludwigs Maximilians Universität München
  Presenting Author

• Markus Paulus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München