Children’s Positivity Toward Close Others Supersedes the Negativity Associated With Perceived Transgression

• In Event: The Role of Social Relationships in Shaping Children’s Socio-Moral Reasoning

Abstract

Children and adults report negativity toward those who transgress (e.g., Heiphetz & Young, 2014). Yet, recent work suggests that adults’ positivity toward close others may supersede the negativity associated with perceived transgression. For instance, adults perceive transgressions as less immoral when the target is a relative versus a stranger (Lee & Holyoak, 2020). The current work extended this prior scholarship by examining when—and how— relational closeness begins to shape socio-moral reasoning.

Study 1 examined the extent to which personal relationships with incarcerated individuals shape children’s inferences about why people come in contact with the criminal legal system (CLS). Here, 6-to 12-year-olds with an incarcerated parent (N=24) and children in the same age range with non-incarcerated parents (N=58) answered the following open-ended question: “Why do you think people break the law?” Children of incarcerated parents, like children of non-incarcerated parents, readily mentioned people’s negative internal characteristics (e.g., moral character, immoral desires); a significant difference between these two groups did not emerge (p=.530). These results suggest that when thinking about people implicated in the CLS in general, children of incarcerated and non-incarcerated parents readily mention people’s negative internal characteristics.

Study 2 investigated the ramifications of children’s explanations for CLS contact (those referencing internal characteristics). Six-to 8-year-olds (N=86) learned about three different incarcerated individuals whom they did not know. Each person’s incarceration was attributed to their internal moral character (being a bad person), behavior (doing something wrong), or societal inequality (poverty). After hearing each explanation, children indicated their attitude toward the person. Children reported less positivity toward those incarcerated for their internal characteristics than those incarcerated for either behavioral or societal reasons (ps<.008, Fig. 1). These results suggest that the types of inferences children of incarcerated and non-incarcerated parents typically make about why strangers come in contact with the CLS have negative social ramifications.

Study 3 investigated children’s views of their incarcerated parents. Given that children of incarcerated parents readily attribute legal system contact to people’s negative internal characteristics (Study 1) and such attributions have deleterious consequences (Study 2), it was possible that children would express negativity when thinking about their incarcerated parents. To test this prediction, we asked participants from Study 1 to rate the extent to which they felt positive and, separately, negative emotions when thinking about their parents. Both groups of children were more likely to agree that thinking about their parents made them feel positive emotions than they were to agree that thinking about their parents them feel negative emotions (ps<.001, Fig. 2). Follow-up equivalence tests revealed that the two groups of children did not substantially differ from each other in reports of positive emotion.

These studies elucidate how social relationships shape children’s socio-moral reasoning by showing that children report different views of their own incarcerated parents and other individuals who have come in contact with the legal system. Further, this work brings to light the experiences of a group (children of incarcerated parents) that is often excluded from the scientific record.

Authors

• James Dunlea, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Larisa Heiphetz Solomon, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author