The contact principle and utilitarian moral judgments in young children

Developmental Science
Sandra PellizzoniLuca Surian

Abstract

In three experiments involving 207 preschoolers and 28 adults, we investigated the extent to which young children base moral judgments of actions aimed to protect others on utilitarian principles. When asked to judge the rightness of intervening to hurt one person in order to save five others, the large majority of children aged 3 to 5 years advocated intervention in contrast to another situation with the reverse cost/benefit ratio. This course of action was seen as acceptable by most children only when it did not require the agent to have physical contact with the victim and the victim's harm was intended to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Overall, the children's responses were remarkably similar to those reported in adult studies. These findings document the extent to which some constraints on moral judgment are present in early human development.

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Feb 13, 2009·Developmental Psychology·Sandra PellizzoniLuca Surian

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Citations

Apr 13, 2013·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·Andrew Shtulman, Lester Tong
Dec 24, 2015·Frontiers in Psychology·Jian HaoJiafeng Li
May 4, 2013·Child Development·Karen R Neary, Ori Friedman
Oct 7, 2015·Frontiers in Psychology·Monica Bucciarelli
Mar 3, 2015·The British Journal of Developmental Psychology·Hajimu Hayashi
Sep 23, 2016·Frontiers in Psychology·Karina R ArutyunovaMarc D Hauser
Feb 6, 2017·Cognition·Alisabeth Ayars, Shaun Nichols
Nov 14, 2019·Science and Engineering Ethics·José-Antonio CervantesFélix Ramos
Sep 7, 2019·Development and Psychopathology·E E DempseyI M Smith
Aug 21, 2020·Scandinavian Journal of Psychology·Rui QuanPingyuan Gong
May 6, 2017·Frontiers in Psychology·Simona C S CaravitaAlessandro Antonietti
Dec 24, 2019·Frontiers in Psychology·Niklas DworazikMoritz Köster
Oct 4, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Sydney LevineFiery Cushman

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