Article

Moral Reasoning on Aggressive Behavior According to Intention and Type of Act

Author

김유미,이순형

Information

pp. 85~105 / 2007 Vol.14 No.1

Abstract

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate 3- and 5-year-olds\' moral reasoning on aggressive behavior according to intention, type of act and their age, and (2) to investigate the relationships between these children\'s moral reasoning and their false-belief understanding. Subjects were forty-one 3 year-olds and forty-one 5 year-olds recruited from three day-care centers in Seoul and GyeongGi province. Each child was interviewed individually and responded to 12 pictorial tasks designed to measure his/her moral reasoning and false-belief understanding. A total of 12 stories about aggressive behavior consisting of four intentions (instrumental, retributive, prosocial, satisfying resentment) and three types of acts (physical, verbal, relational) were presented with relevant pictures. The statistical methods adopted for the data analysis were frequency, percentile, mean, standard deviation, pared t-test, repeated measured ANOVA, and Pearson\'s correlations. Major findings were as follows: 1. There was significant difference in 3 and 5 year-olds\' moral reasoning onaggressive behavior. The level of reasoning on aggressive behavior increased with proportion to age. 2. There were significant differences in 3 year-olds\' moral reasoning on aggressive behavior according to intention of act. The level of reasoning on aggressive behavior was lower in satisfying resentment intention than retributive intention and prosocial intention. 3. There were significant differences in 5 year- olds\'moral reasoning on aggressive behavior according to type of act. Indeed, the level of reasoning on aggressive behavior was higher in relational aggressive behavior than in other cases for 5-year-olds. There were positive relationships between children\'s moral reasoning and their false-belief understanding. This study demonstrates that there are significant differences in children\'s moral reasoning, depending on intention and type of aggressive behavior. Also, it demonstrates that there are positive relationships between children\'s moral reasoning and their false-belief understanding.

Keywords