Is the child an intuitive moralist?

Abstract

Recent studies of the development of moral judgment in children have emphasized the children's intuitive awareness of the distinction between moral and nonmoral choices. This study will attempt to assess validity of this distinction, vis-a-vis other approaches, by recording 23 Maltese children, aged five to eight, dealing with twelve hypothetical stories - six concerning moral issues and six involving nonmoral issues. Two principal hypotheses are investigated: (a) five to eight year old Maltese children are capable of making distinctions between moral and nonmoral issues; (b) such distinctions are arrived at via an intuitive, as opposed to a reflective, form of reasoning. The present study appears to support both hypotheses.