Influence of Structured Group Experience on Moral Judgments of Preschoolers

Moral judgment stories were read to preschoolers who were either in day care or nursery school ( n = 20) or at home, not attending any formal program ( n = 15). The group-care children focused more on intention in contexts involving injury to another person but tended to be more consequence-based in contexts involving personal property damage than the group at home. These data suggest the influence of the social environment on moral judgments.