Abstract

ROAZZI, Antonio; DIAS, Maria da Graça B.B  and  SILVA, Abígnes Ruyberto da. The child's moral judgement on transgressors and victims of injustices: a study in children from different socialcultural environments. Temas psicol. [online]. 2000, vol.8, n.1, pp. 21-34. ISSN 1413-389X.

Two studies aimed at better understanding the partial divergences between Miller and MacCann's study (1979) about children's reactions to transgressors and injustice victims, and a replication of the same study carried out by Alencar et al. (1984). The first study has been performed with 24 children studying in the 1^st and 4^th grades of a state school. Immediately after two stories having been read, the children were asked about the degree of the transgressor's wickedness and the reward to be given to the victim. The second study, using the same procedure, were accomplished with a similar sample from a private school. The results have shown that intentional transgression acts have been judged with larger severity than accidental ones in both samples. However, according to the children from the state school, in contrast to the ones from the private school, the victims from the intentional condition would deserve larger compensation. It has also been observed more severe judgement on the transgressor, among the oldest children from the private school. Finally, convergence and divergence points among the three studies have been discussed

Keywords : moral judgment; justice; intention and transgression; social cultural environment.

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