Developmental differences in moral reasoning about bullying-like behaviours

Lee, Seung-ha, Smith, Peter and Monks, Claire (2010) Developmental differences in moral reasoning about bullying-like behaviours. In: British Psychological Society Developmental Section Conference 2010, 12-15 Sep 2010, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behaviour, especially often repeated and directed toward a particular person who is unable to defend him/herself effectively. It has been identified as a classic moral issue, and studies have demonstrated that children’s values and moral understanding are associated with aggressive conduct. This study investigated moral reasoning about aggressive behaviours which are generally regarded as bullying. Moral judgment was examined in terms of type of aggression, age, and experience of the behaviours. 60 seven-year-old and 90 eleven-year-old children in South Korea participated: each child was shown a series of cartoons depicting different aggressive situations, and asked about wrongness, harmfulness, attribution of responsibility, and experience f such situations. Results indicated that moral reasoning nd harmfulness differed depending on type of aggression: physical aggression was considered more wrong and harmful than other types of behaviours. The older children judged relational aggression less wrong than the younger children. However, sex differences were not found. The results also provided evidence of moral development and of the effect of bullying experiences on children’s reasoning.

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