MORAL AND CONVENTIONAL RULES IN CHILDREN REASONING
Abstract
A make-believe mode can help children to construct a selfcontained
world within which they accept premises and conclusions that
have no counterpart in their everyday experience (Dias e Harris, 1988a,
b, c; no prelo a e b). Thus, we asked if the construct of that make-believe
world would have the same effect in syllogistic problems that convene either moral or conventional rules. The results show that neither of the
populations studied (Brazilian and English children from medium SES
families and Brazilian children from Orphanages) distinguish between
moral and conventional rules as found by Turiel (1983). The make-believe
mode helped the performance of children from medium SES familes.
However, children from Orphanages Showed similar reasoning under the
two types of context, as children did with known fact premises that agreed
with subject's experience (see Hawkins, Pea, Glick & Scribner, 1984;
Dias e Harris, 1988a, b). For these children premises that contravene
moral or conventional rules to the two other populations, seems be
accepted as empirically true without need of the make-believe play.
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