Pre and Elementary-School Children's Conceptions of Moral and Conventional Rules
Keywords:
Socio-moral development, Moral judgement, Moral domain, Socio-convcntional domainAbstract
The present study examined the responses to moral and social-conventional events given by pre and
elementary-school children. Four stories - two moral and two social-conventional - were presented to 72 children, 24 of a
preschool and 48 of the first and third grades of an elementary school, both public. Justification responses were assessed, as
well as criteria for judging rule seriousness, punishment for the transgressor, rule contingency and relativity. Results indicated
the complexity of the children's social moral judgement. A clear distinction between responses to moral and social conventional
events was not found. The results were analyzed in the light of Piagel's moral development theory (1977), Turicl's social
knowledge development theory (1983), and Shweder, Mahapatra, and Miller's social communication theory (1987).
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