About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 13. Moral Development

Paper #1
The Role of Theory of Mind in Preschoolers' Moral Self-Concept and Aggressive Behavior
Author information	Role
Jamie Gahtan, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Presenting author
Sojung Park, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Sumaita Salim, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Rebecca Zanotti, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Melanie LaVigne, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Erin Ruth Baker, University at Albany - SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Moral self-concept (MSC) - children’s morally agentic view of the self - is related to preschooler’s aggressive behavior (Sengsavang & Krettenauer, 2015). Cognitive abilities like Theory of Mind (ToM; Wellman & Liu, 2004), which allows children to understand others’ mental states such as thoughts, feelings, and beliefs (Wellman & Liu, 2004), likely assist children with aligning their MSC with behavior in social contexts. Children with weaker ToM may struggle to interpret others’ actions and resolve conflicts, leading to more physical (e.g., hitting) and relational (e.g., exclusion) aggression (Wang et al., 2022). ToM may also enable relational aggression by anticipating others’ reactions to manipulate relationships (Shahaeian et al., 2017). This study explores how ToM affects the relation between various dimensions of MSC (i.e., instrumental helping, socio-emotional comforting, and aggressive inclinations; Gahtan et al., 2024) and subsequent aggressive behavior. We hypothesize that children with weaker ToM may struggle to align their behaviors with their MSC due to difficulties interpreting others’ mental states and may engage in more aggression (Wang et al., 2022). We also expect ToM to most strongly moderate between socio-emotional comforting and aggression, as comforting requires recognizing and responding to others’ emotional needs (Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013). Head Start preschools (N =106; Mage = 4;5, Range: 37–64 months) in an upstate New York urban area, and their parents participated. In the fall, preschoolers completed an MSC puppet task (Sengsavang & Krettenauer, 2015) and a five-task ToM battery (Wellman & Liu, 2004). In the spring, parents reported children’s physical and relational aggression via the Preschool Proactive and Reactive Aggression Survey (PPRA-PR; Ostrov & Crick, 2007). We conducted a series of moderated multiple regression analyses to assess how MSC dimensions, ToM, and their interaction predicted aggressive behavior. MSC instrumental helping positively predicted physical aggression [β = 0.086, SE = 0.043, t(102) = 1.983, p = .05]. The interaction with ToM approached significance [β = 0.096, SE = 0.017, t(102) = -1.806, p = .073], showing that children with higher instrumental helping were less physically aggressive if they had stronger ToM. For those with lower instrumental helping, weaker ToM was linked to lower aggression. Aggression Inclinations also trended towards significance in predicting physical aggression [β = -0.031, SE = 0.050, t (102) = 1.905, p = .059]. No MSC dimensions predicted relational aggression (p’s all > .05). ToM partially explained the gap between preschoolers’ MSC and aggressive behavior (specifically physical). As expected, children with high instrumental helping and weaker ToM engaged in more physical aggression, as they may lack the social-cognitive tools to regulate their behavior (Wang et al., 2022). For children with weaker instrumental helping, ToM may have supported rationalizing their aggressive behavior (“It was not that bad”; Gini et al., 2014). Contrary to our hypothesis, ToM did not moderate socioemotional support. Since responding to socioemotional needs emerges later than helping and continues to develop into preschool (Dunfield & Kuhlmeier, 2013), these children may still be learning to recognize socioemotional cues, which may explain why ToM did not moderate socioemotional support.

Paper #2
Early Childhood Correlates of Later Machiavellian and Aggressive Behavior
Author information	Role
Marc M. Jambon, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada	Presenting author
Noah Battaglia, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada	Non-presenting author
Tyler Colasante, Leipzig University, Germany	Non-presenting author
Tina Malti, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Background: Considerable research has investigated the processes that contribute to childhood aggression (i.e., deliberate acts that harm others). Less attention has focused on the origins of more subtle antisocial behavior, such as manipulation, deception, and coercion, despite evidence that such Machiavellian (MACH) tendencies emerge in early childhood (Hawley, 2003; Lee, 2013) and persist into adulthood (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Recent research suggests that, by middle childhood, MACH and aggression are distinct in terms of their occurrence and correlates (Jambon et al., 2024). Specifically, Jambon et al.’s (2024) cross-sectional analysis found that lacking guilt after harming others—a core moral emotion—was one of the strongest correlates of MACH, but not aggressive, behavior. This aligns with other studies (e.g., Hay et al., 2021) calling into question the traditional assumption that aggressive behavior, by it’s very nature, reflects a deficit in moral development. As non-aggressive antisocial tendencies in adulthood are linked with interpersonal dysfunction and engagement in criminality (Muris et al., 2017), greater research into the early factors that may differentially contribute to MACH and aggression is needed. Guided by theorizing about the origins of MACH (Bereczkei, 2018) and the cross-sectional findings from Jambon et al. (2024), we used a longitudinal design to explore links between socio-emotional skills, moral competence, and parenting practices in early childhood (assessed at ages 4-6) and later MACH and aggressive behavior (assessed at age 7). As this study was exploratory, we did not test specific hypotheses. Method: Our community sample consisted of 150 children (50% female) living in Ontario, Canada (Jambon et al., 2024). Families attended yearly testings at ages 4 through 7. Caregivers completed a questionnaires while children were interviewed. Child- and caregiver-reported social-emotional and moral variables were assessed at age 4 and caregiver-reported parenting was assessed at age 6, the earliest ages these constructs were available. Caregiver-reported MACH and aggression was assessed at age 7. All measures (see Table 1) were previously validated and demonstrated acceptable reliability (αs = .65-.96). Results: MACH and aggression were moderately correlated (r = .60). Bivariate associations between among study variables are reported in Table 2. Whereas broad and consistent delays in earlier social-emotional skills and suboptimal parenting practices predicted later aggression, lower emotion regulation and parental warmth were the only significant predictors of later MACH. Findings in the moral domain were mixed. Parent-reported guilt was negatively associated with aggression, whereas child-reported guilt was negatively associated with later MACH. Sympathy was not associated with later antisocial behavior. Implications: This is one of the first studies to simultaneously examine early precursors of later aggression and MACH. Across the 10 early risk factors examined, only two were shared between MACH and aggression. The findings for guilt, which align with cross-sectional results reported in Jambon et al. (2024), suggest that a dampened capacity to feel remorse in early childhood may facilitate later engagement in MACH behavior, yet this may evade detection by adults because it is not accompanied by widespread delays in other domains of social life (e.g., peer relationships, inhibitory skills).

Paper #3
Socializing forces in the development of callous-unemotional behaviors: Moderation by irritability and basal cortisol
Author information	Role
Gretchen R. Perhamus, University at Buffalo, SUNY, United States	Presenting author
Jamie M. Ostrov, University at Buffalo, SUNY, United States	Non-presenting author
Dianna Murray-Close, University of Vermont, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors (i.e., deficits in remorse and empathy in early childhood) represent a risk factor for the development of antisocial and disruptive behavior (Pardini et al., 2018). Harsh caregiving environments are a promotive socializing factor in the development of CU behaviors in early childhood (Waller & Hyde, 2018). Peer victimization has predicted increases in CU traits in later developmental periods (Barker & Salekin, 2012), but it is unknown whether these effects may extend downward to early childhood. Recent theoretical models of the development of CU traits and behaviors have highlighted that socializing effects may be especially impactful for those who are emotionally (e.g., irritable) and biologically (e.g., high stress system activity) sensitive to their environment (Kimonis, 2023). The present study aimed to replicate prior findings of the impact of harsh parenting on the development of early childhood CU behaviors, test whether peer victimization effects extend to this developmental period above and beyond effects of parenting, and examine whether these effects are dependent on concurrent levels of irritability and basal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. Effects of harsh parenting and physical (e.g., hitting, kicking) and relational (e.g., social exclusion) peer victimization were expected to be stronger at higher levels of irritability and basal HPA axis functioning as indexed by salivary cortisol. The sample consists of 263 preschoolers (Mage = 4.32 years, SD = 0.31 years, 47.7% female) from an ongoing longitudinal study. Measures were collected during the fall of pre-kindergarten (T1) and winter of kindergarten (T2). Saliva was collected across three consecutive days in the morning at home or school depending on Covid-19 restrictions, and samples were averaged. CU behaviors, authoritarian parenting, and irritability were measured with parent report, and physical and relational peer victimization were measured with teacher report using validated and reliable measures. Nested path analyses were conducted in Mplus Version 8.11 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998 – 2024). Models testing irritability and cortisol as moderators were conducted separately. Time of saliva collection, cohort (to account for Covid-related disruptions), gender, and T1 CU behaviors were controlled. Simple slopes were examined using regions of significance (Preacher et al., 2006). Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations are presented in Table 1. In the main effects model, no significant longitudinal effects of physical or relational victimization or harsh parenting on CU behaviors emerged (βs = -.05 - .02, ps = .62 - .87). However, harsh parenting interacted with irritability, such that harsh parenting predicted increases in CU behaviors specifically at high levels of irritability (Figure 1). Lower cortisol directly predicted increases in CU behaviors (β = -.23, p < .001), but no interactions with victimization or parenting emerged. Findings provide support for negative emotional reactivity as a moderating factor in the effects of harsh parenting on the development of early childhood CU behaviors. Contrary to predictions, HPA axis hypoactivity may directly increase risk. Peer victimization effects on CU behaviors previously found in adolescence were not replicated in early childhood, suggesting these may emerge in later developmental periods as the peer environment becomes more salient.

Paper #4
How do children tell good from bad hitting? Studying children's moral distinctions with naturalistic videos
Author information	Role
Zoe Favilla, Cornell University, United States	Presenting author
Audun Dahl, Cornell University, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
The average toddler hits, bites, and kicks others more often than the average school-age child or adult (Tremblay & Nagin, 2005). In the intervening years, preschoolers need to separate good from bad force: an unwelcome shove without provocation from a welcome push during play (Smith & StGeorge, 2023). A child who thinks hitting is always okay will be ostracized, but a child who thinks hitting is never okay cannot participate in physical play or defend themselves against attacks (Pellegrini, 1989). In interviews about hypothetical vignettes, preschoolers often struggle to make exceptions to moral principles (Killen et al., 2018). They tend to respond that it is always wrong to hit and always good to help, even if you are helping a thief. By late preschool-age, children evaluate provoked aggression as less bad than unprovoked aggression (Giles & Heyman, 2005; Smetana & Ball, 2017). But naturalistic observations indicate that preschoolers enjoy playfighting (Baxley et al., 2023), suggesting that they evaluate some force acts as not only less bad but good. Two preregistered studies deployed a new, naturalistic video paradigm to examine preschoolers’ moral distinctions among everyday acts of force. Children were interviewed about video clips of everyday interactions among preschoolers. We hypothesized that (H1) children would evaluate force during play more positively than unprovoked force or force during property conflicts, (H2) that this distinction would become increasingly sharp with age, and (H3) that children would evaluate force acts more positively when they perceived the victim as happy. In Study 1, 76 4- to 6-year-olds watched nine videos of naturally occurring force among preschoolers: Play, Property conflict, and Unprovoked. The interviewer asked children whether the act in the video was okay, why/why not, and how the victim felt. Children were more likely to say the Play acts were okay (13%) than to say the Property (1%) and Unprovoked (5%) acts were okay (H1)–but this differentiation grew sharper with age (H2), p < .001. Supporting H3, children were more likely to say the act was okay if they thought the victim was happy, p < .001. Though Study 1 supported our hypotheses, Study 2 modified the design to make it easier for children to express their distinctions among force acts. In Study 2, with 6-year-olds, we replaced the Unprovoked videos with videos of Non-force play and asked whether children liked the acts. Children were far more likely to say they liked the Play force (49%) than the Property force (4%), though they were most likely to say they liked the Non-force videos (89%), p < .001. Again, children were more likely to say the act was okay if the friend was happy, p < .001. Both studies also assessed relations between children’s distinctions among acts of force and parental reports of aggressive behaviors and sociability. These studies, using a naturalistic video paradigm, showed that preschoolers, by age 6, drew sharp moral distinctions among everyday acts of force. Future work will examine how children from different communities use these moral distinctions in deciding when and how to hit.

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