Citation

Gasser L, Malti T, Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger E. J. Genet. Psychol. 2012; 173(4): 417-439.

Affiliation

University of Teacher Education of Central Switzerland, Institute for Diversity Education, Töpferstrasse 10, 6004 Lucerne, Switzerland. luciano.gasser@phz.ch

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23264993

Abstract

The authors investigated 7- and 9-year-old children's moral understanding of retaliation as compared to unprovoked aggression with regard to their aggressive behavior status. Based on peer ratings, 48 children were selected as overtly aggressive and 91 as nonaggressive. Their moral understanding of retaliation and unprovoked aggression was assessed by an interview including questions about their moral judgments and emotion attributions. Aggressive children judged retaliations as less serious than did nonaggressive children. They also referred less often to the harmful consequences of retaliation and were more likely to excuse the retaliation because of the provocation. In unprovoked aggressive situations younger aggressive children, compared with the younger nonaggressive children, attributed more happiness to transgressors, more anger to victims, and less sadness to transgressors and victims. The results are discussed in terms of previous research on aggressive children's moral understanding of retaliation and unprovoked aggression.

Language: en