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Are Children Perceived to Be Morally Exceptional? Different Sets of Psychological Variables Predict Adults’ Moral Judgments About Adults and Young Children

Conceptual analyses of moral cognition suggest that different variables may influence moral judgments depending upon the target’s age. Five experiments (total N = 1,733) tested the implications for moral judgments about adults and young children. Results show that adults who were perceived to be more cognitively capable were judged to have greater moral rights and their transgressions were judged less harshly, but young children who were perceived to be more cognitively capable were judged to have fewer moral rights and their transgressions were judged more harshly. In addition, the perceived intentionality and disgustingness of transgressions had weaker effects on judgments about child transgressors than about adult transgressors. Perceivers’ care-giving motives also had diverging effects on moral judgments, predicting more lenient judgments about children’s transgressions and harsher judgments about adults’ transgressions. These results have novel implications—both conceptual and practical—for moral judgments regarding adults and children.