Influence of a Model's Overall Meaning on Moral Judgment and Resistance to Temptation in Children

The influence of models presenting different forms of moral behaviour in the moral judgment of children was investigated in a population of 193 children. Children were given a group morality test (MOTEC) before and after seeing short films in which children behaved in morally acceptable and unacceptable ways, receiving positive and negative reinforcements from peers or grown-ups. It was found that while the models’ behaviour and the reinforcement received did not affect children's scores on resistance to temptation and moral judgment, the overall meaning of the models’ behaviour significantly influenced the children's scores on the test.