Precursors to morality in development as a complex interplay between neural, socioenvironmental, and behavioral facets

The nature and underpinnings of infants' seemingly complex, third-party, social evaluations remain highly contentious. Theoretical perspectives oscillate between rich and lean interpretations of the same expressed preferences. Although some argue that infants and toddlers possess a "moral...

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Veröffentlicht in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Jg. 112; H. 41; S. 12657
Hauptverfasser: Cowell, Jason M, Decety, Jean
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: United States 13.10.2015
Schlagworte:
Child Development - physiology
Child, Preschool
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Moral Development
Social Behavior
Socioeconomic Factors
EEG/ERP
moral cognition
parental value transmission
developmental social neuroscience
early sociomoral evaluation
ISSN:1091-6490, 1091-6490
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Zusammenfassung:The nature and underpinnings of infants' seemingly complex, third-party, social evaluations remain highly contentious. Theoretical perspectives oscillate between rich and lean interpretations of the same expressed preferences. Although some argue that infants and toddlers possess a "moral sense" based on core knowledge of the social world, others suggest that social evaluations are hierarchical in nature and the product of an integration of rudimentary general processes such as attention allocation and approach and avoidance. Moreover, these biologically prepared minds interact in social environments that include significant variation, which are likely to impact early social evaluations and behavior. The present study examined the neural underpinnings of and precursors to moral sensitivity in infants and toddlers (n = 73, ages 12-24 mo) through a series of interwoven measures, combining multiple levels of analysis including electrophysiological, eye-tracking, behavioral, and socioenvironmental. Continuous EEG and time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and gaze fixation were recorded while children watched characters engaging in prosocial and antisocial actions in two different tasks. All children demonstrated a neural differentiation in both spectral EEG power density modulations and time-locked ERPs when perceiving prosocial or antisocial agents. Time-locked neural differences predicted children's preference for prosocial characters and were influenced by parental values regarding justice and fairness. Overall, this investigation casts light on the fundamental nature of moral cognition, including its underpinnings in general processes such as attention and approach-withdrawal, providing plausible mechanisms of early change and a foundation for forward movement in the field of developmental social neuroscience.
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ISSN:1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1508832112