4 To 6 Years Old Children In The Field Of Moral And Custom Of The Development Of Selective Trust

Two studies were conducted to explore whether children could discriminate good/bad informants on the basis of their behavior in moral and conventional domains and selectively trust those with positive behavior valence.In the first study,116children aged4to6joined in a typical selective trust game where there were two informants who behaved in ways consistent or inconsistent with moral rules or conventional rules. In an effort to specify the role that moral and conventional information plays in guiding children’s selective trust, we measured children’s ability to discriminate the informants as well as their willingness to lern from them. Results indicated that:a) In both moral and conventional domains, children tended to trust the rules observers rather than rules violators, which meant that children had a positive valence in their selective trust; there were no age differences. b) There were domain differences in children’s selective trust. On the rules conformity condition, children selectively trust the moral rules observers rather than the conventional rules observers; yet in the rules violation condition, children selectively trust the conventional rules violator rather than the moral rules violator. On both conditions, children’s selective trust developed from4to5year-old and became stable when they were6year-old. c) No gender difference in children’s selective trust in moral and conventional domains.The second study aimed to examine the role of intention in children’s selective trust towards rules violators in moral and conventional domain. Results indicated that: a) Children’s selective trust towards accidental rules violators in moral and conventional domain developed rapidly from4to5year-old. b) On the intentional rules violation condition, children’s selectively trust conventional rules violator rather than moral rules violators, this selective trust developed from4to5, and became stable after5year-old. c) On the accidental rules violation condition,4and5year-olds tended to trust the moral rules violators while there was no preference for moral or conventional rules violators in the6year-olds.In summary, the study investigated4to6year-old children’s selective trust development in moral and conventional domains, investigate children’s use of valence in their selective trust, and revealed the role of intention in children’s selective trust towards moral and conventional rules violators. To a certain extent, this study expanded the domain of selective trust researches and might give some inspirations in children’s discrimination of others.