Influence Of Intentions And Results On The Moral Judgement Of Children With ASD

Moral judgment is an advanced social cognitive ability.Individual with autism spectrum disorder(ASD)have deficits in social cognition,and their moral judgment ability might be defected.To explore the influence of intention and behavioral outcome upon the basic moral judgment of low-functioning ASD(LFA)children,using the paradigm of Hamlin et al.(2007),two studies were designed.Study 1,41 ASD children and 41 normal children were selected and asked to watch dual story video concerning “help” or “hinder”.By evaluating the doll-selecting behavior,the moral judgment ability of children with ASD is judged.The results showed:(1)the number of the times of ASD children's choice for “helper” doll is significantly less than that of normal children;(2)the doll-selecting behavior of ASD children shows more non-society characteristics while normal children tend to present social desirability;(3)the ASD children who are at greater age present a more obvious preference for “helper” doll.Study 2,38 ASD children and 38 normal children were requested to watch dual story video which includes two intentions “help” or “hinder” and two behavioral outcomes “succeed” or “failed”.Through the evaluation of the doll-selecting behavior,children's moral judgment ability is judged,and the influence of subject's intention and behavioral outcome upon children's moral judgment are explored.The results showed:(1)ASD children tend to choose the doll with “successful opening” outcome,no matter the intention is good or bad;(2)typically developing(TD)children at over 4 age incline to conduct moral judgment according to intention and this result varies with age.Specifically,the children at greater age have stronger tendency to perform moral judgment on the basis of intention.In summary,low-functioning ASD children possess certain ability of basic moral judgment and mainly depend on behavioral outcome during moral judgment.In contrast,TD children tend to make moral judgment according to the intention of behavioral subject.