Mixed-Domain Events: The Influence of Moral and Conventional Components on the Development of Social Reasoning

The purpose of the current study was to examine children's reasoning about mixed-domain events containing both conventional and moral Components (i.e., violating a conventional rule and negatively affecting others). The participants were preschoolers, first graders, and third graders (N = 100). Children evaluated (a) the legitimacy of an authority to permit mixed-domain acts to occur, and (b) the acceptability of the mixed-domain events when permitted and prohibited by an authority. In addition, children rated the seriousness of mixed-domain rule violations. Results showed that children with increasing age were able to identify the moral components of the mixed-domain events and combined moral and conventional issues in their reasoning about the events. Preschoolers and first graders were more likely than third graders to view the mixed-domain acts as only conventional.