YOUNG CHILDRENS EVALUATIONS OF ACTS BASED ON BELIEFS DIFFERENT FROM THEIR OWN

Young children's judgments about social practices based on beliefs dif ferent from their own were examined. Children (N = 60), equally divide d in three groups, ages 3, 5, and 7, were individually interviewed abo ut events in which a character engages in potentially harmful or unfai r acts based on moral beliefs or informational beliefs not shared by t he participants, or based on informational beliefs shared by the parti cipants. Findings indicated that children at all ages accounted for in formational beliefs in their judgments and that 5- and 7-year-olds jud ged more positively practices based on informational beliefs different from their own than they did the same practices based on moral belief s different from their own. Nevertheless, for the most part, children judged acts based on beliefs different from their own to be wrong. We discussed how young children's conceptualizations and judgments of oth er people's beliefs and practices constrain their abilities to underst and and judge social practices not their own.