Temperament as a moderator of pathways to conscience in children: The contribution of electrodermal activity

A longitudinal study (G. K. Kochanska, 1997) showed that temperamental fear fulness, assessed at toddler age via observational data and maternal rating s, moderated pathways to internalized conscience at age 4. For fearful chil dren, maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power predicted conscience d evelopment; for fearless children, attachment security predicted conscience development. Electrodermal reactivity assessed at age 4 on the same childr en was used as a physiological reflection of fearful temperament and was su bstituted for the earlier fearfulness measure to test the theoretical model . As expected, for electrodermally reactive children, maternal gentle disci pline predicted conscience, whereas for nonreactive children, attachment se curity predicted conscience. The findings support the notions of (a) electr odermal reactivity at an early age as a correlate of temperament, (b) tempe rament as a moderator of socialization in early moral development, and (c) lovelessness in psychopathic individuals as an index of the failure of the alternative pathway (via attachment) to conscience in fearless children.