查看文章

Children’s moral reasoning in early childhood is dynamic, and requires coordination of multiple social domains. Hierarchical Competing Systems Model (HCSM; Marcovitch & Zelazo, 2009) posits that underlying cognitive mechanisms, namely executive functions (EF), might allow for greater reflection and integration of multiple domains. In the current study, 121 preschool-age children (M_age = 53.24 months) completed an age-appropriate Stroop task, a theory of mind (ToM) battery, and open-ended story-interviews pertaining to intentional and accidental harm. Findings largely support the HCSM in explaining children’s moral reasoning. Stroop performance explained morally-embedded ToM task performance, such that stronger EF corresponded with better ToM performance. ToM performance explained attributions of intentions for events of intentional harm and accidental harm, but did not explain children’s own …