TY - JOUR
T1 - Strategies of control, aggression, and morality in preschoolers
T2 - An evolutionary perspective
AU - Hawley, Patricia H.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2003/7
Y1 - 2003/7
N2 - Moral reasoning, moral affect, social problem solving skills, and social preferences were assessed in 163 ethnically mixed preschoolers (2.86-5.95 years). Participants were rated by their teachers on prosocial and coercive strategies of control, success at resource control, and aggression (overt and relational). Based on their employment of coercive and prosocial strategies of resource control, the children were categorized as bistrategic controllers, coercive controllers, prosocial controllers, noncontrollers, or typicals. Teacher-rated relational aggression was positively associated with moral maturity in girls. Bistrategic controllers, although aggressive, were morally mature and preferred play partners by their peers. The results are discussed in terms of hypotheses that arise from evolutionary theory which suggests that highly effective resource controllers would be simultaneously aggressive and yet well aware of moral norms. The findings are contrasted with alternative hypotheses that might arise variously from traditional and prevailing approaches.
AB - Moral reasoning, moral affect, social problem solving skills, and social preferences were assessed in 163 ethnically mixed preschoolers (2.86-5.95 years). Participants were rated by their teachers on prosocial and coercive strategies of control, success at resource control, and aggression (overt and relational). Based on their employment of coercive and prosocial strategies of resource control, the children were categorized as bistrategic controllers, coercive controllers, prosocial controllers, noncontrollers, or typicals. Teacher-rated relational aggression was positively associated with moral maturity in girls. Bistrategic controllers, although aggressive, were morally mature and preferred play partners by their peers. The results are discussed in terms of hypotheses that arise from evolutionary theory which suggests that highly effective resource controllers would be simultaneously aggressive and yet well aware of moral norms. The findings are contrasted with alternative hypotheses that might arise variously from traditional and prevailing approaches.
KW - Evolution
KW - Morality
KW - Preschoolers
KW - Resource control
KW - Social competence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038037032&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00073-0
DO - 10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00073-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 12810036
AN - SCOPUS:0038037032
VL - 85
SP - 213
EP - 235
JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
SN - 0022-0965
IS - 3
ER -