Affective Processing of Moral Events: A Developmental Approach

道德事件的情感处理：一种发展的方法

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-06282
• 负责人: Malti, Tina
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=616209
• 关键词: Affective; Processing; Moral; Events; Developmental

Why do some children feel guilty when transgressing moral norms, such as situations involving physical harm, while others do not show any remorse? Understanding how emotions in contexts of morality are formed is important because they have been found to be a strong predictor of socially acceptable behaviour. In addition, the absence of appropriate emotional responses to moral events has been shown to be associated with poor choices and negative outcomes for the individual and society. For example, individuals with low levels of guilt have been found to be more criminal, less productive, and more commonly suffer from pathologies. In this project, we will use a developmental approach to test how children cognitively and affectively process moral events, and how this changes with age. We will study two questions: first, how attention allocation is associated with indices of emotional responses to moral events; second, whether experimentally manipulating the region toward which children attend alters their emotional responses. To address the first research question, we will study 4-, 6-, and, 8-year-old children. We will observe their eye movements to see whether they attend to self-rewarding elements of transgressions (e.g., a stolen chocolate bar) over the other-oriented elements of stories (e.g., child whose chocolate bar was stolen). We will study how this relates to their self-reported emotional responses, their motor expressions (i.e., emotional facial expressions), and their physiological arousal (i.e., electrodermal activity). Using our synchronization system, which connects all our instruments, we will test if the relation between attention and self-reported emotion is associated with physiological arousal and motor expression. To study the second research question we will experimentally manipulate attention allocation toward the victim and see whether it influences emotional responses to these events. Given the current scarcity of developmental work on this topic, our findings will be valuable and timely for the field. This research program will provide a richer picture of the interconnectedness between attention, physiological arousal, and emotional motor expressions underlying emotional processing of moral events, and how they vary across development. This knowledge can contribute to a greater understanding of how children acquire and process information regarding moral events. In the long run, this program of research will therefore generate more knowledge about normative affective and cognitive development.

为什么有些孩子在违反道德规范（例如涉及身体伤害的情况）时会感到内疚，而另一些孩子却没有表现出任何悔意？了解道德背景下的情感如何形成非常重要，因为人们发现它们是社会可接受行为的有力预测因素。此外，对道德事件缺乏适当的情绪反应已被证明与个人和社会的不良选择和负面结果有关。例如，人们发现，内疚程度较低的人犯罪率更高，生产力更低，并且更容易患有病症。 在这个项目中，我们将使用发展方法来测试儿童如何认知和情感地处理道德事件，以及这种情况如何随着年龄的变化而变化。我们将研究两个问题：第一，注意力分配如何与道德事件的情绪反应指数相关；其次，实验性地操纵儿童参与的区域是否会改变他们的情绪反应。 为了解决第一个研究问题，我们将研究 4 岁、6 岁和 8 岁的儿童。我们将观察他们的眼球运动，看看他们是否会关注违规行为中的自我奖励元素（例如，一块被偷的巧克力），而不是故事中以其他为导向的元素（例如，巧克力块被偷的孩子）。我们将研究这与他们自我报告的情绪反应、运动表达（即情绪性面部表情）和生理唤醒（即皮肤电活动）有何关系。使用连接所有仪器的同步系统，我们将测试注意力和自我报告情绪之间的关系是否与生理唤醒和运动表达相关。为了研究第二个研究问题，我们将通过实验操纵对受害者的注意力分配，看看它是否会影响对这些事件的情绪反应。 鉴于目前该主题的开发工作匮乏，我们的研究结果对该领域来说将是有价值且及时的。该研究项目将更丰富地描述道德事件情绪处理背后的注意力、生理唤醒和情绪运动表达之间的相互联系，以及它们在发展过程中如何变化。这些知识有助于更好地理解儿童如何获取和处理有关道德事件的信息。从长远来看，该研究计划将因此产生更多关于规范情感和认知发展的知识。