La construcción del razonamiento moral: el sentimiento de culpa

Abstract

We explored the evolution of the organisational models that individuals apply to resolve an event in which the affective consequences of a moral trasgression play an important role. The sample comprised subjects aged between 6 and 21. They were asked to imagine a situation in which a friend of theirs had committed a trasgression, and to describe how they would help. The object was to investigate the principies that guide their behaviour in this situation. The six- and eight-year-olds were concerned with recovering emotional well-being. A large proportion of ten- and twelve-year olds considered fear of punishment to be a relevant element; they did not mention moral concepts. Seventy percent of fourteen-year-olds took moral values into consideration. Among the twentyone-year-olds two d~fferentw ays of resolving the conflict are found: a) reafirming the trasgression, neutralising its negative emotional consequences; b) redressing the moral and material harm done to others and to oneselJ: Finally, our research showed that females were more concerned about moral principies and males about fear of punishment. The results indicate that the interaction between social values and individual behaviour is extremely complex.