When making moral judgments of past actions, adults often think counterfactually about what could have been done differently. Considerable evidence suggests that counterfactual thinking emerges around age 6, but it remains unknown how this development influences children's moral judgments. Across two studies, Australian children aged 4–9 (N = 236, 142 Females) were told stories about two characters who had a choice that led to a good or bad outcome, and two characters who had no choice over a good or bad outcome. Results showed that 4- and 5-year-olds’ moral judgments were influenced only by the actual outcome. From age 6, children's moral judgments were also influenced by the counterfactual choices that had been available to the characters.

中文翻译：

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儿童的反事实选择和道德判断

在对过去的行为做出道德判断时，成年人常常反事实地思考本可以采取哪些不同的做法。大量证据表明，反事实思维在 6 岁左右出现，但这种发展如何影响儿童的道德判断仍不清楚。在两项研究中，向 4-9 岁的澳大利亚儿童（N  = 236，142 名女性）讲述了两个角色的故事，两个角色可以选择导致好或坏的结果，以及两个角色无法选择好或坏的结果。结果显示，4 岁和 5 岁儿童的道德判断仅受实际结果的影响。从六岁开始，孩子们的道德判断也受到角色可以做出的反事实选择的影响。