In deciding when to help, individuals reason about whether prosocial acts are impermissible, suberogatory, obligatory, or supererogatory. This research examined judgments and reasoning about prosocial actions at three to five years of age, when explicit moral judgments and reasoning are emerging. Three-to five-year-olds (N = 52) were interviewed about prosocial actions that varied in costs/benefits to agents/recipients, agent-recipient relationship, and recipient goal valence. Children were also interviewed about their own prosocial acts. Adults (N = 56) were interviewed for comparison. Children commonly judged prosocial actions as obligatory. Overall, children were more likely than adults to say that agents should help. Children's judgments and reasoning reflected concerns with welfare as well as agent and recipient intent. The findings indicate that 3-to 5-year-olds make distinct moral judgments about prosocial actions, and that judgments and reasoning about prosocial acts subsequently undergo major developments.

中文翻译：

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幼儿对亲社会行为的判断和推理：不允许的、次职的、义务的还是超职的？


在决定何时提供帮助时，个人会思考亲社会行为是不允许的、次要的、强制性的还是额外的。这项研究考察了三到五岁时对亲社会行为的判断和推理，此时明确的道德判断和推理正在出现。三到五岁的孩子（N = 52）接受了有关亲社会行为的采访，这些行为在代理人/接受者的成本/收益、代理人与接受者关系以及接受者目标效价方面各不相同。孩子们也接受了有关他们自己的亲社会行为的采访。对成年人（N = 56）进行了访谈以进行比较。儿童通常认为亲社会行为是必须的。总体而言，儿童比成人更有可能认为代理人应该提供帮助。儿童的判断和推理反映了对福利以及代理人和接受者意图的担忧。研究结果表明，3至5岁的孩子对亲社会行为做出了明显的道德判断，并且对亲社会行为的判断和推理随后发生了重大发展。