The expectation of guilt and resistance to temptation

Abstract

Abstract Children's expectations about the emotions that surround a moral transgression were examined. In experiment 1, children aged 4‐6 years and 8‐9 years listened to a story about a child who resisted but then yielded to the temptation to take a sweet without permission. In line with earlier findings (Nunner‐Winkler and Sodian, 1988), older children were more likely than younger children to expect the wrongdoer to feel pleased at resisting, but to feel bad after yielding to, temptation. In experiment 2, the relation between expectations of emotion and actual resistance to temptation was studied. Children aged 5‐6 years again made judgements about a story character who eventually yielded to temptation. Their own resistance to temptation was assessed by means of a cheating task: children were given an opportunity to cheat by peeking during the experimenter's absence. Children who did not peek were more likely to attribute morally oriented feelings to the story protagonist. The results suggest that children who readily anticipate the emotional consequences of wrongdoing are more likely to resist the temptation to transgress.