The age at which young children begin to make moral discriminations ab

Question

The age at which young children begin to make moral discriminations about harmful actions committed against themselves or others has been the focus of recent research into the moral development of children. Until recently, child psychologists supported pioneer developmentalist Jean. Piaget in his hypothesis that because of their immaturity, children under age seven do not take into account the intentions of a person committing accidental or deliberate harm, but rather simply assign punishment for transgressions on the basis of the magnitude of the negative consequences caused. According to Piaget, children under age seven occupy the first stage of moral development, which is characterized by moral absolutism (rules made by authorities must be obeyed) and imminent justice (if rules are broken, punishment will be meted out). Until young children mature, their moral judgments are based entirely on the effect rather than the cause of a transgression. However, in recent research, Keasey found that six-year-old children not only distinguish between accidental and intentional harm, but also judge intentional harm as naughtier, regardless of the amount of damage produced. Both of these findings seem to indicate that children, at an earlier age than Piaget claimed, advance into the second stage of moral development, moral autonomy, in which they accept social rules but view them as more arbitrary than do children in the first stage.

Keasey’s research raises two key questions for developmental psychologists about children under age seven: do they recognize justifications for harmful actions, and do they make distinctions between harmful acts that are preventable and those acts that have unforeseen harmful consequences? Studies indicate that justifications excusing harmful actions might include public duty, self-defense, and provocation. For example, Nesdale and Rule concluded that children were capable of considering whether or not an aggressor’s action was justified by public duty: five year olds reacted very differently to “Bonnie wrecks Ann’s pretend house” depending on whether Bonnie did it “so somebody won’t fall over it” or because Bonnie wanted “to make Ann feel bad.” Thus, a child of five begins to understand that certain harmful actions, though intentional, can be justified; the constraints of moral absolutism no longer solely guide their judgments.

Psychologists have determined that during kindergarten children learn to make subtle distinctions involving harm. Darley observed that among acts involving unintentional harm, six-year-old children just entering kindergarten could not differentiate between foreseeable, and thus preventable, harm and unforeseeable harm for which the perpetrator cannot be blamed. Seven months later, however, Darley found that these same children could make both distinctions, thus demonstrating that they had become morally autonomous.   1 
 D 
 Q1). Which of the following best describes the passage as a whole?

(A) An outline for future research
(B) An expanded definition of commonly misunderstood terms
(C) An analysis of a dispute between two theorists
(D) A discussion of research findings in an ongoing inquiry
(E) A confirmation of an established authority’s theory

2 
 A 
 Q2). It can be inferred from the passage that Piaget would be likely to agree with which of the following statements about the punishment that children under seven assign to wrongdoing?

(A) The severity of the assigned punishment is determined by the perceived magnitude of negative consequences more than by any other factor.
(B) The punishment is to be administered immediately following the transgression.
(C) The children assign punishment less arbitrarily than they do when they reach the age of moral autonomy.
(D) The punishment for acts of unintentional harm is less severe than it is for acts involving accidental harm.
(E) The more developmentally immature a child, the more severe the punishment that the child will assign.

3 
 B 
 Q3)According to the passage, Piaget and Keasey would not have agreed on which of the following points?

(A) The kinds of excuses children give for harmful acts they commit
(B) The age at which children begin to discriminate between intentional and unintentional harm
(C) The intentions children have in perpetrating harm
(D) The circumstances under which children punish harmful acts
(E) The justifications children recognize for mitigating punishment for harmful acts

4 
 A 
 Q4).According to the passage, Keasey s findings support which of the following conclusions about six-year-old children?

(A) They have the ability to make autonomous moral judgments.
(B) They regard moral absolutism as a threat to their moral autonomy.
(C) They do not understand the concept of public duty.
(D) They accept moral judgment made by their peers more easily than do older children.
(E) They make arbitrary moral judgments.

gvaibhav28 · Answer

can anyone explain the answer for question 3 and 4?

Fdambro294 · Answer

Hmmm, is it possible the answers got switched around on last 2 questions?
Something doesn’t seem right. 13% and 19% is too low, even by gmatclub standards

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minustark · Answer

Question 3 ...answer should be B and 4 ....answer should be A.

vv65 · Answer

Q3 asks: on what points would Piaget and Keasey disagree?

The answer is in the first paragraph

Piaget's view:
"because of their immaturity, children under age seven do not take into account the intentions of a person committing accidental or deliberate harm, but rather simply assign punishment for transgressions on the basis of the magnitude of the negative consequences caused."

Keasey's view:
"six-year-old children not only distinguish between accidental and intentional harm, but also judge intentional harm as naughtier, regardless of the amount of damage produced."

So Piaget and Keasey disagree about the moral reasoning of 6-year olds
Piaget says they do not consider the intentions of the 'harmer', while Keasey says they do.
Both of them accept that 7-year olds do distinguish between intentional and unintentional harm

Let's look at the answer choices now

(A) The kinds of excuses children give for harmful acts they commit
- irrelevant, no idea, not discussed
- the passage discusses how children judge the harm done by others, not the harm they themselves do

(B) The age at which children begin to discriminate between intentional and unintentional harm
- PERFECT MATCH

(C) The intentions children have in perpetrating harm
- irrelevant, no idea, not discussed
- same as A

(D) The circumstances under which children punish harmful acts
- irrelevant, no idea, not discussed
- the passage never suggests that the children punish harmful acts; it discusses how children judge the harmful acts done by others

(E) The justifications children recognize for mitigating punishment for harmful acts
- irrelevant, no idea, not discussed
- we do now know Piaget's and Keasey's ideas on what justifications children recognise

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vv65 · Answer

Q4).According to the passage, Keasey s findings support which of the following conclusions about six-year-old children?

Simplified version of the question is: 
"What do Keasey's findings suggest about 6-year old children?"

This is what we know about Keasey's ideas:
"Keasey found that six-year-old children not only distinguish between accidental and intentional harm, but also judge intentional harm as naughtier, regardless of the amount of damage produced. 
... these findings ... indicate that (6-year old) children ... advance into the second stage of moral development, moral autonomy,
(moral autonomy is a stage) in which they accept social rules but view them as more arbitrary than do children in the first stage"

Let's look at the answer choices now

(A) They have the ability to make autonomous moral judgments.
- this could match "children advance into the stage of moral autonomy"
- KEEP this one

(B) They regard moral absolutism as a threat to their moral autonomy.
- No idea, ELIMINATE
- the phrase 'moral autonomy' is a memory trap
- the passage does not discuss what children think of 'moral absolutism"

(C) They do not understand the concept of public duty.
- No idea, ELIMINATE
- the passage does not discuss whether children understand "moral duty"

(D) They accept moral judgment made by their peers more easily than do older children.
- No idea, ELIMINATE
- the pasage does not discuss how easily children accept moral judgements made by their peers

(E) They make arbitrary moral judgments.
- reversal, ELIMINATE
- Keasey does not say that children make arbitrary moral judgements
- In fact, his findings suggest the opposite: children "judge intentional harm as naughtier" shows that the moral judgements are not arbitrary

Through a process of elimination, the answer should be A

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vv65 · Answer

Agree, answer for Q3 should be B and answer for Q4 should be A

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Fdambro294 · Answer

Awesome. That means I actually got them correct. Something seemed funny....

That last question, answer B, seems like one of those traps where they want you to fall in. It uses the same defined words, but in the wrong way. It didn’t seem like it could be correct.

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VerbalBot · Answer

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The age at which young children begin to make moral discriminations ab

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