Five-year-old children value reasons in apologies for belief-based accidents |
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| Authors: | Owen Waddington Marina Proft Keith Jensen Bahar Köymen |
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| Institution: | 1. Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK;2. Georg-Elias-Müller-Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Accidents can be intent-based (unintended action-unintended outcome) or belief-based (intended action-unintended outcome). As compared to intent-based accidents, giving reasons is more crucial for belief-based accidents because the transgressor appears to have intentionally transgressed. In Study 1, UK-based preschoolers who were native English speakers (N = 96, 53 girls, collected 2020–2021) witnessed two intent-based or belief-based accidents; one transgressor apologized, the other apologized with a reason. Five-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds, favored the reason-giving transgressor following a belief-based accident but not an intent-based accident (where an apology sufficed). In Study 2, 5-year-olds (N = 48, 25 girls, collected 2021) distinguished between “good” and “bad” reasons for the harm caused. Thus, 5-year-old children recognize when reasons should accompany apologies and account for the quality of these reasons. |
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