Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: People keep certain information from children. For example, adults censor objectionable media from children and support belief in Santa Claus, a fictional entity. One possible reason for these behaviors is that people perceive that children who are more knowledgeable are less innocent and pure, and therefore less moral. Two studies in this thesis tested whether increased knowledge held by a hypothetical child was negatively linked to perceptions of that child's moral behavior and whether perceived innocence would mediate this relationship. However, results found that increased knowledge was positively, not negatively, associated with perceived moral behavior and that perceived agency mediated this relationship. Results suggest that all knowledge is not negatively linked to perceptions of morality and that only certain types of knowledge have this effect.
Author: Anderson, Rajen Alexander
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2541208344