Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties
Abstract Do children have gendered expectations of moral parties? Here we asked 5–10-year-olds (N = 177) in the United States to indicate whether boys or girls were agents or patients of morally good and bad actions. Children of all ages, and of both genders, showed a strong and consistent expectati...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94375-6 |
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| author | Anastasiia D. Grigoreva Arber Tasimi |
| author_facet | Anastasiia D. Grigoreva Arber Tasimi |
| author_sort | Anastasiia D. Grigoreva |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Do children have gendered expectations of moral parties? Here we asked 5–10-year-olds (N = 177) in the United States to indicate whether boys or girls were agents or patients of morally good and bad actions. Children of all ages, and of both genders, showed a strong and consistent expectation that boys are perpetrators of various moral wrongs. Moreover, whereas girls expected girls to be benefactors, boys had no systematic gendered expectations regarding benefactors. As for moral patiency, children picked their own gender, regardless of valence: boys chose boys as victims and beneficiaries, and girls chose girls as victims and beneficiaries. Given the potentially far-reaching implications of such moral expectations, these findings invite further questions regarding the mechanisms and consequences of these early-emerging gendered patterns. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c40bddfc8be04901a6f7b24825c53758 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-c40bddfc8be04901a6f7b24825c537582025-08-20T03:04:50ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-011511810.1038/s41598-025-94375-6Children’s gendered expectations of moral partiesAnastasiia D. Grigoreva0Arber Tasimi1Department of Psychology, Emory UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Emory UniversityAbstract Do children have gendered expectations of moral parties? Here we asked 5–10-year-olds (N = 177) in the United States to indicate whether boys or girls were agents or patients of morally good and bad actions. Children of all ages, and of both genders, showed a strong and consistent expectation that boys are perpetrators of various moral wrongs. Moreover, whereas girls expected girls to be benefactors, boys had no systematic gendered expectations regarding benefactors. As for moral patiency, children picked their own gender, regardless of valence: boys chose boys as victims and beneficiaries, and girls chose girls as victims and beneficiaries. Given the potentially far-reaching implications of such moral expectations, these findings invite further questions regarding the mechanisms and consequences of these early-emerging gendered patterns.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94375-6MoralityGenderAgencyPatiencyStereotypesDevelopment |
| spellingShingle | Anastasiia D. Grigoreva Arber Tasimi Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties Scientific Reports Morality Gender Agency Patiency Stereotypes Development |
| title | Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| title_full | Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| title_fullStr | Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| title_full_unstemmed | Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| title_short | Children’s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| title_sort | children s gendered expectations of moral parties |
| topic | Morality Gender Agency Patiency Stereotypes Development |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94375-6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT anastasiiadgrigoreva childrensgenderedexpectationsofmoralparties AT arbertasimi childrensgenderedexpectationsofmoralparties |