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Adults’ Responses to Children’s Crying after a Moral Transgression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2019

Patrícia Arriaga Open the ORCID record for Patrícia Arriaga [Opens in a new window] ,
Carla Murteira  and
Raquel Oliveira
Patrícia Arriaga*
Affiliation:
ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal)
Carla Murteira
Affiliation:
ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal)
Raquel Oliveira
Affiliation:
ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Patrícia Arriaga. ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, CIS-IUL. Departamento de Psicologia Social e das Organizações. Ava das Forças Armadas, Edifício ISCTE. 1649–026 Lisboa (Portugal). E-mail: patricia.arriaga@iscte-iul.pt
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Abstract

This study investigated how adults respond to a moral transgression committed by a child offender, by examining the role of the child’s sex, emotions, and crying behavior when caught committing a moral transgression on adults’ forgiveness, trust, and disciplinary behaviors. An experimental survey manipulated the children’s sex, crying, and their emotional expressions (fear, sadness, shame, and crying). Participants (N = 847) reported how they would feel, their willingness to forgive (immediately and a week after the event) and to trust the child, estimated recidivism, and the use of disciplinary behaviors. Results showed that participants in the crying conditions reported significantly higher levels of intention to trust and forgive the child a week after the event, and a lower estimation of the child committing a similar act in the future than participants in the non-crying conditions (ps < .05). Compared to men, women anticipated higher intentions to forgive (ps < .05), and more inductive behaviors, less overreactivity and warmth removal towards the child (ps < .001). Overall, the results suggest the functional value of crying in children-adults relations and the importance of the gender of both child and adults in a context of a moral transgression committed by a child.

Keywords

childrencryingemotionsforgivenessgender
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 22 , 2019 , E15
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2019 

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Footnotes

We would like to thank all the students enrolled in the course “Academic Competencies II” at ISCTE-IUL for their assistance with the data collection. This research was supported by The Portuguese National Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Research Center CIS-IUL (Ref. UID/PSI/03125/2013).

How to cite this article:

Arriaga, P., Murteira, C., & Oliveira, R. (2019). Adults’ responses to children’s crying after a moral transgression. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 22. e15. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2019.21

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