Do Bad People Deserve Prosociality? Pre-Schoolers’ Selective Evaluation of Social Mindfulness Based on the Beneficiary’s Moral Character

Recent research shows that children by age 5 and 6 can evaluate socially mindful actions where one acts in a way that is considerate of another person’s freedom of choice. However, less is known as to whether the evaluation of social mindfulness is selective based on whether the beneficiary is morally good or bad. In this study, we asked 101 4- to 6-year-old children and 78 adults in China to evaluate two characters: one character left a choice for the next person in line (the beneficiary) while the other left no choice. We manipulated whether the beneficiary was a morally good person or a morally bad person. The results showed that 5- to 6-year-olds and adults in China flexibly considered the beneficiary’s moral character in their evaluations of socially mindful actions: Both 5- to 6-year-olds and adults evaluated socially mindful actions more favorably than socially unmindful actions when the beneficiary was morally good, but this difference in evaluations significantly attenuated when the beneficiary was morally bad. The findings demonstrate the selectivity and flexibility in children’s evaluations of considerate, socially mindful actions and moral judgment in general.