«Tu Faresti La Spia?» Valutazione morale del riferire le trasgressioni dei coetanei in bambini italiani ed inglesi

This study investigated how a group of Italian and English children evaluate the reporting of peersࢠtransgressions to teachers. Participants (N = 146), aged 5-6 and 9-10 years, were presented with four stories, where a child committed either a moral transgression (intentional or unintentional) or a conventional transgression. Participants were asked to judge the decision of a child observer who either did or did not report the transgression to a teacher, and to express how much they liked them. The findings showed that younger children considered positive the reporting for both type of transgressions, whereas older children negatively evaluated the reporting of an intentional moral violation and liked less the tattletale. Similar differences were found between boys and girls. Moreover, Italian and English children seemed to differ in their motivation answers. Findings are discussed with reference to childrenࢠs social experience and Social Domain Theory (Smetana & Bruges, 1990; Smetana, Schlagman, & Adams, 1993; Turiel, 2008).