The preschooler's moral self and executive functions: An experimental approach with exclusion

Experimental: examinations of preschool children's responses to social exclusion have largely focused on behaviors, yet have not fully considered children's perceptions of themselves as social partners in relation to exclusion. Additionally, most studies of children's moral self concept focus on prosociality, yet ignore harm, and do not consider executive functions (EF) in children's ability to incorporate being excluded into the moral self. Here, a community sample of U.S. children (N = 66; M_age = 58.25 months, SD = 12.57) completed a Day/Night Stroop task and the Moral Self puppet interview, assessing children's views of themselves as prosocial, physically harmful, and relationally harmful agents. Approximately two weeks later, children were randomly assigned to be either included or excluded in Cyberball, immediately after which they completed the Moral Self puppet interview a second time. Results suggest that more moral views of the self were closely related to EF, in that passing the Day/Night task was associated with higher prosocial self-concept and lower relationally aggressive self-concepts at both time points. We found no evidence that exposure to exclusion or inclusion was linked to self-concepts. These findings hold importance for future studies of 3- to 6-year-old children's moral self, as well as their cognitive development. Limitations and future directions are discussed.