Preschoolers' moral judgments of environmental harm and the influence of perspective taking

- Preschool-age children judge environmentally-harmful actions as morally wrong.
- Relative moral judgments shift between the ages of 3 and 4 years.
- Taking the perspective of a fictional character affects moral judgments.
- Perspective-taking effects depend on how the character treats the environment.

We asked whether preschoolers view the environment as a moral concern. In Study 1, preschoolers rated the morality of actions that harmed either the environment or another person, as well as non-harmful behaviors. 3-year-olds equated behaviors that harmed the environment with those that targeted people. Older preschoolers, however, rated behaviors that harmed people as being worse than those that damaged the environment. In the second study, we experimentally tested whether preschoolers' moral evaluations could be influenced using a perspective-taking task. Children who took the perspective of a book character who was the victim of environmental harm rated environmentally irresponsible behaviors more severely than children who took the perspective of a character who caused environmental damage. Together, the studies provide preliminary evidence that children as young as 3 years view environmental behaviors in moral terms and that these early judgments are malleable. The research has implications for environmental education.