The model of children's dual process of personal domain deontic rules in conflict situations

•The dual-process model was serial process, with types of intuitive parallel process in the heuristic.•In conflict situations, it wasn't dual process until the adolescence.•Reasons why children violated deontic rules in the personal domain were different.

Children are usually confronted with situations in which their desires to do something conflict with deontic rules in the personal domain. Based on a dual process approach, this study pointed out that, children's processing of personal domain deontic rules was a dual process only in conflict situations, and only until their adolescence. The dual-process model was the one featuring the serial processing of the heuristic and deliberate systems, and two different types of intuitive parallel processes inside the heuristic system. Accordingly, this research explained, from the perspective of dual process, that, although children of different age groups universally displayed the irrational responses of violating deontic rules in the personal domain to meet their desires in situations in which their desires conflicted with deontic rules, reasons for this differed.