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Time Spent in Day Care and its Effect on Moral Develpment
by Corrina Robertson '01

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether experience in day care is related to children's perceptions of moral and social rules. Puppet skits illustrating deviations from moral and social rules where shown to children in day care. They were then asked how serious they believed the rule infraction to be. I hypothesized that they longer a child had been in day care, the more likely they would be to understand that a break in a moral rule is a more serious offense than a break in a social rule. I also explored how children feel about adults breaking these rules. Based on Piaget's theory, I hypothesized that they children would not rate adults' infractions of rules as serious.