When development constricts our moral circle.

Area of Science:

• Moral Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The common belief suggests that human moral concern expands from close relations to distant others as individuals mature.
• This expansion is often attributed to increased reasoning capacity, recognizing the equal moral weight of strangers' suffering.
• Recent research challenges this view, indicating a more complex developmental trajectory of moral concern.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental changes in the scope of moral concern.
• To examine whether the moral circle expands or contracts throughout development.
• To explore the early-emerging tendencies in caring for distant others.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent empirical research on moral judgment and behavior across different age groups.
• Analysis of studies comparing moral concern for relationally, physically, and phylogenetically distant others.
• Comparative assessment of younger children versus older children and adults in moral decision-making.

Main Results:

• Younger children exhibit a more expansive moral circle than older children and adults in several domains.
• Children are more inclined to consider distant others worthy of help or protection compared to older individuals.
• Developmental processes may lead to a narrowing, rather than widening, of the moral circle in certain contexts.

Conclusions:

• Developmental changes in moral concern are counterintuitive, potentially narrowing the moral circle.
• An early-emerging tendency to care for distant others exists in humans.
• Future research should consider this early-emerging tendency alongside efforts to overcome biases against distant others.