Young Children's Judgment of Helping and Harmful Behavior Toward a Prosocial Hero and an Antisocial Villain

Abstract We examined young children's social evaluation of helping and harming agents when recipients were a prosocial hero and an antisocial villain. Sixty‐one Japanese kindergarten children watched helping or harming agents interact with prosocial, antisocial, or neutral recipients (with the prosocial and antisocial recipients portrayed by animated hero and villain characters widely recognized by young Japanese children). We assessed the children's moral judgment of the agents' actions and preferences for the agents. Helping behavior was evaluated positively, while harmful behavior was evaluated negatively, regardless of whether the recipient was the prosocial hero or the antisocial villain. Moral judgments of helping behavior toward the prosocial hero and the antisocial villain were similar. By contrast, harmful behavior was evaluated more negatively if the recipient was the prosocial hero rather than the antisocial villain. Regarding preferences, similar evaluation trends were observed. Thus, even when recipients were antisocial villains, young children recognized helping them as morally desirable and harmful behavior toward them as undesirable. These findings offer insights into children's recognition and development of indirect reciprocity.