Abstract：
Adults\' emotional reactions to the pain and pleasure of others are influenced by the moral character of those individuals. However, it remains unclear whether children\'s emotional responses also show such selectivity. To investigate this, we compared 4- to 8-year-old children\'s emotional responses to the physical pain and pleasure of prosocial versus antisocial puppets. In Study 1, children reported unhappiness after witnessing the pain of the prosocial and antisocial puppets but reported less unhappiness after witnessing the pain of the antisocial puppet. In Study 2, children reported happiness after witnessing the pleasure of both puppets but reported being less happy for the antisocial puppet. These results suggest that children are less likely to empathize with antisocial individuals. Meanwhile, children did not display Schadenfreude (pleasure at others\' pain) or Gluckschmerz (displeasure at others\' pleasure) toward antisocial individuals in our studies. Moreover, the selectivity of children\'s emotional responses disappeared after we manipulated the physical competence rather than the moral character of the puppets in Study 3. Our findings help to reveal the moral selectivity of emotional responses to others\' pleasure and pain during early childhood.
摘要：
成年人对他人痛苦和快乐的情绪反应受到这些人的道德品质的影响。然而,目前尚不清楚儿童的情绪反应是否也表现出这种选择性。为了调查这一点，我们比较了4至8岁儿童对亲社会木偶和反社会木偶的身体疼痛和愉悦的情绪反应。在研究1中，儿童在目睹亲社会和反社会木偶的痛苦后报告不快乐，但在目睹反社会木偶的痛苦后报告不快乐。在研究2中，孩子们在目睹了两个木偶的快乐后报告了快乐，但报告说对反社会的木偶不那么快乐。这些结果表明，儿童不太可能对反社会个体产生同情。同时,在我们的研究中，儿童对反社会个体没有表现出幸灾乐祸（对他人的痛苦感到高兴）或Gluckschmerz（对他人的快乐不满意）。此外，在研究3中，在我们操纵木偶的身体能力而不是道德品质之后，儿童情绪反应的选择性消失了。我们的发现有助于揭示儿童早期对他人的快乐和痛苦的情绪反应的道德选择性。
