Moral Reasoning: The Roles of Social Anxiety and Theory of Mind in Preschoolers

Mature moral reasoning, which begins developing in the preschool period, requires the consideration of the motivating intention and outcome of an action. Therefore, moral reasoning is related to the ability to consider mental states (theory of mind) as this understanding is needed in order to accurately understand and interpret intention. Another factor that has been implicated in one's ability to accurately interpret intention is social anxiety as it has been found to be related to different socio-cognitive variables (e.g., threat biases, ToM, interpretations of intention and ambiguous situations). Thus, the goal of my study was to examine the relations among social anxiety, theory of mind, and moral reasoning. As data collection was not possible due to social distancing, my thesis will outline the planned methods and analyses and will examine the potential interpretation for finding, and failing to find, support for my hypotheses.