| Abstract: | This study focuses on age-related changes in moral and achievement judgments as they may be modified by sociocultural factors. In this study 1,485 male and female Iranian children/students of diverse social background and ranging in age from 4–18 served as subjects. Following a previously established procedure, subjects were asked to evaluate (reward/punish) the moral and achievement behavior of a story protagonist under conditions which varied systematically in terms of the protagonist's ability to perform a moral or achievement act, his/her good Intentions and the Outcome. A response surface analysis was employed in identifying the separate and interactive affects of social, cultural, and cognitive developmental factors. Age-related patterns were subject to important modifications by sociocultural variables, especially in the case of moral judgments. It is of special interest that in this still fairly traditional Islamic society, sex of subject appeared as a major modifying variable. |
