Ninja turtle dilemmas and age appropriate moral judgments of four- and five-year-old children

This study describes how thinking games allow young children to express sentiments of good and evil based on the characterological actions of the models in Teenage Mutant Ninia Turtles, the Movie, that are codifiable on Lickona's descriptors of stages of moral reasoning. This qualitative descriptive study attempts, in a preliminary manner, to respond to Damon's. requirement that to assess the moral reasoning of young children requires a method that differs from Kohlberg's dilemma probes. The investigator also examined three parenting styles as they might influence the reasoning of the young children. As well, the notion that Damon's ideas on perspective taking might form an agreement with Lickona's descriptors of stages of moral reasoning was investigated. Twenty-seven young children, both male and female, and their respective parents participated in the study. Results suggest that thinking games are a viable means of probing for young children's ideas about moral reasons for the actions of the characters in the "Ninja Turtle" movie.

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