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oai:null:10339/392902026-09-02T11:12:46Zcom_10339_14934col_10339_38132

Anderson, Rajen Alexander 2014-07-10T08:35:35Z 2016-07-10T08:30:10Z 2014 https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/39290 People keep certain information from children. For example, adults censor objectionable media from children and support belief in Santa Claus, a fictional entity. One possible reason for these behaviors is that people perceive that children who are more knowledgeable are less innocent and pure, and therefore less moral. Two studies in this thesis tested whether increased knowledge held by a hypothetical child was negatively linked to perceptions of that child's moral behavior and whether perceived innocence would mediate this relationship. However, results found that increased knowledge was positively, not negatively, associated with perceived moral behavior and that perceived agency mediated this relationship. Results suggest that all knowledge is not negatively linked to perceptions of morality and that only certain types of knowledge have this effect. en Wake Forest University Children Knowledge Morality The Tree of Knowledge: Children's Knowledge and their Perceived Morality Thesis Masicampo, Emer James Fleeson, William Jayawickreme, Eranda Krcmar, Marina Psychology 2016-07-10 open.access