Copyright 1997 by the American Psychological Association, lnc,

0012-1649/97/53,00

Developmental Psychology
1997, Vol. 33, No. 2, 228-240

Multiple Pathways to Conscience for Children With Different

Temperaments: From Toddlerhood to Age 5
Grazyna Kochanska

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University of Iowa
This research extends longitudinally findings on child temperament as a moderator of the impact of
socialization on conscience development, reported previously for contemporaneous data at toddler
age. Children's temperament and maternal socialization at Time 1 (n = 103, aged 2 - 3 years) were
considered predictors of future conscience, assessed using new observational and narrative measures.
The moderation model was supported for predicting conscience at Time 2 (n = 99, age 4), and, to
a lesser extent, at Time 3 (n = 90, age 5). For children fearful as toddlers, maternal gentlt discipline,
presumably capitalizing on the optimal level of anxious arousal, promoted conscience at Time 2.
For children fearless as toddlers, perhaps insufficiently aroused by gentle discipline, alternative
socialization mechanisms, presumably capitalizing on mother-child positive orientation (secure attachment, maternal responsiveness), promoted conscience at Times 2 and 3. Developmental interplay
of temperament and socialization in emerging morality is discussed.

effects in the development of conscience may be two-fold. First,

children's temperament may influence the developing conscience in a relatively straightforward manner (the main effects). Second, children's temperament may moderate the impact of socialization, or, in other words, different socialization
mechanisms may promote conscience development in children
with different temperamental individualities (the interaction effects or multiple pathways to conscience).
In particular, children's temperamental quality of fearfulness
was posited as an important factor involved in the development
of conscience. Anxiety, fear, nervous apprehension, and worry
have long been implicated as mediators of internalization, both
in the traditional social-learning models (e.g., Mowrer, 1960)
and in research on psychopathy, where grossly inadequate internalization has been interpreted as indicating deficits of fear and
anxiety or of the behavioral inhibition system (Fowles, 1988,
1994; Lykken, 1957; Quay, 1993). Only recently, however, this
model was extended to the study of early normative development. Subsequently, several investigations have supported the
direct links between fearfulness and internalization, typically
finding fearful children to be higher on different conscience
measures (Asendorpf & Nunner-Winkler, 1992; Kochanska,
1995; Kochanska, DeVet, Goldman, Murray, & Putnam, 1994;
Rothbart, Ahadi, & Hershey, 1994).
The moderating effects of temperamental fearfulness are perhaps even more compelling. Specifically, building on Hoffman's
(1983) and Dienstbier's (1984) models, I recently proposed
that for children varying in fearfulness, different socialization
experiences promote internalization. For fearful children
those who may respond with spontaneous anxious arousal to
actual or even potential wrongdoingparental subtle, gentle
discipline deemphasizing power and instead capitalizing on that
internal discomfort should effectively foster conscience. Hoffman postulated an essentially similar view in his model of parental gentle, psychological discipline as eliciting optimal arousal
level in the child, which promotes a semantic processing of
parental message that eventually becomes an internalized rule.

Research on the emergence of internalized regulators of conduct has made a remarkable comeback in developmental psychology. Conscience and internalization have resumed the center
stage among the critical issues of socialization (Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Grusec & Kuczynski, in press). Moreover, the interests of many scholars have shifted to toddlerhood and early
childhood, now increasingly recognized as the critical context
for the origins of morality (Kochanska, 1993; Kochanska &
Thompson, in press).
One of the recent directions in research on early conscience
involves attempts to integrate two powerful sets of influences
children's temperament and parental socializationas significant contributors to the developing internalization (Derryberry & Reed, 1994; Kochanska, 1991, 1993, 1995; Rothbart &
Ahadi, 1994; Rothbart, Ahadi, & Hershey, 1994). This article
represents a consecutive step in the testing of a theoretical model
of the interplay of temperament and socialization (Kochanska,
1993). The model proposed that temperament and socialization

My work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DBS-9209559 and SBR-95I0863), the MacArthur Foundation,
and the University of Iowa {Faculty Scholar Award).
1 am grateful to numerous graduate and undergraduate students and
staff for their tremendous contributions to data collection and coding,
particularly Maya Carnahan, Juli Fratzke, Amy Koenig, and Kim Vandegeest, and to Nazan Aksan, Amy Boutott, Margi Goldman, Michele
Guyton, Darcie Padavich, Meggan Schulze, and Kim Thomas, who contributed to the specific data sets described in this article. I also thank
Byron Egeland, Nancy Eisenberg, Susan Goldberg, Jerome Kagan, Gertrude Nunner-Winkler, Mary Rothbart, and Everett Waters for their expert
advice and for sharing research materials and instruments. The mothers
and children in the Toddler Study deserve continuing recognition for
their enthusiastic commitment.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Grazyna Kochanska, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa 52242. Electronic mail may be sent via Internet to grazynakochanska@uiowa.edu.
228

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MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

For temperamentally fearless children, however, who do not
readily respond to transgressions with internal discomfort, parental subtle discipline may result in insufficient arousal. Many
parents of such children may then be inclined to increase socialization pressure (Dienstbier, 1984). Strong parental pressure,
however, is typically considered to interfere with internalization
(Hoffman, 1983; Kochanska, Padavich, & Koenig, 1996), although complexities of that effect have been pointed out (Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Perry & Perry, 1983). A provocative
question thus arises: How do fearless children develop
conscience?
A recent model (Kochanska, 1993) proposes that, for such
children, another socialization mechanism may promote conscienceone that capitalizes on the child's positive motivation
rather than on anxiety (Maccoby, 1983). In particular, a mutually positive, responsive, binding, and cooperative orientation
between the parent and child that engenders the child's eagerness
and commitment to accept parental values was posed as such
mechanism, leading to a successful conscience development in
temperamentally fearless children.
It is at present difficult to describe, and even more difficult
to assess what constitutes parentchild mutually positive, responsive orientation. Maccoby (1983) suggested that such orientation emerges, in part, out of the parent's responsiveness to
the child, which promotes the child's cooperation with the parent
and the reciprocal exchange of compliance (Parpal & Maccoby,
1985). Consequently, a parent-child relationship described as
secure attachment may be viewed as one example of such an
orientation, consistent with the theoretical claims about the role
of parental responsiveness in the formation of secure attachment.
Indeed, securely attached children have been described as more
responsive to their parents (Londerville & Main, 1981; Stayton,
Hogan, & Ainsworth, 1971), perhaps because of the positive
motivation inherent in the relationship rather than because of
child anxiety over possible consequences of misbehavior.
In recent years, I have presented support for the hypothesis
that the two above described mechanisms or pathways to internalizationgentle discipline capitalizing on the child's optimal
anxiety level and mother-child cooperative and responsive orientation capitalizing on the child's positive motivationmay
be differently effective for children differing in fearfulness. In
a preliminary study (Kochanska, 1991), maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power at toddler age significantly predicted
conscience assessed in middle childhood but only for the relatively fearful children.
More recently, in a new, much larger study, explicitly designed
to test the model, we examined both the main and moderating
effects of temperamental fearfulness (Kochanska, 1995). Fearfulness was assessed using a composite of observational and
mother-reported measures. We attempted also to assess both of
the proposed socialization mechanisms or pathways to internalization. To that effect, mothers' discipline style was observed
in home and laboratory naturalistic encounters centered around
control issues typical for early childhood (toy cleanups and
contexts focused on preventing the child from touching attractive
objects placed within easy reach). Additionally, in an attempt
to capture the mutually responsive, positive mother-child orientation, children's attachment security was measured, with the
assumption that more securely attached children had developed

229

a more mutually positive relationship with their mothers. Children's conscience was captured using both maternal reports and
observational measures. The findings, based on the contemporaneous data at toddler age, strongly supported the model (Kochanska, 1995). There were main effects of fearfiilness: The
relatively fearful toddlers, compared with the fearless ones, were
indeed more internalized on two behavioral conscience measures (committed compliance with mother, postulated in this
study as an early form of internalization, and the internalization
of maternal prohibition to touch the attractive objects assessed
during her absence). There were also the posited interaction
effects: for the relatively fearful toddlers, maternal gentle discipline; for the relatively fearless toddlers, security of attachment
to mother predicted conscience development.
The research reported in this article had several goals. First,
it provides a necessary (and explicitly projected in Kochanska's
1995 article) longitudinal extension of the previous toddler-age
findings. Although the early data were strong and persuasive,
their value was inevitably restricted by the exclusive reliance
on the measures that were essentially contemporaneous, as all
were collected within a few weeks at toddler age. Thus, forthcoming longitudinal analyses that would test the model by examining predictions from toddler age to future conscience development were pledged as a critical, and developmentally much
stronger, test of the theory (Kochanska, 1995, p. 613). To accomplish this goal, the measures of conscience were subsequently obtained from the same children at two later assessments, at age 3.5 to 4.5 years (Time 2) and again at age 4.5 to
5.5 years (Time 3).
Second, to provide a broader test of the theory, new conscience measures were used. Tb that effect, new paradigms were
designed. At both Time 2 and Time 3, children were observed
in several laboratory paradigms that created a strong temptation
to break the rules set by the experimenter ("cheating games").
Also at each assessment, children responded to a series of hypothetical narratives focused on moral issues. To assure that those
measures were developmentally appropriate and yet comparable,
at Time 2 we used interactive play narratives employing dolls
and props (Kochanska et al., 1996), and at Time 3 we used
stories and vignettes adapted from past sociocognitive research
(Eisenberg-Berg & Hand, 1979; Nunner-Winkler, 1993).
Third, another measure of the presumed mother-child positive, mutually binding, responsive orientation at toddler age was
generated in addition to the security of attachment score used
in the earlier report. Because secure attachment focuses primarily on the child's side of the relationship, a new observational
measure was generated that captured maternal responsiveness
to child (i.e., the mother's side of or contribution to the relationship). To that effect, the videotaped mother-child naturalistic
interactions at toddler age were coded using the established
classic set of responsiveness ratings (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1971).
As in the past, robust measurement was the explicit methodological goal. To that effect, most constructs are the result of
aggregation across multiple observational contexts, several analogous paradigms, or repeated probes (e.g., events in fearfulness
assessment, projective narratives, or hypothetical dilemmas in
conscience measurement). Because the interim reports from
this study that focused on other issues have been published (e.g..

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KOCHANSKA

Kochanska, 1995; Kochanska et al., 1995; Kochanska et al.,

1996), the descriptions of some methods are brief, and original
articles are clearly referenced. Measures not previously described are discussed in more detail.
Method

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Overview
The data come from the longitudinal study on conscience development. Children and mothers were assessed on three separate occasions
approximately 14 months apart. At Time 1, there were a home and lab
session, each 2.5 hr; at Time 2, a lab session, 3-3.5 hr; and at Time
3, a lab session, 1.5 hr. Children and mothers were observed in multiple
naturalistic yet standard contexts and in many laboratory paradigms.
The entire sessions were videotaped (using a camcorder at home and a
professional video setup behind a one-way mirror in the lab). Five
different experimenters conducted the sessions at Time 1 (the same one
for home and lab session for each child), two at Time 2, and two at
Time 3. The experimenter always established good rapport with mother
and child prior to a session. Behavioral data were coded from the videotapes by multiple teams of coders, using typically between 15 and 20%
of cases for reliability.

Sample
At Time 1, 103 normally developing toddlers (51 girls, 52 boys; M
= 32.86 months old, SD = 4.09 months), at Time 2, 99 children (49
girls, 50 boys; Af = 46.02 months old, SD = 2.62 months), and at Time
3, 90 children (43 girls, 47 boys; M = 60.52 months old, SD = 3.60
months) participated. The attrition was caused in most cases by families
moving out of the area, particularly between Times 2 and 3 (only two
assessments had been originally planned; the third one was added when
additional funding became available). Mothers initially responded to
advertisements in the community (a midwestem area including a college
town, a small city, and rural localities). The families represented a
relatively broad socioeconomic range in terms of education (high school
only, 12%;postgraduate,31%)andincome(<$15,000, 13%; >$45,000,
38%). Mothers were mostly Caucasian (80%), 7% were minorities, and
13% did not state their ethnicity.

Measures of Children's Temperamental

Fearfulness at Time 1
Laboratory Observations
Each toddler was observed in a 15-min paradigm upon the entry
to the unfamiliar laboratory (for details, see Kochanska, 1995). The
observation encompassed a 5-min free exploration and seven risk events,
during which a stranger encouraged the child, using three standard
prompts, to perform a mildly challenging act (get into an odd-looking
car, jump on a trampoline, put a hand inside a big black box, allow a
blood pressure cuff to be wrapped around his or her arm, put on an ape
mask, touch a remote-controlled dinosaur, and interact with a clown).
Coding. The codes captured the latency to and extent of spontaneous
exploration (the first 5-min segment), proximity to mother (throughout
the paradigm, for every 30 s), and overall approach-withdrawal and
distress to each risk event, where higher scores reflected a greater reluctance and fear to perform the act. Reliability (kappas) ranged from .74
to 1.00.
Data aggregation. All risk event scores were intercorrelated (a =
.80) and were averaged; furthermore, following standardization, the risk
events composite, number of segments in immediate proximity to mother.

latency to explore, and reversed exploration were averaged into one

observed fearfulness score (a = .79).

Maternal Reports
Mothers filled out the Child Behavior Questionnaire, a well-established, Likert-type temperament instrument (Rothbart et al., 1994).
Three scales were combined to reflect mother-reported fearfulness score
(a = .63): shyness (13 items), fearfulness (12 items), and discomfort
(13 items).

Final Aggregation of Fearfulness Measures

The observed and mother-reported score (standardized) were combined into one global fearfulness score. When all its components, observed and mother-reported, were considered, alpha was .71.
The final step was to divide the sample into relatively fearless and
relatively fearful children, using the median split on the global fearfulness score (51 fearless and 52 fearful). At Time 2, there remained
50 fearless and 49 fearful children; at Time 3,49 fearless and 41 fearful
children.

Measures of Mother-Child Socialization

and Relationship at Time 1
Children's Attachment Security
The well-established Q-sort measure was used (Waters, 1987). Mothers were given the set of 90 cards, each describing a child behavior. The
experimenter reviewed the items with each mother and instructed her to
observe the child for a few days before sorting the cards into 9 envelopes
(10 cards in each) denoting scores from 1 (very much unlike my child)
to 9 (very much like my child) and thus assigning a value to each item.
Mothers returned the cards by mail; they were encouraged to call for
additional explanations if needed.
Subsequently, for each child, a correlation was computed between the
mother's sorting and the security criterion provided by Waters (1987)
originally derived from sortings performed by experts in social development. Each correlation was transformed using Fisher's r-to-z formula
(Teti, Nakagawa, Das, & Wirth, 1991). Higher scores corresponded to
more secure attachment.

Mothers' Responsiveness
Maternal responsiveness to child was coded using three 9-point scales
assessing its components (sensitivity -insensitivity, acceptance-rejection, and cooperation-interference; Ainsworth et al., 1971; Goldberg,
Lojasek, Gartner, & Corter, 1989). Two mother-child interaction contexts were rated: "the kitchen scene," a 30-min interaction during the
home session in which the mother and child prepared and ate a meal
and then baked muffins together using supplies provided by the experimenter, and a 10-min free play with various toys during the lab session.
Sensitivity reflected the degree of the mother's awareness of and attunement to the child's signals; acceptance reflected her warmth and
genuine interest in and enjoyment of the child; and cooperation reflected
the degree of the mother's respect for the child's autonomy.
Coding. To increase robustness, each 5-min segment of the videotaped interactions was rated on all three scales. The ratings were then
averaged across both contexts. Reliability between two coders (alphas)
were .99 for sensitivity, .98 for acceptance, and .99 for cooperation.
Data aggregation. All three scales were highly intercorrelated, a
common result (Goldberg et al., 1989). They were therefore aggregated
into one responsiveness score ( a = .93).

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

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Mothers' Gentle Discipline Deemphasizing Power

Coding. As described in the first report (Kochanska, 1995), mothers' discipline style was coded during the mother-child contexts focused
on toy cleanups (home and lab, 30 min) and on not touching very
attractive toys easily accessible to the child on a low shelf (lab, 50 min).
For each coded interval (60 s for cleanups; 20 s for prohibited toys
during the episodes when the child's attention was on those toys),
we coded mother global control style, using, among others, two codes:
guidance or gentle discipline, mostly psychological and deemphasizing
the use of power, or negative discipline, using mostly power, threats, or
angry commands. Relative scores (total divided by the number of coded
intervals) were created and averaged across home and lab observations.
Additionally, for the lab cleanup, the mother's use of specific strategies
of physical power assertion (restraint and enforcement) was coded and
tallied and divided by the number of coded intervals. Reliability, ( K ) ,
for both the global and specific codes, were .76.
Data aggregation. All three scores were standardized; then, global
negative discipline score and physical power assertion score were averaged (r = .55, p < .001); that composite score was then subtracted from
the standardized global guidance or gentle discipline score, resulting in
the overall measure of gentle discipline deemphasizing power (higher
scores denoted more gentle, rather than forceful, discipline).

Measures of Children's Conscience at Time 2

Internalization in Cheating Games
Procedure. There were three games creating a strong temptation to
violate rules in the absence of surveillance (Kochanska, Aksan, & Koenig, 1995). The experimenter first explained the rules, explained what
cheating means, stressed the importance of not cheating, reviewed the
rules with the child, and left the room. The child was promised attractive
prizes for winning; winning, however, was impossible if the rules were
followed. In each game, the child was alone for 3 min to play the game,
while the experimenter was in the adjoining room. In the animal game,
the child had to guess what three animals were hidden under the pieces
of cloth, without peeking, only by touching with one finger. In the bird
game, the child had to find, among 30 birds, the ones with a smiley
sticker on the bottom and was allowed to examine only two. In the dart
game, the child had to throw darts into a ring on the floor without ever
leaving the designated area. In each game, the experimenter "warned"
the child prior to her return, then "discovered" that she had set it up
wrong, and the child played it again, this time always winning a prize.
Coding. The codes were similar across all three games. They captured latencies to transgress (lifting the cloth in the animal game, touching and examining the first illegal bird in the bird game, and partly or
fully stepping away from the designated area in the dart game); the
extent of transgression (touching incorrectly, lifting and peeking under
cloth, seeing the number of animals; illegally examining the birds; moving the ring closer, throwing from outside the designated area, and retrieving and manually putting darts in the ring), and rule-compatible
conduct (looking at covered animals without touching, touching correctly, looking at birds without touching, and remaining within the designated space). The discrete codes were assigned to each of the sixty
3-s segments for each game; the latencies were coded in seconds.
Reliability. Kappas for the discrete codes ranged from .85 to .92.
Regarding the latency judgments, 99% differed by no more than 1 s.
Data aggregation. Following standardization, the latencies (a =
.78), the extent of transgression (a = .76), and rule-compatible conduct
(a = .55) were aggregated across the three games. Furthermore, those
three composites were also averaged (after reversing the extent of transgression) into one Time 2 cheating games internalization score (a =
.83).

231

Antisocial and Prosocial-Moral Narrative Themes in

Hypothetical Moral Dilemmas
Procedure. The experimenter presented the child with six projective
story stems, focused on hypothetical moral dilemmas (see Kochanska
et al., 1996, for the details of the stories and coding). Briefly, the stories,
adapted from past research (e.g., Bretherton, Oppenheim, & Prentiss,
1990; Buchsbaum & Emde, 1990; Goldsmith, Lemery, Harmon, & Unfried, 1993), focused on moral issues, for example, a conflict between
complying with maternal prohibition and helping another child, wishing
to appropriate others' toys or possessions against their will or contrary
to prohibition, and facing a distressed other. Guided by standardized
prompts, the child developed, by means of verbalizations and physical
enactments using dolls and props, a narrative that depicted the course
of events, feelings, thoughts, and motives of the protagonist in each
story (the main doll was matched in gender to the child's), as well as
the child's own acts if in the protagonist's place.
Coding. Data were coded from videotapes. For each 30-s interval,
the coder recorded all morally relevant themes that the child expressed,
either verbally or in an enacted form (e.g., protagonist doll says "sorry"
and hugs the victim doll). AH occurrences of each theme were then
tallied, across all stories, and divided by die number of segments when
the child contributed a codeable response.
Reliability. Reliability was established on the full set of 14 themes
(K = .86).
Data aggregation. Two final categories of themes were considered,
each created by summing several original more specific themes, on the
basis of empirical or conceptual coherence: the antisocial theme, which
included satisfaction with ill-gained resources, satisfaction in another's
distress, decision to break a rule, and anger and aggression; and a broad
prosocial-moral theme that included commitment to and concern about
good behavior (compliance with a rule, apology for wrongdoing, and
distress, apprehension, worry, and discomfort in the face of conflict),
concern about others (prosocial and relationship-oriented themes), guilt
and empathy (distress after wrongdoing, empathy for victims), and
confession and reparation (confessing to wrongdoing, making amends).
All the constituent categoriescommitment to good behavior, concern
about others, guilt, empathy, confession, and reparationreflect aspects
of moral internalization.

Measures of Children's Conscience at Time 3

Internalization in Cheating Game
Procedure. A game analogous to those used at Time 2 was designed
(the fish game). The experimenter brought in three glass jars, each
covered with cloth and containing multiple small plastic sea creatures,
and a bin containing prizes. The objective of the game was to find a
goldfish matching the one the experimenter demonstrated. This had to
be done, however, without looking into the jars, only by touching the
objects inside, and being allowed to retrieve only one creature from
each jar, without returning it to the jar. For each goldfish found, the child
was promised a prize from the bin. The child was first given a practice
trial, contrived so it was always successful (there were no more goldfish,
however, left in any of the jars). The experimenter then reviewed the
rules with the child, reminded him or her of the importance of not
cheating and defined cheating, excused herself for a while, and left the
room for 3 min. After 2 min, she called (through the dividing wall) that
she would come back in a minute, and again warned the child right
before opening the door. Upon return, the experimenter "discovered"
that she had "used wrong jars;" she then brought another, "right" jar,
the child played the game again, and inevitably won a prize.
Coding. Coding of the videotaped behavior was analogous to that
at Time 2. The latencies to transgress (peek briefly, uncover jar fully,
reach into an uncovered jar, return fish to jar, and take out an illegal.

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KOCHANSKA

second fish) were also coded, in seconds (180 s if never). The child's
behavior was coded for each of 60 3-s intervals to capture acts that were
rule-eompatible (looking at the covered jars), and those that violated the
rules (examining or searching in an uncovered jar, returning a fish to
jar, taking out an illegal fish from jar, and the numbers of uncovered
jars and fish returned to jars). The total occurrences of each code were
then tallied.
Reliability. Reliability for the discrete codes, kappa, was .83. For
the latencies, 92% were identical or within 1 s, 4% within 3 s, and 4%
differed by 4 s or more.
Data aggregation. As at Time 2, all latencies were standardized and
averaged (a = .68). I also standardized and averaged the frequencies
of the acts violating the rule of not looking (examining an uncovered
jar, searching for fish in an uncovered jar, the number of jars seen, a =
.81), those violating the rule of not retrieving the fish (returning fish to
ajar, taking an illegalother than firstfish from ajar, and the number
offish returned to jars, a = .75), and the frequencies of rule-compatible
behavior. Finally, I created an overall Time 3 cheating game intemalization score by aggregating the latencies' composite, behavior compatible
with rules, and (reversed) rule violation composites (a = .63). The
Time 2 and Time 3 cheating games intemalization scores were correlated
(r = .40, p < .001).

from another child's pocket vs. not touch it, drink one's soda vs. give
it to a thirsty child, keep an unfairly won prize vs. share it with the
competitor, refuse to help another child on a task vs. help at the cost of
one's own performance). The experimenter asked the child what the
protagonist should do. The solutions were coded as antisocial, moral,
or compromise (the latter not further used in the analyses).
Coding of responses to Nunner-Winkler stories was done from videotapes. Because in these stories the child's solutions were not challenged,
for each story, each solution received a score of 0 (absent) or 1 (present). For each code, the scores were then tallied across all four stories.
Reliability (kappas) were .94 for antisocial solutions and .95 for moral
solutions.
Data aggregation. The solutions across two sets of stories correlated: selfish with antisocial ( r = .28, p < .01) and prosocial with moral
(r = .32, p < .0025). They were then aggregated into, respectively, a
general selfish-antisocial solution score and prosocial-moral solution
score.
There was some longitudinal stability between the Time 2 antisocial
themes and the Time 3 selfish-antisocial solution scores (r = .28, p <
.01). The Time 2 prosocial-moral themes and Time 3 prosocial-moral
solution scores, however, were not related (r = .03).

Overall Conscience Composites at Time 2 and Time 3

Selfish-Antisocial and Prosocial-Moral
Hypothetical Moral Dilemmas

Solutions in

During the lab session, eight stories were presented to the child,
including color vignettes illustrating the depicted events. They were
adapted, with some changes, from two previously published batteries,
by Eisenberg-Berg and Hand (1979) and Nunner-Winkler (1993). There
were two versions (for boys and girls) for each set.
Eistnberg stories. Four stories (the set for younger children) were
used, each illustrated by a picture and presenting a conflict between the
protagonist's desires or interests and those of others in need (' 'Flood,''
keep vs. give food to hungry victims; "Bully," ignore vs. intervene on
behalf of another child; "Birthday," attend a party vs. get help for an
injured child; and "Swimmer," practice swimming to win a competition
vs. coach handicapped children). The experimenter then asked the child
what the protagonist should do and why; she subsequently challenged
his or her decision (if the child chose a selfish act, the experimenter
pointed out the needs of others; if she or he chose a prosocial act, the
experimenter pointed out the protagonist's loss or harm), and asked the
child again to make the final choice as to what the protagonist should
do and why.
Coding of responses to Eisenberg stories was done from the videotapes. The child's solutions to the conflicts were coded as selfish, prosocial, or, on occasion, as compromise. The selfish decisions were those
that favored the protagonist's needs or wishes; the prosocial ones favored
those of others. The compromise was scored when the child insisted on
some form of integrating both parties' needs, despite the fact that the
experimenter strongly discouraged such choices, as directed by the instructions (this solution was not used in the analyses). To create more
sensitive scores, for each story, each solution was rated on a 4-point scale
(0 ~ absent in story; 1 = first choice but changed when challenged, not
final; 2 = second [changed] choice, retained as final; 3 = first choice,
unchanged despite challenge [retained as final]). For each code, the
scores were then tallied across all four stories.
Reliability between two coders was established separately for the
selfish and prosocial codes. Both kappas were .96 (with scores 0 - 3
treated as the separate levels of each code).
Nunner-Winkler (1993) stories. Four stories, each illustrated by several vignettes depicting the event, were presented to the child, also
during the lab session. Each story portrayed the conflict between the
protagonist's desires or wishes and those of another child (steal candy

Parallel to the earlier report (Kochanska, 1995), two overall outcome

measures were created. At Time 2, the cheating game intemalization
score, standardized prosocial-moral theme, and standardized reversed
antisocial theme were aggregated. The resulting composite was only
somewhat consistent ( a = .40, average item-total r = .25) but was
nevertheless retained for the sake of comparability with the toddlerage analyses. At Time 3, again the cheating game intemalization score,
standardized prosocial-moral solution score, and standardized reversed
antisocial solution score were aggregated, resulting in an internally consistent composite ( a = .70, average item-total r = .57). The two
composites were correlated, indicating moderate stability of conscience
between Time 2 and Time 3 ( r = .30, p < .01). All descriptive data
are in Table 1.

Results
Preliminary Analyses
Gender and Developmental Effects
In a multivariate analysis of variance (MANONA), I explored
gender as the between-subjects factor, treating the Time 1 predictors (fearfulness, attachment security, maternal responsiveness, and gentle discipline) as the dependent variables, and
covarying age. The multivariate effect of gender was not significant, F(A, 97) = 1.68; the only univariate effect was for gentle
discipline, F ( l , 100) = 5.62, p < .05, used more often by
mothers of girls (M = .35, SD = 1.50) than boys (M = - . 3 4 ,
SD = 1.78).
In two MANOVAs, for Time 2 and Time 3 data, I examined
gender differences in the conscience measures, covarying children's age. At Time 2, the multivariate effect of gender was
significant, F ( 3 , 94) = 4.97, p < .005. Girls scored higher on
the prosocial-moral theme (girls, M = .81, SD = .24; boys, M
.63, SD = .27) and tended to score lower on the antisocial
theme (girls, M = .42, SD - .22; boys, M = .52, SD = .35).
At Time 3, the multivariate effect of gender was again significant, F(3, 85) = 5.45, p < .005. Girls were more internalized

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

security, responsiveness, or gentle discipline (all t tests

nonsignificant).

Table 1
Overview of Descriptive Data

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Measure
Predictor variables (Time 1, n - 103)
Child fearfulness*
Maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power*
Attachment security
Maternal responsiveness to child
Child conscience (Time 2, n = 99)
Internalization in cheating games"
Antisocial themes in narratives
Prosocial-moral themes in narratives
Overall conscience8
Child conscience (Time 3, n = 90)
Internalization in cheating game"
Selfish-antisocial solutions in stories
Prosocial-moral solutions in stories
Overall conscience"

233

SD

0.00
0.00
0.41
6.25

0.70
1.68
0.31
1.22

0.00
0.47
0.72
0.00

0.56
0.29
0.27
0.59

0.00
6.90
8.21
0.00

0.58
4.43
4.08
0.70

Note. Predictor variables at Time 1: child tearfulness = composite of

observed and mother-rated fearfulness; maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power = difference between observed guidance-gentle discipline and composite of observed negative discipline and physical power
assertion; attachment security = correlation between mother's sorting
and security criterion; maternal responsiveness = composite of observed
sensitivity, acceptance, and cooperation. Child conscience at Time 2:
internalization in cheating games = composite of observed latencies,
reversed transgressions, and rule-compatible conduct in animal, bird,
and dart games; antisocial themes - sum of themes of satisfaction with
ill-gained resources and another's distress, rule-breaking, and anger and
aggression in six projective story narratives; prosocial-moral themes =
sum of themes of commitment to good behavior, concern about others,
guilt and empathy, and confession and reparation in the six stories. Child
conscience at Time 3: internalization in cheating game = composite of
observed latencies, reversed transgressions, and rule-compatible conduct
in fish game; selfish-antisocial solutions = sum of the selfish solutions
scores produced in four Eisenberg stories and antisocial solutions in
four Nunner-Winkler stories; prosocial-moral solutions = sum of the
prosocial solutions scores produced in four Eisenberg stories and moral
solutions in four Nunner-Winkler stories.
a
An aggregate of standardized component variables.

in the fish game (girls, M = .21, SD = .47; boys, M = -.19,

SD = .60).
I also examined correlations of the conscience measures with
children's age. At Time 2, the frequency of antisocial themes in
narratives decreased with age (r = .36, p < .001). At Time
3, prosocial-moral solutions became more pronounced and the
selfish-antisocial solutions less pronounced with age (respective rs .35 and .36, both p s < .001). Internalization in the
cheating games did not correlate with children's age at Times
2 or 3.

Relations Among the Toddler-Age Predictors

By and large, the toddler-age predictors were unrelated, except for a modest link between maternal gentle discipline in the
control contexts and maternal sensitivity in "the kitchen scene"
and free play (r = .22, p < .05). With age covaried, this
correlation dropped to .18 (p < .10), and the correlation between fearfulness and gentle discipline rose to .24 (p < .025).
Additionally, there were no significant differences between the
groups of fearless and fearful children regarding attachment

Relations Between Toddler-Age (Time 1) Predictors

and Conscience at Time 2 and Time 3
The testing of the relations between the Time 1 predictors
(children's fearfulness and attachment security and mothers'
responsiveness and gentle discipline) and conscience measures
at Time 2 and Time 3 progressed in two main steps. First, two
preliminary hierarchical multiple regressions were performed
on the entire sample. Both used the toddler-age predictors; the
overall conscience composite at Time 2 was the outcome measure in one; and the overall conscience composite at Time 3
was the outcome measure in the other. The objectives of these
regressions were (a) to obtain a comprehensive view of the
relations by using an overall measure of conscience development
and by examining all the predictors within the same equation,
(b) to examine the significance of the differences in the pathways to conscience for children differing in fearfulness, and (c)
to control for the potential gender and age effects. Second, the
regression findings were followed up in the analyses performed
separately for the fearless and fearful children, using multiple
regressions for the overall conscience composites and correlations for the separate conscience measures at Time 2 and
Time 3.

Preliminary Analyses of the Entire Sample

In the regressions, the child's gender, age, and fearfulness
were entered at Step 1; attachment security and its interaction
term with fearfulness were added at Step 2; maternal responsiveness and its interaction term with fearfulness were added
at Step 3; and gentle discipline and its interaction term with
fearfulness were added at Step 4, consistent with the order of
entry in the earlier report.1
Prediction of Time 2 conscience. Step 1 was significant,
fchai>8e(3, 95) - 6.88,p < .001. Girls were more internalized,
p < .001, and so were older children, p < .01. Fearfulness was
not significant. Step 2 made a significant contribution, Fcbu&(5,
93) = 4,43, p < .025: Children high on security of attachment
were more internalized, p < .005, but this effect was significantly different for children varying in fearfulness (the interaction term was also significant, p < .05). Step 3 (maternal responsiveness and its interaction with fearfulness) did not add
significant explained variance. Step 4 made a significant contribution, / r change (9, 89) = 6.93, p < .0025. The influence of gentle
discipline was significantly different for fearless and fearful
children, indicated by their interaction effect, p < .01. Overall,
the predictors explained 36% of variance in Time 2 conscience,
F(9, 89) = 5A$,p < .001.
Prediction of Time 3 conscience. Step 1 was significant,
F change (3, 86) = 3.46, p < .025. Older children were more
internalized, p < .0025. Although not significant at Step 1, in
the completed equation fearfulness made a modest contribution
1
The regressions were also conducted with age, gender, and fearfulness at Step I and all other predictors at Step 2. The findings were
unchanged.

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234

KOCHANSKA

that fell just short of significance (p =- .052). Adding attachment

security and its interaction with fearfulness at Step 2 added
marginally to prediction, Fc)iangB(5, 84) = 2.40, p < .10, but
neither predictor was significant by itself. Step 3, with maternal
responsiveness and its interaction with fearfulness, also added
marginally, ^ ^ ( 7 , 82) = 2.39, p < .10; responsiveness, however, was significant (p < .05) and remained significant in the
completed equation, and the interaction indicated a trend (p <
.10). Step 4, with maternal gentle discipline and its interaction
with fearfulness, did not add to prediction.
Additionally, while predicting conscience at Time 3,1 wished
to control for the self-component (Maccoby & Martin, 1983)
or the possibility that the relations between Time 1 predictors
and conscience at Time 3 might be carried by the continuity in
conscience itself (between Time 2 and Time 3). Thus, I conducted all the multiple regressions predicting Time 3 conscience
controlling also additionally for Time 2 conscience. The findings
using such a conservative approach were essentially unchanged.2
In view of the evidence for the different predictions for fearless and fearful children, I examined the two groups separately,
using regressions and correlations. In the regressions, with the
overall conscience composites at Time 2 and Time 3 as the
dependent variables, gender and age were entered at Step 1,
children's attachment security and maternal responsiveness were
added at Step 2, and maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing
power was added at Step 3.3 Table 2 presents the findings,
illustrating at each step the predictors already in the equation
and those added. Table 3 presents the correlations between the
predictors and the separate conscience measures (as well as the
overall composites) at Time 2 and Time 3.

stories, as well as with the overall conscience composite. Gentle

maternal discipline at toddler age did not predict conscience.
Relatively

Fearful

Children

Prediction of Time 2 conscience. In the multiple regression

(Table 2), girls scored higher on the overall conscience measure,
and older children in this group were significantly more internalized. Step 2 (security of attachment and maternal responsiveness) did not add explained variance; however, maternal
gentle discipline at Step 3 explained a significant additional
portion of variance (fearful children who had received gentle
discipline as toddlers were more internalized).
In the correlations (Table 3), attachment security and maternal responsiveness appeared unrelated to conscience measures
at Time 2 (in fact, secure attachment tended to correlate negatively with the prosocial themes). Maternal gentle discipline,
however, was a significant predictor of all conscience measures.
Fearful children who had experienced gentle discipline as toddlers were at Time 2 highly internalized in the cheating games,
produced many prosocial themes and tended to produce few
antisocial themes in the narratives, and were higher on the overall Time 2 conscience composite.
Prediction of Time 3 conscience. In the multiple regression
(Table 2), the only significant effect was that of age: Older
children were more internalized. One correlation (Table 3),
between attachment security and prosocial-moral solutions,
was unexpected. Except for a trend for higher internalization in
the fish game, there were no predicted relations with gentle
discipline.

Exploratory Analyses of the Goodness-of-Fit Model

Relatively Fearless Children
Prediction of Time 2 conscience. In the multiple regressions
with the overall Time 2 conscience measure as the dependent
variable (Table 2)t girls were more internalized. Step 2 added
significant explained variance, particularly because of the effect
of the child's security of attachment (more securely attached
fearless children were more internalized). Adding maternal gentle discipline deemphasizing power at Step 3 did not improve
the prediction.
The correlations with separate conscience measures (Table
3) indicate that children's attachment security significantly predicted their few antisocial themes and many prosocial-moral
themes in the narratives, as well as the overall conscience composite. Maternal responsiveness or gentle maternal discipline at
toddler age did not relate to any of the measures.
Prediction of Time 3 conscience. In the multiple regression,
there were no gender or age effects (Table 2). Step 2 predictors
added to the explained variance, mostly because of the effect
of maternal responsiveness. Maternal gentle discipline at Step
3 did not improve prediction.
The correlations with the separate conscience measures (Table 3) reveal that both higher attachment security and higher
maternal responsiveness predicted conscience for those children.
The former correlated with high internalization in the fish game,
and the latter with many prosocial-moral solutions and marginally with few selfish-antisocial solutions to the hypothetical

Exploratory analyses examined conscience development from

the viewpoint of the goodness-of-fit model (Thomas & Chess,
1977). Specifically, I explored if, in the groups of children for
which there was a theoretically posited good match or fit between the child's temperament and the qualities of socializing
environment at Time 1, future conscience development was better than in the groups for which that fit was poor. To that effect,
five groups were created.

Analogous analyses were conducted to assure that the findings were

not carried by a simple continuity in conscience from the toddler age,
even though I purposefully used different conscience measures at Time
2 and Time 3 than at Time 1. The Time 1 behavioral measures of
conscience, committed compliance, and internalization without surveillance (Kochanska, 1995) did predict the Time 2 conscience composite
(rs, = .43 and .30, respectively, both ps < .005), but not the Time 3
composite (rs = .17 and .18). When the Time 1 conscience measures
were added to Step 1 in the regressions predicting Time 2 and Time 3
conscience, the findings were unchanged. For Time 2 conscience, attachment was significant (p < .005), as was Attachment X Fearfulness
interaction (/? < .05), and Discipline X Fearfulness interaction (p <
.05). For Time 3 conscience, responsiveness was significant (p < .025),
and Responsiveness X Fearfulness was marginal {p = .06). The findings
for Time 3 conscience were also unchanged with Time 1 and Time 2
conscience added to Step 1.
3
The findings were unchanged with security of attachment, responsiveness, and gentle discipline all entered together at Step 2.

235

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

Table 2
Children's Attachment Security, Mothers' Responsiveness, and Discipline Deemphasizing Power at Time 1 as Predictors of
Conscience at Time 2 and Time 3 in Children Differing in Fearfulness: Hierarchical Multiple Regressions
Step and Predictors

R2

F
'change

Dependent variable: Conscience at Time 2 (n = 99)

Children low in fearfulness (n = 50; 25 girls, 25 boys). Overall F(5, 44) = 3.22**
Step 1
Sex

4.69*
<1

Age at Time 2
Step 2

1.96

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Sex

<1

Age at Time 2
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Step 3

9.50***
<1

.10

2.48f

.26

5.02***

-.30
.03

-.20
.06
.42
.07
.27

Sex

1.66

Age at Time 2
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Maternal discipline deemphasizing power at Time 1
Children high in fearfulness (n - 49; 24 girls, 25 boys), Overall F(5, 43) - 9.29****
Step 1
Sex

Age at Time 2
Step 2

<1

9.07***
<1
<1

.04
.41
.05
.09
.41

15.26****
22.48****

-.45

13.12****
19.77****

-.44

Age at Time 2
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Step 3

<1
<1

Sex

Age at Time 2
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Maternal discipline deemphasizing power at Time 1

6.13**
14.03****
<1
<1

9.50***

16.16****

.54
.41

Sex

<1

-.19

<1

.54

-.01
.02
.52

9.50***

.06

1.49

.20

3.78*

.22

1.01

.24

6.14***

-.30
.44

-.05
-.02
.37

Dependent variable: Conscience at Time 3 (n = 90)

Children low in fearfulness (n - 49; 25 girls, 24 boys), Overall F(5, 43) = 2.38|
Step 1
Sex
Age at Time 3
Step 2
Sex

Age at Time 3
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time I
Step 3
Sex
Age at Time 3
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Maternal discipline deemphasizing power at Time 1
Children high in fearfulness (n = 41; 18 girls, 23 boys), Overall F(5, 35) = 2..85**
Step 1
Sex
Age at Time 3
Step 2
Sex
Age at Time 3
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time
Step 3
Sex
Age at Time 3
Attachment security at Time 1
Maternal responsiveness at Time 1
Maternal discipline deemphasizing power at Time 1
t / > < .10. *p < .05. * * p < . 0 2 5 .

***/>< .01. * * * * p < . 0 0 1 .

1.38
1.72

.17
.19

2.28
:l
1.02
6.06**

.22
.08
.14
.37

2.64
cl
1.16
6.62**
1.01

.24
.11
.15
.39
.14

11.86****

.10
.49

9 70***
1.68

.01
.46
.21
.05

6.51**
1.57

.05
.41
.20
-.06
.12

.28

<1

.29

<1

236

KOCHANSKA

Table 3

Correlations Between Children's Attachment Security, Mothers' Responsiveness, and Discipline Deemphasizing Power at Time 1
and Children's Conscience at Time 2 and Time 3 for Fearless and Fearful Children
Time 1 (n = 103)
Maternal
responsiveness

Attachment
security

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Conscience measure
Time 2 (n = 99)
Internalization (cheating games)
Antisocial themes (narratives)
Prosocial-moral themes (narratives)
Conscience composite
Time 3 ( = 90)
Internalization (cheating game)
Selfish-antisocial solutions (stories)
Prosocial-moral solutions (stories)
Conscience composite
Note, Age of children covaried.
t/> < .10. *p < .05. **p < .025.

Maternal discipline
deemphasizing power

Fearless

Fearful

Fearless

Fearful

.17
-36**
.38***
4-7*****

.16
.07
-27t
-.14

.20
.10
.00
.00

-.19
-.18
.06
.06

.13
-.10
.11
.16

-.27t
40***

.33**
-.16
.09
.21

-.08
-.25
.32*
.23

.02
-.28f
.32*
.29*

-.08
.04
.03
-.03

.08
.02
-.14
.06

27t
.02
.01
.08

Fearless

Fearful

***p < .01. *****p < .005; two-tailed.

Group 1 and Group 3 each represented a good fit. Group 1

included the relatively fearless children who had a highly positive relationship with their mothers (above median on both child
attachment security and maternal responsiveness, n ~ 15).
Group 3 included the relatively fearful children whose mothers
were above median in gentle discipline deemphasizing power
(n = 28).
Group 2 and Group 4 each represented a poor fit. Group 2
included the relatively fearless children who failed to form a
positive relationship with their mothers (below median on both
child attachment security and maternal responsiveness, n = 12).
Group 4 included the relatively fearful children whose mothers
did not use gentle discipline (n = 24).
Finally, there were 24 children in a mixed category; they were
relatively fearless and were above median on only one of the
two indicators of the positive mother-child relationship and
below on the other (child attachment security or maternal responsiveness). For the purpose of clarity, the analyses reported
here are based on the four "pure" groups (when conducted
using all five groups, however, the findings were similar). Table
4 presents the means and standard deviations for all five groups.
The one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to compare the groups on the Time 2 and Time 3 overall
conscience measures (using Tbkey test, p < .05, for contrasts). 4
Additionally, for exploratory purposes, a composite conscience
score across Time 2 and Time 3 was created, thus indexing its
development throughout the preschool period.
Prediction of conscience at Time 2. The one-way ANOVA
was significant, F ( 3 , 71) = 4.99, p < .005. The contrast tests
indicated that, as predicted, the children in the two groups that
reflected good temperament-socialization fit at toddler age had
significantly higher scores on conscience at Time 2. Children
in Group 1 (fearless, secure attachment, mother responsive) and
Group 3 (fearful, gentle discipline) were more internalized than
those in Group 4 (fearful, absence of gentle discipline). There
were no differences between the two good-fit groups or between
the two poor-fit groups.

Prediction of conscience at Time 3. The one-way ANOV\

produced F ( 3 , 63) = 3.18,/> < .05. The contrast tests indicated
that the good-fit Group 1 (fearless children, secure attachment,
mother responsive) had higher conscience scores than the poorfit Group 2 (fearless children, less secure attachment, mother
unresponsive).
Prediction of conscience across Time 2 and Time 3. I also
conducted an analogous one-way ANOVA using the composite
conscience scores across Time 2 and Time 3 as the dependent
variable. It was significant, F ( 3 , 71) 5.62, p < .002, again
with Group 1 (good fit: fearless, secure attachment, mother
responsive) higher than both poor-fit groups (Groups 2 and 4 ) .

Discussion
This study provides further support for the theoretical model
of the interplay of temperament and socialization in conscience
development. It replicates a preliminary study of a smaller sample (Kochanska, 1991) and extends longitudinally the earlier
account of the toddler-age contemporaneous data from the current investigation. Together, both the contemporaneous and longitudinal findings provide provocative evidence regarding multiple forms of interaction among child temperament, development,
and socialization in early morality. If replicated in yet another
sample, this approach may help elucidate some of the central
questions of socialization. I am currently pursuing such an effort
with a new group of families.

Tb assure that the findings were not confounded by the potential

effects of gender, age, or Time 1 conscience, I conducted ANOVAs using
the overall conscience scores at Time 2, Time 3, and across Time 2 and
Time 3 as the dependent variables, group and gender as the betweensubjects factors, and age and Time 1 committed compliance and internalization without surveillance (Kochanska, 1995) as the covariates. All
produced significant effects for group, consistent with the results of the
one-way ANOVAs.

237

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

Table 4
Comparison of Conscience Development in Groups Representing Theoretical Good and
Poor Fit Between Temperament and Socialization

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Group description
Group 1 (Fearless children, attachment security
high, mother responsiveness high)
Group 2 (Fearless children, attachment security
low, mother responsiveness low)
Group 3 (Fearful children, mother discipline
high on deemphasizing power)
Group 4 (Fearful children, mother discipline
low on deemphasizing power)
Group 5 (Fearless children, attachment security
high, mother responsiveness low or
attachment security low, mother
responsiveness high)
Note.

Conscience at
Time 2

Conscience at
Time 3

SD

SD

SD

.39

.64

.37

.56

.38

.46

-.13

.50

ifl

.73

-.25

.49

.19

.59

.12

.70

.19

.55

Poor

-.28

.55

-.07

.59

-.16

.45

Mixed

-.12

.49

-.10

.75

-.12

48

Theoretical
fit
Good
Poor
Good

.JO

Conscience across
Time 2 <& 3

Sample sizes for Groups 1 - 5 are, respectively, 14, 12, 27, 22, and 24 at Time 2 (total = 99); 14, 12, 24, 17, and 23 at Time 3 (total = 90).

Main Effects of Temperament

Although in the previous report of the toddler-age data, fearful
children were in general better internalized (Kochanska, 1995);
such main effects, however, were, for the most part, no longer
present for the same children studied again at preschool age.
The only exception was a trend for the Time 3 conscience composite; when I examined correlations for separate measures, I
found that it was due to a modest link between fearfulness and
internalization in the fish game, r - .22, p < .05. Therefore,
although temperamental fearfulness had some main effects on
conscience development, they appeared mostly pronounced at
toddler age. Similarly, in the preliminary study of another sample (Kochanska, 1991), there were no main effects of toddlerage fearfulness on conscience in middle childhood. Such developmental shiftmain effects of temperament being gradually
replaced by its interactive effects with socialization as children
grow olderwas proposed theoretically (Kochanska, 1993).

Interaction Effects: Temperament and Socialization

At all studied periods there was evidence that temperamental
fearfulness has an effect as a moderator of socialization in early
conscience development. The studied aspects of socialization
the style of maternal discipline and the degree of the mutual
positivity in the mother-child relationship (the latter operationalized here as the child's secure attachment and the mother's
responsiveness to child)had different impacts on children
differing in temperament, although these effects were more pronounced at Time 2 than at Time 3. This form of interaction
between temperament and experience has typically been referred
to as organismic specificity (Crockenberg, 1986; Wachs & Gandour, 1983).
In comparison with the toddler-age data, some complexities
surfaced in the current longitudinal findings. Most of the Time
2 findings were fully compatible with the earlier report. Tbddlerage gentle discipline deemphasizing power continued to be more
effective in promoting conscience in the fearful than in the

fearless children; toddler-age secure attachment continued to

predict conscience in the fearless but not fearful children. The
prediction about the role of maternal toddler-age responsiveness,
however, viewed as another aspect of the mutually positive
mother-child relationship and expected to promote conscience
in the fearless children, was not supported. In contrast, in the
Time 3 data, the theoretically posited moderating effects of temperament were supported only by one finding: Consistent with
the expectations, for the fearless children, maternal toddler-age
responsiveness predicted conscience at Time 3.
The absence of some predicted effects is not easy to explain,
and more research is clearly needed. One possible source of
caution while interpreting the results is the nature of the measure
of security of attachment, assessed here by maternal Q-sort.
Although it has shown good correspondence with the Strange
Situation, the rating of security may also reflect other qualities
of the child, for example, an easygoing temperament (Vaughn
et al., 1992) or, in the case of one item, a quality that is somewhat related to internalization, compliance with the mother
("follows mother's suggestions readily"). Even though, in this
study, the possibility of such confounding was very slight given
the measures of conscience used here (compliance with the
experimenter's rules and moral responses to hypothetical dilemmas), the Strange Situation would provide a better index of
attachment security for the purpose of testing the model, and it
is the approach I am currently adopting in ongoing work.
The second source of caution is the mutual relation of security
of attachment and maternal responsiveness, both hypothesized
here to reflect a mother-child mutually positive relationship,
but nevertheless unrelated in our data (r - .13). One possibility
is that responsiveness should have been measured in the first
year, as in most of the attachment research. A second possibility
again involves the attachment measureperhaps with the use
of the Strange Situation the relations of responsiveness and attachment as reflecting mother-child relationship would become
apparent.
Finally, the third interpretation of the stronger findings at Time

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238

KOCHANSKA

2 than at Time 3 is based on the developmentally changing

ecology of conscience development. Perhaps the development
of most 3.5-year-olds remains influenced mainly by the continuity of the home environment and the qualities of mother-child
socialization, whereas by age 5, most children have become
exposed to multiple other spheres of socialization (peers, kindergarten, etc.) and thus to many factors that may influence conscience development and interact with child temperament in
unknown ways.
Caution notwithstanding, however, the findings of gentle discipline promoting conscience particularly for the fearful children at Time 2, and both security of attachment and responsiveness promoting conscience particularly for the fearless children, although at two different time periods, afford confidence
in the fundamental value of the theoretical model. Although
as indicatedthe findings need to be replicated on another
sample, the fact that all significant relations remained significant
after controlling statistically for the continuity of conscience
itself, measured in the past assessments, as far back as in the
toddler period, is also a source of support for the overall approach. In addition to providing important statistical safeguards,
these analyses serve as yet another example of the importance
of socialization during the toddler period for the future development of conscience ( Kochanska, 1994). In this context, it should
be noted that our findings, although pointing to different effects
of gentle, deemphasizing power discipline on temperamentally
different children, do not undermine the relatively well-established data on the detrimental influence of parental forceful
pressure and power assertion, particularly at high levels in atrisk groups. Future research should address the effectiveness
of specific socialization techniques (within what are broadly
described as gentle and forceful styles) for children with different temperaments and in varying ecological contexts of development (Grusec & Goodnow, 1994).
Exploratory analyses also provided persuasive evidence of
the more specific goodness-of-fit effects (Rothbart & Ahadi,
1994; Thomas & Chess, 1977). When the groups reflecting
the good and poor fit between child temperament and maternal
socialization (as posited by the theoretical model) were created,
the empirical distributions of the conscience scores at Time 2,
Time 3, and across Times 2 and 3 (thus, throughout the entire
preschool period) followed the theoretically expected outcomes
with an impressive precision.
Together, these data elucidate once more the complex interfaces between the two powerful sets of influences on conscience
developmentthe factors related to the child's temperament
and those related to his or her relationship with the parent. The
findings support the theoretical approaches that have emphasized the complex interweaving of temperament and experience
in personality development (Derryberry & Reed, 1994; Rothbart & Ahadi, 1994).
The data are also reminiscent of the principle of equifinality
endorsed in developmental psychopathology (Cicchetti, 1993).
Indeed, it appears that children may arrive at similar developmental outcomes by multiple pathways, and which pathway
optimally leads to a given outcome may depend on the child's
temperamental individuality. Some children are temperamentally
predisposed to experience anxious and apprehensive states (or,
in some views, have a strong behavioral inhibition system;

Fowles, 1994); if their parents skillfully capitalize on that tendency by using subtle and gentle discipline, those children will
develop strong internalized regulators of conduct. On the other
hand, some children are temperamentally fearless and do not
respond with sufficient discomfort to subtle discipline. For them,
different experiences appear effectively to promote internalization. If their parents capitalize on positive motivation originating
within the mutually responsive and positive parent-child orientation, such fearless children are likely to develop an equally
well-internalized conscience. An exciting question for future
research is whether there are temperamental factors that may
contribute to such positive motivation in addition to those derived from the relationship with a parent. For example, the role
of the child's temperamental positive emotionality and the associated motivational systempossibly particularly strong in
fearless children (Derryberry & Reed, 1994; Fowles, 1994)
remains poorly understood and deserves research attention.

Interaction Effects: Temperament and Development

The study also produced evidence of another form of interaction involving temperamentan unexpected finding of different
rate of developmental change for children differing in temperament. There was a difference between the fearless and fearful
groups in the rate of conscience development with age, both at
Time 2 and Time 3: The increase in internalization with age
appeared particularly pronounced for the fearful children. To
follow up on this observation, the significance of this difference
was examined by inserting an additional interaction term (Age
X Fearfulness) in the regressions for the entire samples, one
with Time 2 conscience and one with Time 3 conscience as the
dependent variable. Indeed, that interaction term was significant
in the equation that predicted conscience at Time 2: The increase
in internalization with age in the fearful group was significantly
greater than in the fearless group. It therefore appears that constitutionally founded fearfulness might enhance the rate of development of conscience in the preschool period. This finding,
although somewhat inconsistent with the absence of the main
effect for fearfulness regarding the conscience composite at
Time 2, is nevertheless compatible with fearfulness approaching
significance (p .052) in the final equation for the composite
at Time 3, indicating that, as far as conscience is concerned,
fearful children may again surpass the fearless ones toward the
end of preschool period, as they do at toddler age.
Such possibility is consistent with several theories. Derryberry and Reed (1994) argued that temperamentally anxious
children develop "affective maps" of their experience, in which
information relevant to threatening or stressful signals or events
is particularly salient and well-articulated. They further argued
that such representations may be strongly connected to one's
own and others' instances of past wrongdoing and the resulting
discomfort or other negative consequences, which in turn promotes a particularly rapid development of conscience-related
mechanisms, such as guilt or restraint. Damasio and colleagues
(Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1991; Tranel, 1994), in the theory of somatic markers, proposed that most people's choices of
actions, including morally relevant decisions, are regulated by
an automatic guiding system that activates "somatic markers"
associated with one's past experience. For example, one gets

MULTIPLE PATHWAYS TO CONSCIENCE

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This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

an uncomfortable "gut feeling" while pondering an act that

has been punished or disapproved in the past; this negative
somatic state, activated by the marker, consequently aids in inhibiting the relevant behavior. Although more research is
needed, taken together, that theoretical body of work suggests
that children with temperamentally based propensity to experience anxiety and fear become particularly attuned to the possible
negative consequences of antisocial behaviors, and such acts
become strongly somatically marked. Thus, as they move
through the preschool period, they may internalize rules and
norms more rapidly than fearless children.
The study of conscience is an exciting enterprise; moreover,
the recently blossoming research in the domain of temperament
has reinvigorated efforts to understand the origin and diverse
developmental pathways of early conscience. Somewhat paradoxically, it has also highlighted the importance of socialization,
and in particular the need to recognize that a specific aspect of
socialization may have unique and complex influences on children with different temperamental individualities. Future success
of research on early conscience may depend on our ability to
integrate skillfully those large sets of influences during the process of development.

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Received October 6, 1995

Revision received April 16, 1996
Accepted April 17, 1996

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