Detailing the understanding of moral judgements in autism. A study with Spanish-speaking children

Abstract

This study compared the theory of mind features of moral judgements in 60 children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), using a novel verbal moral judgement task. The task focused on three different scenarios which were morally unacceptable. Five measures were assessed with forced-choice responses, whilst the other two were categorised according to the quality of the response (categories: (i) related to mental states; (ii) descriptions; (iii) literal reiterations; (iv) inappropriate). No significant differences regarding the forced-choice answers were found between the groups. Justifications were classified mostly in category (ii) description by the ASD group, whereas the justifications of children with typical development referred to the use of mental-state words and descriptions for explanations. Implications of ToM in moral reasoning for children with ASD are discussed.