Children?s attribution of emotions to a moral transgressor is an important
research topic in the psychology of moral and emotional development. This is
especially because of the so-called Happy Victimizer Phenomenon (HVP) where
younger children attribute positive emotions to a moral transgressor
described in a story. In the two studies that we have conducted (children
aged 5, 7 and 9, 20 of each age; 10 of each age in the second study) we have
tested the possible influence of the fear of sanctions and the type of
transgression (stealing and inflicting body injuries) on the attribution of
emotions. Children were presented with stories that described transgressions
and they were asked to answer how the transgressor felt. The fear of
sanctions did not make a significant difference in attribution but the type
of transgression did - more negative emotions were attributed for inflicting
body injuries than for stealing. Positive emotions were explained with
situational-instrumental explanations in 84% of cases while negative emotions
were explained with moral explanations in 63,5%. Girls attributed more
positive emotions (61%) than boys (39%). However, our main finding was that,
for the aforementioned age groups, we did not find the HVP effect although it
has regularly been registered in foreign studies. This finding denies the
generalizability of the phenomenon and points to the significance of
disciplining styles and, even more so, culture for children?s attribution of
emotions to moral transgressors.