THE IMPACT OF MOTHERS ON CONSCIENCE

According to research published in Psychological Science (October 2004 issue), children who have the good fortune to interact with their mothers a lot develop healthier consciences.

These researchers conducts a couple of experiments where they encouraged toddlers to imitate their mothers in such simple activities as playing tea party or playing with a stuffed animal. As the researchers monitored this interaction, they classified the children based on their readiness to imitate what they observed in their mothers and then graded them on a sliding scale.

Then, in subsequent sessions, they enticed those same young children with prizes for games that they could win only by cheating or breaking an object that had some value to them.

What they found was: Toddlers who eagerly imitated their mothers were more likely to follow the rules and more likely to exhibit a sense of guilt when they broke something.

(From a sermon by Jeff Strite, On The Catwalk, 5/13/2012)