moral realism
the type of thinking characteristic of younger children, who equate good behavior with obedience just as they equate the morality of an act only with its consequences. For example, 15 cups broken accidentally would be judged to be a far worse transgression than 1 cup broken mischievously, because more cups are broken. Moral realism shapes the child’s thinking until the age of about 8, when the concepts of intention, motive, and extenuating circumstances begin to modify the child’s early moral absolutism. Compare moral relativism. [postulated by Jean Piaget]