In the aftermath of the financial and economic recession of 2008, 130 Spanish students of five age groups (8 to 17 years) and two socioeconomic backgrounds were individually interviewed about unemployment and lower wages. The participants were presented with two hypothetical situations, and their responses were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The results indicated that children bring their conceptions of work when attempting to explain those phenomena. Specifically, it was found that the explanations were closely associated with the comprehension of the notion of surplus value (i.e., the idea that workers create more value than the cost of their salaries), and that the development of this notion proceeds in three levels. Younger children were simply unaware of the capacity of workers to create value (Level 1), which gave rise to some alternative conceptions (e.g., the idea that money for salaries comes from external sources). The children within the age range of 12–13 began to understand that workers create some value (Level 2). At this level, however, the notion of surplus value was not fully understood, and the idea that money for salaries comes from external sources persisted in a variety of ways. From the ages of 13–14, the children begin to understand that a wage is the price of labor and that the employer earns a profit because workers create more value than the cost of their wages (Level 3). The article presents a discussion of the possible reasons behind the slow progress observed and highlights some suggestions for educational practice.

Tratar de definir lo bello, como ya constatara Platón en el Hippias Mayor, es una tarea realmente compleja. La pregunta que se plantea aquí es si la belleza está en el ojo del observador o si ésta proviene de la naturaleza de las cosas. Se sugiere que la psicología puede contribuir a comprender los fenómenos estéticos estableciendo una serie de comparaciones con otros fenómenos psicológicos. Entre ellos, la relación entre la experiencia estética, la vida emocional y el placer como nexo entre la apreciación estética y el juego. Asimismo, se propone que el análisis de la moral y el establecimiento de valores pueden arrojar alguna luz sobre los fenómenos estéticos.