Children’s evaluations of rule violators

Abstract

Children show remarkable sensitivity to others’ conformity to conventional norms. The present research examined how this sensitivity is reflected in preschool-aged (4- and 5- year-old; N=45) and young school-aged (7- and 8-year-old; N=45) children’s evaluations of people who violate rules. In two studies, children were made to believe they were playing a game against real, online opponents. Opponents either conformed to or violated the rules of the game, and their actions produced either positive or negative outcomes for the child. Children evaluated each opponent on a set of interaction, affiliation, and learning questions. Preschool-aged children’s evaluations primarily depended on whether or not people violated the rules, regardless of the circumstances of their violations. Young school-aged children’s social evaluations, however, were also influenced by the helpfulness or harmfulness of the violators’ actions.