Need, effort, or integration? The development of intuitive distributive justice decisions in children, adolescents, and adults

Abstract

AbstractThis study examined the criteria children, adolescents, and adults intuitively apply when they distribute a resource between two protagonists who differ systematically in need and effort. Two main questions were investigated: (a) Do the allocation criteria (equality, need, effort, integration of need and effort) differ by age? (b) Do the allocation criteria of adolescents differ in accordance with whether they attend a vocational or an academic‐track school? A total of N = 481 participants took part in two experiments. In each, they had to make 18 decisions about how to allocate a resource fairly. The experiments differed in their operationalization of need (amount of sweets in Experiment 1 vs. number of toys in Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, allocation decisions made on the basis of need information alone occurred primarily in 7‐ and 9‐year‐olds and became less frequent in 12‐ and 16‐year‐olds and adults. Allocation decisions made on the basis of effort information alone were rare in children and occurred with increasing frequency in adolescents and adults. An integration of need and effort was the most common principle chosen from ages 9 to 16, followed by an orientation toward integration or effort alone in adults. Adolescents’ allocation patterns did not vary by the type of school they attended. In Experiment 2, only adolescents and adults participated. Their results largely replicated those of Experiment 1. The discussion addresses the impact of cognitive development and socialization processes for the development of distributive justice.