Young children understand the normative force of standards of equal resource distribution

Abstract

Much recent research has shown that children are sensitive to basic principles of fair distribution of resources much earlier than previously assumed. Under appropriate circumstances, toddlers and sometimes even infants both expect that others will follow principles of equal distribution of resources and do so themselves. But from these findings it remains unclear whether young children understand and follow such principles of fairness as normative rules. The current study tested for such an understanding of the normative force of principles of resource distribution with a novel method. In the study, 3- and 5-year-olds witnessed how a (puppet) agent distributed resources jointly earned by herself and a fellow agent in equal or unequal ways. In one condition, the child herself or himself was this fellow agent, and in another condition it was an unrelated third party. Children spontaneously protested frequently against unfair distributions both when they themselves were affected and when another third party was affected (and never did so after fair distributions), with 5-year-olds doing so in more explicitly normative terms than 3-year-olds. These findings suggest that young children indeed understand principles of fair distribution as normatively binding regardless of whether they are personally affected or not.