The fairness gap for self and other in development: The case of fair procedures

• In Event: Lying, cheating and fairness: The knowledge-behavior gap in development

Abstract

In distribution tasks, children tend to favor equality for others but an advantage for themselves, the so-called knowledge-behavior gap, until between 6 and 8 years of age (Blake et al., 2014). Recent research has found that children are more willing to accept some inequalities for themselves and others when a fair procedure is used (Shaw & Olson, 2014; Grocke et al., 2015; Dunham et al., 2018). The current study asks whether children’s concept of fairness for unequal outcomes reflects the gap between self and other even when fair procedures are used.

In two experiments, we examined fairness judgments and justifications of 3 to 8-year olds for the same inequality. In Experiment 1 (N=130), we compared 3rd party judgments when fair and unfair procedures were used. In Experiment 2 (N=65, ongoing), we used a fair procedure and compared children’s judgments when the recipients were 3rd parties or themselves (1st person advantage or disadvantage). In both experiments, children were introduced to a fair (two colored sides) and unfair (one color) coin to be used in a game in which two children would receive 1 and 6 stickers (amounts sealed). Other children were shown in standard photos. The experimenter explained how the coin’s colors would determine which child received more. After comprehension checks, the experimenter flipped the coin and distributed the stickers. Children were then asked how good/fair (4 point scale) the game was, reminding them how the coin flip produced the outcomes. Children were also asked to explain their fairness rating; responses were coded as referring to the outcomes, the procedure, both or neither.

For Experiment 1, the best fitting model included Age in months, Condition and the interaction; only the interaction was significant (B = -0.02, p < .05). Children at all ages rated the unequal outcome as good when the procedure was fair. Notably, they did not rate the unfair procedure as bad until about 6 years of age. For Experiment 2, the best fitting model included Age in months, Condition and the interaction. Significant effects were found for the 1st person advantageous compared to the 3rd party condition (B = 3.44, p < .05) and the interaction of that condition with age ( = -0.04, p < .05) (Figure 1). For the fair procedure, children at all ages rated the unequal outcome as fair for other children and when they received a disadvantage. Children younger than 6 years rated receiving an advantage as more fair than the 3rd party condition, but all ratings converged for older children. Despite using a fair procedure in Experiment 2, children referred to outcomes in about half of all justifications, both before and after 6 years and across all conditions. Only older children in the 3rd party condition referred to the procedure.

Combined these results reveal that although fair procedures matter more with age, for younger children a gap still exists between the fairness of an advantage for themselves and inequality for others.

Authors

• Teresa Harvey, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Lucy Stowe, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Isabella Maehl, the University of Bath
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zoe Wilson, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Peter R. Blake, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author