Poster #82 - Theory-of-Mind Predicts Preschoolers’ Punishment of Agents not Comforting Others

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Costly third party punishment (3PP) means that bystanders punish wrongdoing, even though punishment entails costs and is unaccompanied by material gain (Fehr & Gächter, 2002; Marshall & McAuliffe, 2022). 3PP has primarily been studied in the context of unfair resource distributions. With increasing age, children become more systematic and punish antisocial behavior harder (Lee & Warneken, 2022; McAuliffe et al., 2015). It remains unclear whether children also perceive other prosocial behaviors as obligatory. Further research is needed on whether children punish exclusively antisocial behavior, or also the deliberate omission of prosocial behavior. One central prosocial behavior concerns empathy-based comforting (Dunfield, 2014). Preschoolers were observed to protest against the omission of comforting (Paulus et al., 2020), however, punishment needs further exploration. Moreover, despite the growing research of 3PP in children, little is known about its development (Arini et al., 2021). The current study aimed at clarifying the role of perspective-taking (theory of mind, ToM) on 3PP, as it amplifies initial intentions attributed to transgressors (Lucas et al., 2016).

We hypothesize that children punish protagonists more and evaluate their actions more negatively after observing how they ignore (i.e., omission of prosocial behavior) or laugh at (i.e., antisocial behavior) a recipient, than after protagonists comfort (i.e., prosocial behavior). We also hypothesize punishment to become more systematic with age. Finally, we hypothesize that in conditions A and B, higher ToM performance predicts less 3PP.

Four- and five-year-old children (N = 65, 34 girls) watched three conditions of puppets: The protagonist either ignored (condition A), laughed at (condition B), or comforted (condition C) the recipient, who hurt herself (within-subjects design). In each condition, children were able to punish and spend up to four stickers in order to confiscate the protagonist’s favorite donut(s), one per sticker. After the opportunity to punish, children evaluated the behavior of the protagonist on a four-point scale. ToM was tested using the scale by Wellman and Liu (2004).

Children punished significantly less in the comforting condition than in conditions A and B (H = 23.494, df = 2, p < .001). Kruskal-Wallis test (H = 92.184, df = 2, p < .001) and post-hoc tests revealed that the evaluation was significantly higher in the comforting condition compared to conditions A and B. Five-year-olds punish more systematic than four-year-olds: They more often punish in substantive agreement with the evaluation (p = .043). ToM significantly predicted mean punishment of conditions A and B, even when controlling for age, with higher ToM being associated with less punishment (β = -0.233, p = .042).

Preschoolers show 3PP after observing empathy-based norm transgressions. Children did not differentiate in punishment and evaluation whether an agent was ignoring or laughing, implying that simply the omission of a prosocial reaction presents a norm transgression. Perspective-taking is related to less punishment, possibly because taking perspectives leads to being more attentive to the well-being of the puppet being punished. This study extends 3PP research in children to the context of empathy-based comforting and gives first insight into influencing factors.

Authors

• Johannes Bullinger, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich
  Presenting Author

• Christina Maria Kellermann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

• Natalie Christner, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

• Maria Mammen

• Markus Paulus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München