Created (Un)Equal?: Impact of Resource Type and Value on Children's Fairness Concerns

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Fairness preferences are present from early in life; like adults, children often favor equal and/or equitable outcomes (see, e.g., Starmans et al., 2017, for a review). Notably, a recurrent feature of most child studies on fairness is the use of tangible, moderately valued goods like stickers, erasers, and candy. Here we present recent studies that test children’s fairness concerns involving additional types of goods. This approach and findings help inform current theoretical debates including whether fairness is mainly about respect, egalitarianism, or impartiality (e.g., Engelmann & Tomasello, 2019; McAuliffe et al., 2019; Shaw, 2013).

Specifically, three mutually informing papers examine whether resource type and value will impact children’s reasoning about unequal treatment at various age periods. Paper 1 illustrates how, when goods lack value (e.g., crumpled paper balls), 4- to 7-year-olds still reject receiving less than a peer—as if additionally concerned about the social meaning of such inequality. Paper 2 shows that, when goods are fungible (e.g., tokens exchangeable for prizes), older elementary schoolers prefer to receive more than a peer versus discarding the goods—as if also concerned with not wasting resources. Paper 3 demonstrates that, when goods have broader purchasing power ($5-10 gift cards), 7-year-olds predict that receiving such goods will make a decision-maker partial to the gift-giver—yet children still endorse taking gift cards as bribes. Together, these findings meaningfully extend our understanding of the ontogeny of humans’ fairness concepts and related motivations. The discussant, a moral development expert, will synthesize and further situate these findings.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Boli Reyes-Jaquez, University of New Hampshire

Discussant

• Paul Bloom, Yale University

Individual Presentations

• I Don’t Want it, but I do Want Half: Inequity Aversion Related to Worthless Objects - Presenting Author: Colin Jacobs, University of California - Berkeley; Sebastian Grueneisen, Max Planck Institute for Human Development; Harriet Over, University of York; Jan Engelmann, University of California - Berkeley

• Should we run the Inequity Game online? Using valuable “virtual” resources influences children’s choices - Presenting Author: Richard E Ahl, Boston College; Kelsey Hannan; Aaron Baker; Dorsa Amir, Boston College; Katherine McAuliffe, Boston College

• Aversion to Material Inequity vs. Bribery-induced Unequal Treatment - Presenting Author: Boli Reyes-Jaquez, University of New Hampshire; Melissa A. Koenig, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities