Two- and Three-Year-Olds Respect Others’ Ownership Rights when Taking and Allocating Resources

• In Event: 1-201 - Diverse Perspectives on the Development of Fairness: Integrating Research on Prosociality, Ownership, and Distributive Justice

Integrative Statement

People’s use of objects depends on ownership. For instance, although people can freely use their own possessions, they normally require permission to use those belonging to others. Previous research suggests that 2-year-olds only appreciate their own ownership rights, whereas 3-year-olds uphold their rights and the rights of others (Rossano, Rakoczy, & Tomasello, 2011; also see Kanngiesser & Hood, 2014). These studies, however, used measures that required children to protest violations of ownership. In the present research, we investigated whether toddlers show an earlier sensitivity to others’ ownership rights when distributing resources to themselves and others. Such tasks examine children’s sensitivity to others’ ownership rights while removing the need to intervene and protest transgressions on behalf of another owner.

In Experiment 1, 48 2- and 3-year-olds were introduced to a stuffed animal (“Mr. Bear”) and were shown 8 foam shapes—4 yellow and 4 red. Children were told that the shapes of one color belonged to them and that the shapes of the other color belonged to Mr. Bear. Then children and Mr. Bear were each given a bag. Children were told that they would get to take home the bag and anything they put inside. They were then asked to put four shapes in the bag. Children at both ages were more likely to take their own shapes (M = 2.88) than Mr. Bear’s (M = 1.13), p < .001, suggesting that even 2-year-olds uphold others’ ownership rights.

In Experiment 2, 96 2- and 3-year-olds were tested with a similar method, but with two exceptions: children either placed shapes in their bag or Mr. Bear’s bag, and the number of shapes they could place in the bag was not restricted. Children showed respect for the bear’s ownership rights in two ways: they put fewer of the bear’s shapes in the bag when they could keep it compared with when the bear could keep it, ps ≤ .008; and selected fewer of the bear’s shapes than their own shapes when they could keep the bag, ps ≤ .027 (See Figure 1).

In Experiment 3, 96 2- and 3-year-olds were tested with a similar method to Experiment 2 except that children were told that some shapes belonged to Mr. Bear and other shapes did not belong to him. Consistent with a respect for the bear’s ownership rights, children put fewer of the bear’s shapes in the bag when they could keep it compared with when the bear could keep it, p = .045. However, when children could keep the bag, they selected the bear’s shapes and those not belonging to him at similar rates, p = .394 (See Figure 2). Although this finding is inconsistent with a respect for the bear’s ownership rights, it is possible that children viewed the shapes not belonging to the bear as owned by someone else.

Together, these findings provide the first direct evidence that 2-year-olds recognize and respect other’s ownership rights, and show that ownership influences how objects are distributed from early in development.

Authors

• Madison Leigh Pesowski, University of Waterloo
  Presenting Author

• Patricia Kanngiesser, Freie Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ori Friedman, University of Waterloo
  Non-Presenting Author