Poster #120 - Children’s Developing Preferences for Fair Outcomes over Fair Distributions

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

Children undergo developmental changes in their preferences for allocating resources (e.g., Damon, 1975; Shaw & Olson, 2012). Although toddlers prefer equal distributions (e.g., Geraci & Surian, 2011; Schmidt & Sommerville, 2011; Sloane, Baillargeon & Premack, 2012), it is not until after the preschool years that children show preferences for equity in their acceptance of distributions (e.g., Blake & McAuliffe, 2011; Larson & Kellogg, 1974; Shaw & Olson, 2013).
When younger children divide resources, they might struggle to create equal distributions because they do not understand proportionality (Damon, 1975; Inhelder & Piaget, 1964); recent work suggests that preferences for equitable distributions are related to children’s developing mathematical cognition (Chernyak et al., 2016). An equitable distribution, however, does not necessarily result in an equal distribution – as equality is a function of the distribution and the starting state of each recipient. Shaw and Olson (2013) found that 6-8-year-olds created equal distributions by resolving inequities. Children watched an experimenter first create an inequity and then asked children to give these recipients more resources. Children generated an unequal distribution to correct the inequity. We extend this work to younger children, to third-person distributions as a way of articulating a social norm, and to investigating the mechanism behind this development.
In Experiment 1, 3-8-year-olds (N=144) were introduced to two characters who had an unequal number of resources (one had 3, the other 1). Children were asked how the experimenter should divide four new resources between these recipients, via either an unequal distribution that resulted in an equal outcome or an equal distribution that resulted in an unequal outcome. As children age, they preferred an equal outcome over an equal distribution, rho(142) = .35, p < .001. Three- to 6-year-olds showed chance level responding between these two options; 7- and 8-year-olds reliably chose the equal outcome option above chance levels.
Experiment 2a tested whether 3-8-year-olds’ (N=72) developing numerical capacities related to their responses. Children were shown the two outcome pictures in which the characters either received a fair distribution (and thus an unequal outcome) or a fair outcome and asked which character had more resources. Three- to 4-year-olds were no different from chance on these questions, but 5-8-year-olds never erred. Experiment 2b replicated these two procedures within-subjects on a group of 3-5-year-olds (N=48). Children showed the same chance-level performance on Experiment 1, and there was no relation between how they divided resources and their numerical knowledge.
We are currently collecting data on Experiment 3, looking at how 3-6-year-olds judge the way in which the two recipients (instead of the distributor) will respond to how the resources should be distributed. Our hypothesis (which is consistent with the data collected so far, (N = 32, with a target of 128) is that taking the perspective of each recipient would lead to different judgments about what distribution the experimenter should make. We suggest that this perspective taking – and not mathematical cognition – underlies the developmental differences observed in Experiment 1 and the literature on preferring equal outcomes.

Authors

• Jayd Heilbrun, Brown University
  Presenting Author

• David Sobel, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author