Fairness, partner choice, and punishment: An ethnographic study of cooperative behavior among children in Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

This article draws upon ethnographic fieldwork among children in Helsinki, Finland, to determine how cooperative behaviors unfold in their everyday lives. Two conceptsfairness and partner choice-emerged as particularly relevant, and related behaviors were examined in the context of ongoing debates regarding cooperation in human societies. Children consistently invoked fairness as an important moral value, and they showed evidence of undergoing a developmental shift from equality-based to equity-based fairness by around seven years old. Children mediated disagreements primarily through partner choice strategies (avoidance and disengagement) rather than partner conflict (punishment). Local social values and child-rearing practices that promote personal autonomy and independence make punishment undesirable and rare in this context. The observed aversion to punishment in Helsinki differs from typical characterizations of so-called WEIRD societies and demonstrates the value that nuanced ethnographic studies in diverse societies can bring to understandings of human cooperation.