The Effect of Relationship on Children's Distributive Justice Reasoning

Abstract

Kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade children were told 2 stories about a group of children who made artwork that was subsequently sold at a craft fair. The characters in one story were described as friends, while the characters in the other story were described as strangers (relationship condition). 1 character in each story was presented as the oldest in the group, 1 as the most productive, and 1 as the poorest. Children were asked to allocate 9 dollars to the 3 characters under each relationship condition, provide rationales for those allocations, and rate the fairness of 4 different patterns of allocation. Older children allocated more money to needy friends than to needy strangers and more to productive strangers than to productive friends. Kindergartners' allocations and fairness ratings did not vary with relationship. Rationales for allocation judgments suggested that equality was the most salient principle for decisions at all ages, but the older children provided rationales based on benevolence more often than younger children when characters were presented as friends.

Collaboration promotes proportional reasoning about resource distribution in young children.

“…This finding is consistent with a wide body of data from psychology and behavioral economics demonstrating that adults are sensitive to the origin of resources when evaluating their distribution (Cappelen et al, 2007; Cherry, Frykblom, & Shogren, 2002; Frohlich et al, 2004; Oxoby & Spraggon, 2008; Ruffle, 1998). Also, they are consistent with previous reports of context-sensitivity in children’s moral reasoning and behavior (Fu, Xu, Cameron, Heyman, Lee, 2007; Heyman, Sweet, & Lee, 2008; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, De Lisi, & Van Gulik, 2008; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Watkins, & Vinchur, 1994; Smetana, 2006). For example, McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al (1994) found that sixth graders were more likely to share resources with a person in need if they were a friend rather than a stranger.…”

“…Also, they are consistent with previous reports of context-sensitivity in children’s moral reasoning and behavior (Fu, Xu, Cameron, Heyman, Lee, 2007; Heyman, Sweet, & Lee, 2008; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, De Lisi, & Van Gulik, 2008; McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Watkins, & Vinchur, 1994; Smetana, 2006). For example, McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al (1994) found that sixth graders were more likely to share resources with a person in need if they were a friend rather than a stranger. Also, McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al (2008) found that twelfth graders were more likely to focus on equity in a work context than in an educational context.…”

“Who is worthy of my generosity?” Recipient characteristics and the development of children’s sharing

“…The provision of information about recipients' moral undeservingness and lack of need to 4-year-olds, however, was not expected to lead to different sharing allocations than those present in the neutral condition. Our hypotheses regarding age-related changes on the effect of recipient characteristics on children's sharing resonates with earlier research in the distributive justice tradition: Although equality still dominates in the distribution choices and reasoning of elementary school-age children, they are more likely than younger children to adapt their allocation decisions to characteristics of the recipient and more strongly differentiate between different types of recipients (Huntsman, 1984;McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al, 1994;Sigelman & Waitzman, 1991). Research in the distributive justice tradition, in addition, has demonstrated that 4-year-old children consider merit and need in their hypothetical allocation choices, but that the use of these distribution principles increases steadily in children's reasoning about distribution until the late elementary school years (Huntsman, 1984).…”

The effects of intergroup competition on prosocial behaviors in young children: a comparison of 2.5–3.5 year-olds with 5.5–6.5 year-olds

“…For another, this finding is also consistent with previous findings showing that as children age, their behaviors supporting their interaction with others become more fair (Sheskin et al, 2014b ). For instance, as children grow up, they tend to pay more attention to each member’s inputs and outputs of their groups and distribute resources based on group members’ efforts during the cooperative tasks (Leventhal et al, 1973 ; Lerner, 1974 ; Sigelman and Waitzman, 1991 ; McGillicuddy-De Lisi et al, 1994 ; Almås et al, 2010 ). The development of fairness-oriented behaviors has also been observed when children engage in bargaining activities.…”