Preschool‐aged children's responses to unfairness and subsequent sharing behavior in dyadic contexts

Abstract

AbstractRecent research implicates the importance of social and contextual factors in children's fair behavior. Here, we explored the social and emotional influences that might contribute to fair behavior in young children. We examined 79 pairs of 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children (N = 158; 85 female; M = 4.3 years; Range = 3.03–5.54) in a naturalistic sharing interaction to measure their verbal, emotional, and behavioral responses to an unfair distribution of rewards, as well as their subsequent sharing behavior. Children who received fewer rewards responded verbally, behaviorally, and emotionally as predicted, protesting the unfair distribution. However, children who received more rewards either failed to notice their partner's responses, or they failed to consider these responses when given the chance to behave prosocially and correct the unfair distribution. The only cue that predicted prosociality was a negative affective response from the disadvantaged peer.