How children evaluate 'Good Trouble' Restricted; Files Only
Agarwal, Nikita (Fall 2022)
Abstract
From 4 years of age, children manifest disadvantageous inequity aversion (receiving less than other) and develop to become averse to advantageous inequity (receiving more than other) by internalizing norms of fairness. However, it is unknown how children evaluate protesting norms that are inherently unequal. Do they still uphold the authority of a norm or disagree with them in favor of equal outcomes? Here, we approach this question by examining how children start appreciating challenges against the status quo in development. Participants, ages 4-9 years (n=60), were presented with a series of vignettes, each of which depicted an argument between a rule-challenger and a rule-follower in unequal and equal rule situations. Participants were asked to befriend and reward/punish one of the two protagonists.
Results show that older children were more likely to select the rule-challenger as their friend in an unequal rule situation. Further, older, and younger children also differed in how they rewarded/punished the protagonists. These results suggest that younger children may be, mainly motivated to follow rules even if they are unequal and older children uphold principles of fairness even if that comes with challenging existing rules. We discuss potential factors that contribute to these differences.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Hypothesis 5
Methods 6
Participants 6
Design & Procedure 6
Materials 7
Results 10
Coding & Analysis 10
Rule-challenger or Rule-follower- who do children befriend? 11
How do children reward or punish the protagonists? 13
Do children care about the kind of rule? 13
Additional analyses: What do children think about the rule? 14
Discussion 14
Role of Disadvantageous (DI) and Advantageous inequity aversion (AI) 15
Social norms & rules 16
Authority, Conformity & Reputation 17
Cognitive Capacities 19
Future Directions 19
Acknowledgments 20
References 21
Appendix 25
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