Anti-equality: social comparison in young children

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Social Neuroscience

Background:

• Young children's aversion to disadvantage suggests fairness preferences.
• However, children do not typically avoid others receiving less than themselves.
• This leaves ambiguity regarding preferences for unequal outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate children's preferences regarding unequal outcomes.
• To differentiate between indifference and active preference for others receiving less.
• To examine the developmental trajectory of fairness and social comparison.

Main Methods:

• Tested 5- to 10-year-old children's responses to unequal resource distribution scenarios.
• Assessed willingness to incur costs to alter outcomes for themselves and others.
• Replicated established findings on disadvantage aversion.

Main Results:

• Children incurred costs to avoid relative disadvantage, confirming prior research.
• Crucially, 5- and 6-year-olds incurred costs to spitefully reduce another's welfare below their own.
• This spiteful behavior was not observed in older children.

Conclusions:

• Children's development of fairness involves overcoming an innate preference for others to receive less.
• Early social comparison drives behavior, which is later modulated by fairness considerations.
• Fairness development is a process of inhibiting self-centered social comparison tendencies.