Developmental Differences in Infants' Fairness Expectations From 6 to 15 Months of Age

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Infant Cognition
• Social Development

Background:

• Fairness expectations are crucial for social development.
• Understanding the origins of fairness in infancy is key to social cognition research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental trajectory of fairness expectations in infants from 6 to 15 months.
• To identify factors influencing the emergence and individual differences in early fairness concerns.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study with 150 infants aged 6 to 15 months.
• Utilized visual attention paradigms to assess responses to fair (2:2) and unfair (3:1) resource distributions.
• Observed naturalistic sharing and prompted giving behaviors.

Main Results:

• A developmental transition in fairness expectations observed between 6 and 12 months.
• Infants showed increased visual attention to unfair distributions.
• Early sharing behavior predicted fairness expectations at transitional ages.
• Sibling presence and prompted giving behavior correlated with individual differences in fairness concerns beyond 12 months.

Conclusions:

• Infant fairness expectations emerge through a developmental transition influenced by experience.
• Early social interactions, such as sharing and sibling presence, shape individual differences in fairness concerns.
• This research highlights the early origins of fairness and social decision-making in human infants.