Punish, compensate, or both? Children's fairness decisions in varying choice contexts

Understanding developmental trajectories in fairness decision-making provides critical insights into the foundational role of fairness norms in human societies. This study investigates how different choice contexts shape children's preferred approach and the costs incurred on fairness decisions. We examined third-party punishment (TPP) and third-party compensation (TPC) behaviors among children aged 10-12 years across two choice contexts: the single-choice context requiring the selection of either punishment or compensation (N = 243) and the dual-choice context allowing the use of both (N = 236). Participants responded to three types of offers: high inequality, moderate inequality, and equality. Key findings revealed that (1) Children predominantly chose "compensate only" in the single-choice context but preferred "punish and compensate" in the dual-choice context, and (2) Children incurred more costs to uphold fairness in the dual-choice context, with developmental differences observed across age groups. These results highlight how choice context influences fairness decision-making, deepen our understanding of developmental changes in TPP and TPC, and offer implications for how educators and policymakers can support children in proactively safeguarding fairness as bystanders.