@article{81b6571c796a47929cf2b236d70b4d92,
title = "Young children police group members at personal cost",
abstract = "Humans' evolutionary success has depended in part on their willingness to punish, at personal cost, bad actors who have not harmed them directly-a behavior known as costly third-party punishment. The present studies examined the psychological processes underlying this behavior from a developmental perspective, using a novel, naturalistic method. In these studies (ages 3-6, total N = 225), participants of all ages enacted costly punishment, and rates of punishment increased with age. In addition, younger children (ages 3-4), when in a position of authority, were more likely to punish members of their own group, whereas older children (ages 5-6) showed no group- or authority-based differences. These findings demonstrate the developmental emergence of costly punishment, and show how a sense of authority can foster the kind of group-regulatory behavior that costly punishment may have evolved to serve.",
keywords = "Cooperation, Development, Fairness, Reputation, Third-party punishment, Age Factors, Child Behavior/psychology, Humans, Child, Preschool, Cooperative Behavior, Male, Group Processes, Social Behavior, Punishment/psychology, Female, Child",
author = "Yudkin, {Daniel A.} and {Van Bavel}, {Jay J.} and Marjorie Rhodes",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Elyana Feldman, Lisa Kaggen, Christine Tai, Rachel Vitale, and Kat Yee for help with data collection and the New York University Social Perception and Evaluation Lab for feedback on this research. We further thank Eva Jost and Jack Knowles for their dramatic performances. This work was supported by a Research Challenge Grant for Women in Science and by a James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Initiative in Understanding Human Cognition–Scholar Award to Marjorie Rhodes and National Science Foundation (Grant 1349089: to Jay J. Van Bavel). We thank the Children{\textquoteright}s Museum of Manhattan for their support of this research, and Jordan Wylie for valuable feedback. Funding Information: This research has been disseminated in several conferences and conventions. Daniel A. Yudkin presented the research at the Justice and Morality Preconference at the 2018 meeting of the Society for Personal and Social Psychology and at the 2015 meeting of the Association for Psychological Science. Marjorie Rhodes presented the research at the 2017 meeting of the Cognitive Development Society. The manuscript has been posted on PsyArXiv (psyarxiv.com/rc4ta). Daniel A. Yudkin, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Marjorie Rhodes designed the research, Daniel A. Yudkin collected the data, Daniel A. Yudkin analyzed the data with input by Jay J. Van Bavel and Marjorie Rhodes, and Daniel A. Yudkin wrote the paper, with critical edits by Jay J. Van Bavel and Marjorie Rhodes. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 American Psychological Association.",
year = "2020",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1037/xge0000613",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "149",
pages = "182--191",
journal = "Journal of Experimental Psychology: General",
issn = "0096-3445",
publisher = "American Psychological Association Inc.",
number = "1",
}