Structural explanations lead young children and adults to rectify resource inequalities

• Published in: Journal of experimental child psychology 2024-06, Vol.242, p.105896, Article 105896
• Main Authors: Vasil, Ny, Srinivasan, Mahesh, Ellwood-Lowe, Monica E., Delaney, Sierra, Gopnik, Alison, Lombrozo, Tania
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Child; Child, Preschool; Gravitation; Humans; Internalist explanation; Judgment; Problem Solving; Resource allocation; Social Behavior; Social reasoning; Structural explanation
• ISSN: 0022-0965; 1096-0457; 1096-0457
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105896

•Young children tend to perpetuate inequalities or divide resources equally.•Structural explanations lead 3-6-year-olds and adults to rectify inequalities.•Structural explanations suppress social preferences favoring resource-rich groups.•Children are less affected by internalist explanations than adults.•Explanations powerfully shape social reasoning and action. Decisions about how to divide resources have profound social and practical consequences. Do explanations regarding the source of existing inequalities influence how children and adults allocate new resources? When 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 201) learned that inequalities were caused by structural forces (stable external constraints affecting access to resources) as opposed to internal forces (effort), they rectified inequalities, overriding previously documented tendencies to perpetuate inequality or divide resources equally. Adults (N = 201) were more likely than children to rectify inequality spontaneously; this was further strengthened by a structural explanation but reversed by an effort-based explanation. Allocation behaviors were mirrored in judgments of which allocation choices by others were appropriate. These findings reveal how explanations powerfully guide social reasoning and action from childhood through adulthood.