Work

Not all punishment is equal: The effect of punishment severity on children’s social evaluations.

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: = 68), when the transgression was more serious (i.e., stealing), younger children evaluated taking two items ("equality-establishing punishment") more positively than older children, while evaluating taking none most negatively. However, children became more likely to evaluate equality-establishing punishment negatively with age. Overall, the current results show that punishment severity is a key factor underlying children's third-party punishment judgments. The current research extends work on moral development by showing how children conceptualize the severity of punishment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Developmental Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/dev0001845

Authors: Young-eun Lee, Larisa Heiphetz Solomon

Institution: Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: John Templeton Foundation

Award: Children’s and adults’ responses to people who seek to learn about religion