“No fair!”: An investigation of children’s moral development

People differ on how fairly they think the resources are distributed. This difference often contributes to polarization of the public sphere and makes it harder to solve issues pertaining to inequality. Those who see the harm caused by unfairness perceive the status quo as a violation of the norm and others who are less sensitive to the harm see no violation. Because adults are already divided on their perspectives, investigating this question developmentally offers us a unique perspective into understanding how we conceptualize fairness. Ultimately, understanding how children associate harm with fairness violations could help us bridge the political divide.