The Toddler's Sense of Justice

A new study out of the University of Manchester shows how 3-year olds react to injustice, and it’s not in the way you may think. The study used puppets to play out certain scenarios where one puppet took toys or cookies from another puppet. What they found was that 3-year olds were very concerned with making the victim whole again, helping to retrieve the items, but did not seek punishment for the perpetrator. This shows that a sense of justice centered on harm caused to victims emerges early in childhood.

Read more about the study in this New York Times article or read the text of the study here.