Psychological Development and Education ›› 2026, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (5): 619-619.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2026.05.02

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Development of Children’s Third-party Punishment in Group Cooperation and the Influence of Social Norms

XU Xiaohui1,2, CHEN Ying1, XIN Sufei1,2   

  1. 1. College of Education, Ludong University, Yantai 264025;
    2. Collaborative Innovation Center for the Mental Health of Youth from the Era of Conversion of New and Old Kinetic Energy along the Yellow River Basin, Ludong University, Yantai 264025
  • Published:2026-09-12

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Abstract: The current study aims to explore the developmental characteristics of children’s punishment of free riding and the influence of social norms. In Study 1, a public goods game was employed, controlling the intention of free riding behavior. The results showed that children aged 6~10 punished it more severely compared to unintentional free riding. With age, the severity of their punishment of unintentional free riding decreased. Study 2 investigated the impact of social norm priming on children's punishment on free riding. The findings showed that children punished free riding by out-group members more severely than that by in-group members. Norm priming by adults enhanced children’s punishment of free-riding by out-group members. In contrast, norm priming by peers weakened children's tendency to punish free riding by in-group members. School-aged children already have normative expectations for cooperative and pay to punish those who break this norm, from age 7, children move from outcome-based punishment to intent-based punishment. Priming social norms would increase children’s punishment of out-group members, “corrective” normative information are more effective from authoritative adults than from peers.

Key words: free riding, punishment, social norm priding, ingroup favoritism, school-aged children

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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