“But he didn't mean to do it”: Preschoolers correct punishments imposed on accidental transgressors

Preschoolers have a sophisticated understanding of reward and punishment. Here we investigated whether children spontaneously correct unfair punishments. Across two experiments, 3- and 4-year-olds engaged in a block-tower building task with a puppet in order to receive a reward (four stickers to be shared between the puppet and the child). The puppet then either accidentally or intentionally knocked over the tower. In both cases, an adult, who did not observe the intentionality of the outcome, punished the puppet by giving all the stickers to the child. After hearing the puppet protest, children were more likely to correct the adult's punishment (i.e., share stickers with the puppet) when puppet's actions were accidental rather than intentional. Our results suggest that rather than passively accepting rewards and punishments imposed by authority figures, young children spontaneously correct situations they potentially believe are unfair.