Preschoolers' evaluations of comforting actions towards third parties in different relationship contexts

This research investigates whether preschoolers evaluate positively a puppet that comforts another puppet and how different relationship contexts affect these evaluations. Children were presented with three familiarization events showing different relationship conditions that differed for the social interaction type between puppets: uninvolved, social, and conflict. For each condition, in one trial (comforting event), the puppet approached (prosocial agent) the victim, and in another one (ignoring event), the puppet leaned forward and the victim remained alone (antisocial agent). We assessed retributive motivations and personal preferences. The results showed a developmental trend to prefer and reward the comforter rather than the ignorer, independently of relationship context. The findings also suggested the presence of evaluation processes correlated with child age. No effect of relationship context on the actions performed by the prosocial or antisocial agent was found. This work sheds light on what developmental mechanisms contribute to creating an “adult” moral sense.