This study examines how retributive motives—the desire to punish for the purpose of inflicting harm in the absence of future benefits—shape third-party punishment behavior across intergroup contexts. Six- to nine-year-olds (N = 151, M_age = 8.00, SD_age = 1.15; 54% White, 18% mixed ethnicities, 17% Asian American; 46% female; from the USA) could punish ingroup, outgroup, or non-group transgressors by removing positive resources and allocating negative ones. Both punishments were described as retributive, yet allocating negative resources was perceived as more retributive than removing positive ones. We predicted that children would punish outgroups more so than ingroups and that this effect would be especially pronounced when punishment is perceived as particularly retributive. The results did not align with this prediction; instead, children similarly punished all agents.

中文翻译：

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报复动机如何塑造跨群体背景下第三方惩罚的出现


本研究考察了报复动机——在没有未来利益的情况下以造成伤害为目的的惩罚愿望——如何在群体间环境中塑造第三方惩罚行为。6 至 9 岁儿童（N = 151，M _年龄 = 8.00，SD_年龄 = 1.15;54% 白人，18% 混血儿，17% 亚裔美国人;46% 女性;来自美国）可以通过删除积极资源和分配消极资源来惩罚内部、外部群体或非群体的违法者。这两种惩罚都被描述为报复性的，但分配负资源被认为比消除积极资源更具报复性。我们预测儿童对外群体的惩罚比对内群体的惩罚更大，而且当惩罚被认为特别具有报复性时，这种影响会特别明显。结果与这一预测不一致;相反，孩子们同样惩罚了所有代理人。