Social Lunch Talk ~ Julia Marshall, PhD ~ Brown University

Julia Marshall, Ass't Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences, Brown University

Topic: The Early Pursuit of Third-Party Punishment

Responding to wrongdoing is a central feature of our social lives and allows cooperative societies to flourish. Although we have many tools at our disposal to address wrongdoing, punishment often takes prominence. Accordingly, a core assumption of modern institutional justice systems is that transgressors should be punished for their misdeeds. In this talk, I argue that punitive interventions can be traced back to behaviors present in early childhood. I present research demonstrating that children across different countries, in both rural and urban environments, are willing to punish transgressors. Building on this work, I explore how children's willingness to punish wrongdoing (even when it is costly) is linked to a variety of justice-related concerns, such as retribution and deterrence. I also discuss how these justice-related motives maintain across different social contexts, suggesting that children consider punishment a duty that transcends social biases. Overall, my talk will feature research illustrating that third-party punishment is a hallmark of children’s sophisticated toolkit for regulating social relationships and behavior.

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