"No Fair!": Children's Perceptions of Fairness in Merit-Based Distributions.

Meltem Yucel, Madeline Brence, Amrisha Vaish

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Meltem YucelDepartment of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7274-5971

Madeline BrenceDepartment of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.ORCID 0009-0008-6423-6422

Amrisha VaishDepartment of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8908-9782

Funding

National Institute of Health F32HD108861National Institute of Health R03HD101652University of Virginia, Harrison Undergraduate Research Award n/aUniversity of Virginia, Spring Semester Scholars Award n/a

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent research by Yucel and colleagues suggests that children perceive equality-based fairness violations (resources being distributed unequally) as less serious than prototypical moral harms, but that making the harmful consequences of unfairness salient shifts these judgments toward the moral domain. We examined whether merit-based fairness violations (someone receiving less than they earned) would similarly shift judgments toward the moral domain by making the injustice more salient. Replicating prior work, 4-year-old children (

Indexed as

conventional normsfairnessinequalitymeritmoral developmentmoral norms

Identifiers

PMID42073980

DOI10.3390/bs16040617

PMCPMC13113042

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.