Third-party intervention in preschool children: the role of social value orientation and group relations

<sec><p indent="0mm">Understanding the development of third-party interventions for preschool children is crucial to elucidating the origins and growth of social norms and justice. Preschool children are in a critical period of forming social values, and gradually understanding and applying the norms of fairness and group dynamics. As they transition from family environments to broader social groups, their responses to violations of social norms are influenced by these group relationships. This study aimed to investigate the influence of social value orientation and group relations on third-party intervention in preschool children aged <sc>3–6 years.</sc> </sec><sec> Two tasks were designed to examine these effects: a third-party punishment task and a third-party compensation task. Task 1 investigated the influence of social value orientation and recipients’ group identity on preschool children’s third-party punishment behavior. The participants first completed a social value orientation measurement, followed by a group relationship manipulation. They then engaged in a third-party punishment task, in which the allocator distributed six coins, keeping five for themselves and giving one to the recipient. The participants were informed that they had three coins and could choose to use one coin to reduce the allocator’s coins to 0. Participants were asked whether they were willing to use one coin to reduce the allocator’s coins, and to explain their choice. The results revealed that social value orientation mediates the relationship between age and third-party punishment and that group identity significantly moderates both the relationship between age and third-party punishment and the relationship between social value orientation and third-party punishment. </sec><sec> Task 2 investigated the influence of social value orientation and group identity on third-party compensation in preschool children. Task 2 was conducted three days after Task 1, following a similar experimental procedure. The difference was that the participants were informed that they had six coins and were given the option to use one coin to increase the recipient’s coins to five. The results show that social value orientation mediates the relationship between age and third-party compensation. No significant moderating effect of group identity was observed. </sec><sec> The integrated analysis revealed that while children generally prefer to compensate victims rather than punish allocators, this preference is modulated by group identity. Specifically, in the context of third-party punishment, children are more inclined to intervene when the recipient is an in-group member, whereas in third-party compensation contexts, they do not exhibit a significant group preference. Additionally, the results indicated that six-year-old children were more likely to intervene than four- and five-year-old children. An analysis of the reasons for this intervention revealed that, in third-party compensation contexts, children primarily compensate in-group members based on group identity considerations and out-group members based on fairness considerations. However, in third-party punishment contexts, the reasons for intervention did not show any significant group differences. </sec><sec> These findings provide insights into the developmental mechanisms through which social value orientation and group relations influence third-party intervention. Practically, these results can inform family and school educational practices, help parents and educators guide children toward a stable prosocial orientation, encourage reasonable intervention in unfair situations, and contribute to a more harmonious social environment. </sec>