Cheat to win: Children’s judgements of advantageous vs. disadvantageous rule breaking

Cheating is a complex social phenomenon. However, common across most forms of cheating are two major components: violating a rule and gaining an unfair advantage. Children understand rules and rule violations from early in development, but little is known about how children perceive and judge cheating behavior. In the present study, 5-year-old (n = 31) and 7-year-old children (n = 32) watched videos of games in which one player broke the rules in a manner that advantaged them, and another broke the rules in a manner that disadvantaged them. Overall, both the 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds readily recognized the rule violators by endorsing that both players’ actions were bad and that someone had cheated. However, the older children more readily distinguished the advantageous from the disadvantageous player and were more likely to negatively evaluate the advantageous player. Thus, by the late preschool to early school years, children demonstrate an emerging understanding of the nuances of rule violations. This understanding can help children make sense of others’ actions and draw important inferences about potential social partners.