Adherence to the value of justice in children: a comparison between spontaneous answers and answers given to a structured questionnaire

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess adherence to the value justice in children. We compared the responses of children between 9 and 12 years, in two types of questionnaires: the first with alternatives, built in increasing levels of social perspective descentration, and the second with the same issues presented openly. The questions were presented in the form of stories involving distributive, commutative and retributive justice. The questionnaire with alternatives was applied in 111 children and the structured questionnaire in other 28. In both types of questionnaires children showed the same trends in adherence to the value, however, the spontaneous responses were more punitive and using stronger expiatory sanctions than in the closed one, in the case of stories about retributive and procedural justice.