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Stories about redemption are ubiquitous; people emphasize moral improvement when describing their own lives and, often, others' lives as well. However, psychology does not yet have a well-developed literature concerning redemption, and developmental science has not addressed questions regarding how perceptions of redemption might emerge or change between childhood and adulthood. To the extent that past research has spoken to this issue, it has pointed in contradictory directions. Two different theories—focusing on essentialism and on optimism—make two different developmental predictions about how and why judgments of redemption might change with age. Integrating these perspectives, we propose a novel theory of redemption that puts work on essentialism and optimism in conversation with each other. The theory of redemption further highlights the role of social inputs (e.g., experiences with their own and others' moral change) as mechanisms that can lead children to hold more redemptive views than do adults. The theory of redemption accounts for previous findings in developmental science and makes novel predictions regarding the social inputs and consequences of redemptive views. 

Abstract With age, people increasingly emphasize intent when judging transgressions. However, people often lack information about intent in everyday settings; further, they may wonder about reasons underlying pro-social acts. Three studies investigated 4-to-6-year-olds', 7-to-9-year-olds', and adults' (data collected 2020–2022 in the northeastern United States, total n = 669, ~50% female, predominantly White) desire for information about why behaviors occurred. In Study 1, older children and adults exhibited more curiosity about transgressions versus pro-social behaviors (ds = 0.52–0.63). Younger children showed weaker preferences to learn about transgressions versus pro-social behaviors than did older participants (d = 0.12). Older children's emphasis on intent, but not expectation violations, drove age-related differences (Studies 2–3). Older children may target intent-related judgments specifically toward transgressions, and doing so may underlie curiosity about wrongdoing.