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Fairness in children's resource allocation depends on the recipient
1Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. moorec@dal.ca
Psychological Science
|June 12, 2009
Summary
Young children share resources equitably with friends, regardless of personal cost. They share less with familiar nonfriends and strategically with strangers, especially when there
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Understanding early prosocial behavior is crucial for developmental psychology.
- Resource allocation in young children is influenced by social relationships and perceived costs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children aged 4.5-6 years allocate resources based on recipient familiarity and personal cost.
- To determine if children exhibit different sharing behaviors towards friends, nonfriends, and strangers.
Main Methods:
- A resource-allocation game was administered to 66 children aged 4.5-6 years.
- Children made sharing decisions with three distinct recipient types: friend, nonfriend, and stranger.
- The game incorporated conditions with and without personal cost to the child.
Main Results:
- Children shared equitably with friends, irrespective of personal cost.
- Resource allocation was significantly lower towards familiar nonfriends.
- Children shared generously with strangers when there was no personal cost, but treated them like nonfriends when a cost was involved.
Conclusions:
- Young children's resource allocation is highly sensitive to the recipient's social relationship.
- Equitable sharing is prioritized for friends, while strategic decisions are made for nonfriends and strangers based on cost-benefit analysis.
- These findings highlight the nuanced development of prosocial behavior and decision-making in early childhood.
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