Once failed, twice shy: How group-based competition influences risk preference in young children

Recent developmental research demonstrates that young children tend to be risk-seeking. However, very little is known about the extent to which such a capacity varies with children's group-based experience. Given that between-group competition is a central feature of human social life, this study aimed at examining the influence of group-based competition over risk preference in young children. In total, 234 children from 3 age groups (2-4-year-olds, 5-6-year-olds, and 8-9-year-olds) engaged in an intergroup competition manipulation, which was followed by a prosocial game assessing children's ingroup egalitarianism and a gambling task measuring children's risk preference. We found that children in the intergroup competition condition tended to be risk-averse compared with those who were in the nonintergroup competition condition. Furthermore, we found that an aversion to risk in the intergroup competition condition was driven by such an aversion observed in children from the losing group. In addition, we found a positive relationship between ingroup egalitarianism and risk preference in children from the winning group rather than those from the losing group. Together, our results contribute to the understanding of the effects of group-based experience on children's risk preference and may have important implications for understanding individuals' risky decisions.