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How fairness and dominance guide young children's bargaining decisions
Sebastian Grueneisen1, Michael Tomasello2,3
1Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Child Development
|March 26, 2022
Summary
Five-year-olds mostly chose fair divisions in bargaining games. However, dominant children gained more, and fairness enforcement was limited, showing fairness and dominance shape young children's conflict resolution.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Reaching agreements in conflicts is a crucial developmental milestone.
- Understanding how young children navigate bargaining situations provides insight into early social cognition and negotiation skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how fairness and dominance influence bargaining outcomes in young children.
- To analyze communication strategies used by children during bargaining.
Main Methods:
- 284 German 5-year-olds participated in repeated face-to-face bargaining tasks involving fair and unfair reward divisions.
- Data collection occurred between June 2016 and November 2017.
- Communication patterns and bargaining outcomes were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Children predominantly selected fair reward divisions.
- Dominant children tended to achieve more favorable outcomes in some studies.
- Children often failed to leverage fairness principles to enforce equitable outcomes.
- Giving orders conferred a bargaining advantage, and fairness-related communication was present.
Conclusions:
- Fairness considerations and individual dominance are significant factors in children's bargaining decisions.
- While fairness is a concern, its enforcement is inconsistent, and social dynamics like dominance play a key role.
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