title: Rectifying social inequalities in a resource allocation task.
abstract: To investigate whether children rectify social inequalities in a resource allocation task, participants (N=185 African-American and European-American 5-6year-olds and 10-11year-olds) witnessed an inequality of school supplies between peers of different racial backgrounds. Assessments were conducted on how children judged the wrongfulness of the inequality, allocated new resources to racial ingroup and outgroup recipients, evaluated alternative allocation strategies, and reasoned about their decisions. Younger children showed ingroup favorability; their responses differed depending on whether they had witnessed their ingroup or an outgroup at a disadvantage. With age, children increasingly reasoned about the importance of equal access to school supplies and correcting past disparities. Older children judged the resource inequality negatively, allocated more resources to the disadvantaged group, and positively evaluated the actions of others who did the same, regardless of whether they had seen their racial ingroup or an outgroup at a disadvantage. Thus, balancing moral and social group concerns enabled individuals to rectify inequalities and ensure fair access to important resources regardless of racial group membership.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, United States. Electronic address: elenbaas@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Elenbaas
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, United States.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.affiliation: Community Center for Education Results, Seattle, WA, United States.
authors.forename: Shelby
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cooley
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, United States.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Killen
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012919:Social Behavior; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People
keywords: Fairness; Ingroup bias; Intergroup attitudes; Moral development; Resource allocation; Social cognition