Children's allocation of resources in social dominance situations.
Two experiments with preschoolers (36 to 78 months) and 8-year-old children (Experiment 1, N = 173; Experiment 2, N = 132) investigated the development of children's resource distribution in dominance contexts. On the basis of the distributive justice literature, 2 opposite predictions were tested. Children could match resource allocation with the unequal social setting they observe and thus favor a dominant individual over a subordinate 1. Alternatively, children could choose to compensate the subordinate if they consider that the dominance asymmetry should be counteracted. Two experiments using a giving task (Experiment 1) and a taking task (Experiment 2) led to the same results. In both experiments, children took dominance into account when allocating resources. Moreover, their distributive decisions were similarly affected by age: Although 3- and 4-year-old children favored the dominant individual, 5-year-old children showed no preference and 8-year-old children strongly favored the subordinate. Several mechanisms accounting for this developmental pattern are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod - CNRS University of Lyon.
Rawan
R
Charafeddine
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod - CNRS University of Lyon.
Hugo
H
Mercier
Cognitive Science Center, University of Neuchâtel.
Fabrice
F
Clément
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne.
Laurence
L
Kaufmann
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod - CNRS University of Lyon.
Anne
A
Reboul
Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod - CNRS University of Lyon.
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Van der Henst
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012930:Social Dominance; D012935:Social Justice