ERIC Number: EJ1118178
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Nov
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Children's Allocation of Resources in Social Dominance Situations
Charafeddine, Rawan; Mercier, Hugo; Clément, Fabrice; Kaufmann, Laurence; Reboul, Anne; Van der Henst, Jean-Baptiste
Developmental Psychology, v52 n11 p1843-1857 Nov 2016
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.
Descriptors: Preschool Children, Young Children, Resource Allocation, Power Structure, Justice, Social Cognition, Preferences, Moral Development, Prosocial Behavior, Experiments, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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