Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited
The present study examined how 2- to 4-year-old preschoolers in Singapore (N = 202) balance fairness and ingroup loyalty in resource distribution. Specifically, we investigated whether children would enact fair distributions as defined by an equality rule, or show partiality toward their ingroup whe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01752/full |
| _version_ | 1811193877440233472 |
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| author | Kristy Jia Jin Lee Gianluca Esposito Gianluca Esposito Peipei Setoh |
| author_facet | Kristy Jia Jin Lee Gianluca Esposito Gianluca Esposito Peipei Setoh |
| author_sort | Kristy Jia Jin Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study examined how 2- to 4-year-old preschoolers in Singapore (N = 202) balance fairness and ingroup loyalty in resource distribution. Specifically, we investigated whether children would enact fair distributions as defined by an equality rule, or show partiality toward their ingroup when distributing resources, and the conditions under which one distributive strategy may take precedence over the other. In Experiment 1, children distributed four different pairs of toys between two puppets. In the Group condition, one puppet was assigned to the same group as the child while the other puppet was assigned to a different group using colored stickers in the No Group condition, no group assignments were made. Children’s distributions were assessed for whether the toys were fairly (equally) distributed or unfairly (unequally) distributed in favor of either puppet. Experiment 2 was identical to the Group condition in Experiment 1, except that a third identical toy was introduced following the distribution of each toy pair. Distributions were separately assessed for whether the first two toys were fairly (equally) distributed or unfairly (unequally) distributed in favor of either puppet, and whether children distributed the third toy to the ingroup or outgroup puppet. Overall, the vast majority of children abided by an equality rule when resources were precisely enough to be shared between recipients, but distributed favorably to the ingroup member when there was limited resource availability. We found that fairness trumped ingroup loyalty except in resource distribution involving limited resources. Our results are consistent with findings from other resource distribution studies with preschoolers and similar studies measuring young infants’ expectations of distributive behaviors in third-party observations. Taken together, there is evidence suggesting stability in the development of knowledge to behavior in the subdomains of fairness and ingroup loyalty. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T00:16:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-417d220e542f4ecbb2545a0db66399af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T00:16:43Z |
| publishDate | 2018-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-417d220e542f4ecbb2545a0db66399af2022-12-22T03:55:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-09-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.01752398351Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are LimitedKristy Jia Jin Lee0Gianluca Esposito1Gianluca Esposito2Peipei Setoh3Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporePsychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporeDepartment of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, ItalyPsychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, SingaporeThe present study examined how 2- to 4-year-old preschoolers in Singapore (N = 202) balance fairness and ingroup loyalty in resource distribution. Specifically, we investigated whether children would enact fair distributions as defined by an equality rule, or show partiality toward their ingroup when distributing resources, and the conditions under which one distributive strategy may take precedence over the other. In Experiment 1, children distributed four different pairs of toys between two puppets. In the Group condition, one puppet was assigned to the same group as the child while the other puppet was assigned to a different group using colored stickers in the No Group condition, no group assignments were made. Children’s distributions were assessed for whether the toys were fairly (equally) distributed or unfairly (unequally) distributed in favor of either puppet. Experiment 2 was identical to the Group condition in Experiment 1, except that a third identical toy was introduced following the distribution of each toy pair. Distributions were separately assessed for whether the first two toys were fairly (equally) distributed or unfairly (unequally) distributed in favor of either puppet, and whether children distributed the third toy to the ingroup or outgroup puppet. Overall, the vast majority of children abided by an equality rule when resources were precisely enough to be shared between recipients, but distributed favorably to the ingroup member when there was limited resource availability. We found that fairness trumped ingroup loyalty except in resource distribution involving limited resources. Our results are consistent with findings from other resource distribution studies with preschoolers and similar studies measuring young infants’ expectations of distributive behaviors in third-party observations. Taken together, there is evidence suggesting stability in the development of knowledge to behavior in the subdomains of fairness and ingroup loyalty.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01752/fullfairnessingroup loyaltyresource distributionmoral cognitionearly childhood |
| spellingShingle | Kristy Jia Jin Lee Gianluca Esposito Gianluca Esposito Peipei Setoh Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited Frontiers in Psychology fairness ingroup loyalty resource distribution moral cognition early childhood |
| title | Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited |
| title_full | Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited |
| title_fullStr | Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited |
| title_full_unstemmed | Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited |
| title_short | Preschoolers Favor Their Ingroup When Resources Are Limited |
| title_sort | preschoolers favor their ingroup when resources are limited |
| topic | fairness ingroup loyalty resource distribution moral cognition early childhood |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01752/full |
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