Psychological Development and Education ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (6): 792-807.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2024.06.04

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The Effect of Group-based Competition on Children’s Fair Allocation Behavior: The Role of Group Bias Motivation

XIAO Xue1,2, LI Yanfang2   

  1. 1. Center for Teacher Education Research of Beijing Normal University, Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities, MOE, Beijing 100875;
    2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Published:2024-11-13

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Abstract: The present study aimed to examine the effect of group-based competition on children’s fair resource allocation, and further explore the role of group bias motivations (including ingroup favoritism and outgroup hate). Using cluster sampling method, 268 3- to 8-year-old children from a kindergarten and primary school in Shandong Province were studied to compare their resource allocation and group bias motivations in competitive (further divided into win and lose conditions) and noncompetitive conditions. We found that: (1) With age, children allocated more resources to their own group when they won and allocated less resources to their own group when they lost; (2) The group bias motivation was mainly manifested as ingroup favoritism rather than outgroup hate, but the in-group favoritism motivation weakened with age; (3) Ingroup favoritism positively predicted children’s allocations to their own group in the lose condition. Overall, the results showed that with age, children allocated according to the competition outcome in group-based competition context, and the reduction of group bias (manifest mainly as ingroup favoritism) in the lose condition is an important explanation for children making more fair allocations.

Key words: fair allocation behavior, group-based competition, group bias, children

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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