Psychological Development and Education ›› 2021, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 498-507.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2021.04.06

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Group Bias in Children's Merit-based Resource Allocation: The Role of Theory of Mind

XIAO Xue, LIU Lu, LIU Lisha, XU Liangyuan, ZHANG Xuran, LI Yanfang   

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Published:2021-07-26

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Abstract: The present study aimed to examine how children weigh the conflicting demands of allocating meritoriously and favoring in-groups during resource allocation and further explored the role of theory of mind in children's allocation in the Chinese cultural context. Children aged 6~8 years (N=63) allocated resources between recipients from different groups and with different merits. By comparing children's allocating behaviors and strategies, we found that:(1) Children allocated significantly more than half of the resources to the high-merit person. In addition, children allocated significantly fewer resources to the high-merit person in the "H-out, L-in" condition than in the other three conditions, where they gave more consideration to Group Membership when allocating; (2) Children with a higher level of theory of mind were prone to allocate more resources to the high-merit persons in the "H-out, L-in" condition and reasoned more about Merit but less about Group Membership. Overall, the current study showed that children aged 6~8 years prioritized moral concerns of merit and subordinated social concerns of group bias during resource allocation, but theory of mind could play an important role in overcoming the influence of group bias.

Key words: merit, fair resource allocation, in-group favoritism, theory of mind, children

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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