Psychological Development and Education ›› 2019, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 385-392.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2019.04.01

    Next Articles

Effect of Competition and Collaboration on Preschoolers' Resource Distribution: The Role of Theory of Mind and Inhibitory Control

WANG Xiaonan1,2, HAO Yang1,2, SU Yanjie1,2   

  1. 1. School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Beijing 100871;
    2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871
  • Published:2019-08-28

RichHTML

PDF (PC)

Abstract: The current study investigated the distribution pattern and its underlying reason of preschoolers for unequal merits. Children aged 3 to 6 years (N=98) played a "fishing game" with a puppet in either competitive or collaborative context, and then allocated 6 refrigerator magnets. Results showed that, compared to 3-to 4-year-olds, a larger proportion of 5-to 6-year-olds distributed resources equally. First-order theory of mind and inhibitory control played a fully mediating role in age's prediction on distribution pattern. Also, children in collaborative context made more equal distribution instead of merit-based distribution than those in competitive context. Meanwhile, the relationship between inhibitory control and distribution was moderated by context. The current study implied that the development of distributive justice in Chinese children might be different from that in Western cultures, and context and individual abilities had a joint effect on distribution.

Key words: distributive justice, competition/collaboration, theory of mind, inhibitory control, preschoolers

CLC Number: 

  • B844
Baumard, N., Mascaro, O., & Chevallier, C. (2012). Preschoolers are able to take merit into account when distributing goods. Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 492-498.
Chai, Q., & He, J. (2017). Chinese preschoolers' resource allocation in the face of existing inequality under collaborative and noncollaborative contexts. Developmental Psychology, 53(8), 1494-1500.
Corbit, J., McAuliffe, K., Callaghan, T. C., Blake, P. R., & Warneken, F. (2017). Children's collaboration induces fairness rather than generosity. Cognition, 168, 344-356.
Damon, W. (1975). Early conceptions of positive justice as related to the development of logical operations. Child Development, 46(2), 301-312.
Davidson, M. C., Amso, D., Anderson, L. C., & Diamond, A. (2006). Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years:Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychologia, 44(11), 2037-2078.
Hamann, K., Bender, J., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Meritocratic sharing is based on collaboration in 3-year-olds. Developmental Psychology, 50(1), 121-128.
Hamann, K., Warneken, F., Greenberg, J. R., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Collaboration encourages equal sharing in children but not in chimpanzees. Nature, 476(7360), 328-331.
Hogrefe, G. J., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986). Ignorance versus false belief:A developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states. Child Development, 57(3), 567-582.
Hsu, M., Anen, C., & Quartz, S. R. (2008). The right and the good:Distributive justice and neural encoding of equity and efficiency. Science, 320(5879), 1092-1095.
Jin, X., Li, P., He, J., & Shen, M. (2017). Cooperation, but not competition, improves 4-year-old children's reasoning about others' diverse desires. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 157, 81-94.
Jordan, J. J., McAuliffe, K., & Warneken, F. (2014). Development of in-group favoritism in children's third-party punishment of selfishness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(35), 12710.
Kanngiesser, P., & Warneken, F. (2012). Young children consider merit when sharing resources with others. PLoS ONE, 7(8), e43979.
Lagattuta, K. H., Sayfan, L., & Monsour, M. (2011). A new measure for assessing executive function across a wide age range:Children and adults find happy-sad, more difficult than day-night. Developmental Science, 14(3), 481-489.
Liu, B., Huang, Z., Xu, G., Jin, Y., Chen, Y., Li, X. et al. (2016). Altruistic sharing behavior in children:Role of theory of mind and inhibitory control. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 141, 222-228.
McAuliffe, K., Blake, P.R., Steinbeis, N., & Warneken, F. (2017). The developmental foundations of human fairness. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(2), 0042.
Mcguire, L., Manstead, A. S. R., & Rutland, A. (2017). Group norms, intergroup resource allocation, and social reasoning among children and adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 53(12), 2333-2339.
Pappert, A. T., Williams, A., & Moore, C. (2016). The influence of competition on resource allocation in preschool children. Social Development, 26(2), 367-381.
Paulus, M. (2015). Children's inequity aversion depends on culture:A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 132, 240-246.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods Instruments & Computers, 36(4), 717-731.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879-891.
Priewasser, B., Roessler, J., & Perner, J. (2013). Competition as rational action:Why young children cannot appreciate competitive games. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116(2), 545-559.
Rochat, P., Dias, M. D. G., Guo, L., Broesch, T., Passos-Ferreira, C., Winning, A.et al. (2009). Fairness in distributive justice by 3-and 5-year-olds across seven cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(3), 416-442.
Sigelman, C. K., & Waitzman, K. A. (1991). The development of distributive justice orientations:Contextual influences on children's resource allocations. Child Development, 62(6), 1367-1378.
Smith, C. E., Blake, P. R., & Harris, P. L. (2013). I should but I won't:Why young children endorse norms of fair sharing but do not follow them. PLoS ONE, 8(3), e59510.
Smith, C. E., & Warneken, F. (2016). Children's reasoning about distributive and retributive justice across development. Developmental Psychology, 52(4), 613-628.
Steinbeis, N., Bernhardt, B. C., & Singer, T. (2012). Impulse control and underlying functions of the left dlPFC mediate age-related and age-independent individual differences in strategic social behavior. Neuron, 73(5), 1040-1051.
Ulber, J., Hamann, K., & Tomasello, M. (2015). How 18-and 24-month-old peers divide resources among themselves. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 140, 228-244.
Warneken, F., Lohse, K., Melis, A. P., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Young children share the spoils after collaboration. Psychological Science, 22(2), 267-273.
Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development:The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72(3), 655-684.
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs:Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception. Cognition, 13(1), 103-128.
Wu, Z., & Su, Y. J. (2014). How do preschoolers' sharing behaviors relate to their theory of mind understanding? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 120, 73-86.
Yu, J., Zhu, L., & Leslie, A. M. (2016). Children's sharing behavior in mini-dictator games:The role of in-group favoritism and theory of mind. Child Development, 87(6), 1747-1757.
陈童, 伍珍. (2017). 儿童的分配公平性:心理理论的作用. 心理科学进展, 25(8), 1299-1309.
李占星, 牛玉柏, 曹贤才. (2014). 心理理论、道德情绪与儿童公平行为的关系. 中国临床心理学杂志, 22(2), 324-328.
梁福成, 王心怡, 唐卫海. (2015). 不同分配情境下儿童公平行为的发展. 心理发展与教育, 31(6), 648-653.
王斯, 苏彦捷. (2013). 从理解到使用:心理理论与儿童不同情境中的分配公平性. 心理学报, 45(11), 1242-1250.
张亮, 张莉. (2014). 5~6岁幼儿公平分配行为及其认知研究. 教育研究与实验, 6, 92-96.
朱莉琪, 皇甫刚, Keller, M., 牟毅, 陈单枝. (2008). 从博弈游戏看儿童经济决策行为的发展. 心理学报, 40(4), 402-408.
[1] LIU Yanchun, DENG Yuting, ZHANG Xi. Sharing Behavior towards Different Recipients in Children with Intellectual Disabilities: The Role of Theory of Mind [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 160-168.
[2] PENG Yue, ZHANG Heyi, CHEN Yinghe, LEI Xiuya, QI Yue, YU Xiao, QIAO Xuewen, LIU Moxuan, YAN Luyi. Age Differences in Analogical Reasoning Strategies and Their Relationships with Working Memory and Inhibitory Control [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 761-771.
[3] ZHANG Wenjie, FAN Zeng, LI Lei, LIU Yi, ZHONG Yiping. The Influence of Recipients' Conventional Rule and Resource Neediness on Sharing Behavior among Preschoolers at Age of 5～6 [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 465-472.
[4] YU Xiao, ZHANG Heyi, QI Yue, CHEN Yinghe, LIU Haoning, ZHAO Yuxi, QIAO Xuewen. The Role of Inhibitory Control in the Development of Analogical Mapping: Cognitive Load Matters [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(1): 1-11.
[5] LIU Xiaojie, LI Yan. The Influence of Mother's Perception of Coparenting on Behavior Problems among Preschoolers: A Moderated Mediation Model [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(5): 626-634.
[6] YAN Yixia, LIU Yanying, DING Fang. The Effects of Theory of Mind and the Pattern of Social Interactions on the Development of Social Mindfulness in Junior High School Students [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(4): 485-494.
[7] WU Guojing, CHENG Xuelin, LI Ye, BAI Rong, XING Shufen, LI Yuhua. The Reciprocal Relations between Executive Functions and Language Ability: The Moderating Effects of Socioeconomic Status [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(2): 186-194.
[8] GE Guohong. The Relationship between Adult Attachment and Theory of Mind: The Mediators of Cognitive Fusion and Experiential Avoidance [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(2): 223-235.
[9] XIAO Xue, LIU Lu, LIU Lisha, XU Liangyuan, ZHANG Xuran, LI Yanfang. Group Bias in Children's Merit-based Resource Allocation: The Role of Theory of Mind [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(4): 498-507.
[10] LIU Qinxue, ZHANG Juyuan, LIN Yue. The Relationship between College Students' Smartphone Addiction and Inhibitory Control: The Moderating Roles of Phone Position and Cognitive Load [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(2): 257-265.
[11] LUO Shilan, ZHANG Dajun, LIU Yunyan. Family Socioeconomic Status and Preschoolers' Good Behavior Habits: Mediating Effects of Parenting Style and Preschoolers' Psychological Suzhi [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(1): 26-33.
[12] WANG Su, GAI Xiaosong. Development Trends and Gender Differences of Cool and Hot Self-regulation for Children Aged 3~4—A Longitudinal Study [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(6): 641-648.
[13] LIU Xiaoshi, LIU Shihong, MO Bibo, LI Dan, FU Rui. Extroversion and Aggressive Behavior in Early Childhood: Moderating Effects of Self-control and Maternal Warmth [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(5): 538-544.
[14] LI Qianqian, YAO Lining, LIANG Jinjun, XING Shufen. Differential influence of Television Violence on Preschool Children's Social Behavior——The Debate between the “the General Aggressive Model” and “Catalyst Model” Theory [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(5): 545-554.
[15] YAO Lining, GAO Jinfan, HE Lijing, GAO Xin, CUI Huixin, XING Shufen. Sleep Time Parameters and Preschoolers' Problem Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Negative Emotionality [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2019, 35(6): 710-718.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd