Poster #126 - Group Bias in Children’s Merit-based Resource Allocation

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

Allocating meritoriously has always been the most important distribution rule in the market economy (Baumard et al., 2012). In addition to the expectation of merit-based resource allocation, people also tend to show positive preferences and attitudes toward in-group members (Fehr et al., 2008). In other words, in many cases, group bias coexist with the merit-based distribution.

From early in life, children have shown sensitivity to both merit (Sloane et al., 2012) and group membership (Kelly et al., 2005). But little research examined how children react to the conflict demands of allocating meritoriously and favoring in-groups over development, especially in China where the interpersonal relationship was emphasized, the conflict may be more intense (Chai & He, 2017). Besides, boys and girls can also differentiate in their reaction to the conflict (Fehr et al., 2008). Therefore, the present study aimed to examine both age and gender difference in children’s weighing of merit and group bias in the Chinese context.

The sample included 70 3- to 5-year-olds (33 boys) and 65 6- to 8-year-olds (34 boys). In the beginning, the children were presented with two in-group members (friends from the same class) and two out-group members (strangers from other school). We then crossed manipulations of high-merit person (H) and low-merit person (L) among the two in-group and two out-group members, resulting in four conditions (H-in, L-in; H-in, L-out; H-out, L-in and H-out, L-out). Then the participants were told four merit-based stories, each represented a condition. In the story, one child from a specific group worked more whereas the other worked less. Finally, the two children were rewarded six candies together and the participants were asked to allocate candies between them.

To examine the role of merit, we used one-sample t-tests to test number of candies allocated to high-merit person against 3. Children of all ages and genders allocated significantly more than half of the resources to the high-merit person across conditions.

To examine the role of group bias, we conducted a 2 (Age Group: 3-5 years; 6-8 years) × 2 (Gender: boys, girls) × 4 (Condition: H-in, L-in; H-in, L-out; H-out, L-in; H-out, L-out) repeated measures ANOVA for number of candies allocated to the high-merit person. All three factors showed significant main effects. In summary, 6- to 8-year-olds significantly distributed more to the high-merit person than 3- to 5-year-olds; boys significantly distributed more to the high-merit person than girls; the high-merit person in the “H-out, L-in” condition received significantly less candies than in other three conditions. The above main effects were also qualified by a significant three-way interaction, simple effects analyses showed that the Condition effect was significant for 3- to 5-year-old boys, 6- to 8-year-old girls and 6- to 8-year-old boys.

Overall, the study showed that children prioritized merit across conditions. With age, they could also incorporate both merit and group bias into resource allocation. Younger girls did not differentiate in their allocation toward in-group and out-group members, but for older children, girls showed similar in-group favoritism as boys.

Authors

• Xiao Xue, Beijing Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Yanfang Li, Beijing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author