内群体偏爱与儿童基于贡献的分配公平性:心理理论的调节作用

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

本研究考察了贡献和内群体偏爱两种分配动机对儿童分配公平性的影响,并探讨了心理理论在其中的作用。通过比较63名6~8岁儿童在不同群体条件下对贡献不同的接受者的分配结果和分配策略的差异,结果发现:(1)在所有群体条件下,儿童都会分配给贡献多的接受者更多的资源,但当外群体成员贡献多且内群体成员贡献少时,儿童也会分配给贡献多的接受者相比于其他群体条件更少的资源,并更多的采用群体关系策略对这一行为作出解释;(2)心理理论能力越高的儿童分配给贡献多的接受者的资源数量受群体关系的影响越小,且使用贡献策略的频率越高,使用群体关系策略的频率越低。这些结果表明6~8岁儿童在资源分配过程中会优先考虑公平动机,且心理理论能力强的儿童更少表现出内群体偏爱。

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"Hout,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.