Abstract
A growing body of research provides a detailed picture of
children's developing concern for fairness, which seems to emerge
reliably around 5 years of age. Two questions nonetheless remain
largely unaddressed. First, children's tendencies toward fair
distributions have been measured by two different game paradigms,
the Dictator Game and the Prosocial Game. It is unclear that these
games are comparable measures of children's preferences for
fairness, or that the preferences they measure are stable over
time. Second, it is not clear whether a child's behavior on such
tasks might be related to child temperament or parental attitudes.
The present study compares the relative stability of children's
generous, fair, or self-maximizing behavioral patterns across these
two different coin-distribution games, and at two different time
points. Additionally, we investigated possible relationships
between children's behavior, temperament, maternal Mind-Mindedness,
and parental attitudes toward fairness and generosity. Our findings
indicate that 7 year-olds, but not 5 year-olds, are fairly stable
in their behavior in these games over time, with significant
correlations between their distributions during session 1 and 2. In
contrast, we found a correlation between parent's other-regarding
motivations and their children's token distribution that was
significant for children aged 5, but not 7, years. Our data did not
support the hypothesis that two games measure equivalent
constructs, as children's behavior in one had no significant
relationship to their behavior in the other. Finally, contra
hypotheses, we found no clear evidence that temperament or
Mind-Mindedness correlated with children's fairness behavior in the
Dictator or Prosocial Game.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
The Dictator Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
The Development of Fairness and the Prosocial Game. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Current Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Additional Measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.6
Predictions for the Current Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . .10
METHOD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Participants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Materials & Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.12
Child Temperament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.16
Mind-Mindedness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Parental Survey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
RESULTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Baseline Measures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.19
Age & Gender Differences in Fairness Behavior. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Individual's Behavioral Stability over Time. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .20
Individual's Behavioral Consistency Across Games. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .20
Temperament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Maternal Mind-Mindedness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.22
Parental Measures - Tip, Giving Motivation, & Prisoner's
Dilemma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
DISCUSSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Is children's behavior stable over time?. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .23
Is children's behavior consistent across situations?. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Are individual or parental factors related to children's fairness
behavior?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Summary & Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.31
REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
TABLE 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
TABLE 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
TABLE 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
FIGURE CAPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
FIGURE 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
FIGURE 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
FIGURE 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
FIGURE 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
FIGURE 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
APPENDIX A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
About this Master's Thesis
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