Kumaki Yuto, Moriguchi Yusuke, Myowa-Yamakoshi Masako
Faculty of Education, University of Teacher Education Fukuoka, Munakata 811-4192, Japan.
Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2018 Mar;167:278-294. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.10.013. Epub 2017 Dec 5.
Previous studies have revealed that preschoolers selectively allocate their resources based on their social relationship with recipients such as friendship. In this investigation, we investigated how expectations about recipients' prosociality and the ability of future thinking relate to the selective allocation of resources. In Study 1, participants aged 3.5-6 years chose how to allocate resources from two ways (selfish allocation, where only the participants could receive stickers, and equal allocation, where the participants and recipients receive get the same number of stickers) in costly and non-costly situations with three recipients (friend, peer, and stranger). Participants were asked to state which alternatives the recipients would choose if they were given a choice. The results showed that children aged 5 and 6 years tended to choose equal allocation of resources when they expected the recipients to do the same both in costly and non-costly situations. This tendency was not observed in children aged 3.5 and 4 years. In Study 2, the relationships between selectivity in non-costly allocation and two facets of future thinking (delay of gratification and mental time travel) were investigated in children aged 5 and 6 years. The results suggested that children with a higher mental time travel ability tended to be more selective in allocating resources based on social relationships; they tended to allocate more resources to the friend and fewer to the peer. Our findings suggest that expectations about a recipient's prosociality and the ability of mental time travel affect selectivity of resource allocation in children aged 5 and 6 years.
以往的研究表明，学龄前儿童会根据他们与接受者的社会关系（如友谊）来有选择地分配资源。在本调查中，我们研究了对接受者亲社会行为的期望和未来思维能力如何与资源的选择性分配相关。在研究1中，3.5至6岁的参与者在有成本和无成本的情况下，从两种资源分配方式（自私分配，即只有参与者能得到贴纸；平等分配，即参与者和接受者得到相同数量的贴纸）中进行选择，接受者有三个（朋友、同龄人、陌生人）。参与者被要求说出如果接受者有选择的话，他们会选择哪种方式。结果表明，5岁和6岁的儿童在预期接受者在有成本和无成本情况下都会选择平等分配时，他们自己也倾向于选择平等分配资源。而在3.5岁和4岁的儿童中没有观察到这种倾向。在研究2中，我们调查了5岁和6岁儿童在无成本分配中的选择性与未来思维的两个方面（延迟满足和心理时间旅行）之间的关系。结果表明，心理时间旅行能力较强的儿童在基于社会关系分配资源时往往更具选择性；他们倾向于给朋友分配更多资源，给同龄人分配更少资源。我们的研究结果表明，对接受者亲社会行为的期望和心理时间旅行能力会影响5岁和6岁儿童资源分配的选择性。
