Shi Yingdi, Zhang Mengnan, Zhu Liqi
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Oct 11;14(10):931. doi: 10.3390/bs14100931.
This study investigates the impact of theory of mind, anticipated emotions before actual behavior, and consequential emotions following the behavior on sharing and allocation behavior in 4-6-year-old children. In Experiment 1, 95 children were randomly assigned to three conditions (external emotion expectancy condition, internal emotion expectancy condition, and control condition) to explore the role of cognition and emotions in children's sharing and allocation behaviors. Experiment 2 employed a dictator game to further validate the influence of theory of mind and consequential emotions on behavior. The findings indicated that both anticipated and consequential emotions influence sharing behavior, but neither serves as a key predictor of allocation behavior. Theory of mind influences children's sharing behavior and is related to the fairness of allocation. Children with higher levels of theory of mind tend to rate consequential emotions more positively, while those with lower ratings of consequential emotions are more likely to reconsider sharing after reflection. Notably, theory of mind and emotional factors demonstrate distinct motivational effects on children's prosocial sharing and resource allocation, with negative emotions exhibiting a more pronounced impact on decision-making processes.
本研究调查了心理理论、实际行为之前的预期情绪以及行为之后的结果性情绪对4至6岁儿童分享和分配行为的影响。在实验1中，95名儿童被随机分配到三种条件下（外部情绪预期条件、内部情绪预期条件和控制条件），以探究认知和情绪在儿童分享和分配行为中的作用。实验2采用独裁者博弈来进一步验证心理理论和结果性情绪对行为的影响。研究结果表明，预期情绪和结果性情绪都影响分享行为，但两者都不是分配行为的关键预测因素。心理理论影响儿童的分享行为，且与分配的公平性相关。心理理论水平较高的儿童往往对结果性情绪的评价更为积极，而对结果性情绪评价较低的儿童在反思后更有可能重新考虑分享。值得注意的是，心理理论和情感因素对儿童的亲社会分享和资源分配表现出不同的动机效应，负面情绪对决策过程的影响更为显著。
