Children's Sharing Behavior in Mini‐Dictator Games: The Role of In‐Group Favoritism and Theory of Mind

This study investigated the motivational and social‐cognitive foundations (i.e., inequality aversion, in‐group bias, and theory of mind) that underlie the development of sharing behavior among 3‐ to 9‐year‐old Chinese children ( N = 122). Each child played two mini‐dictator games against an in‐group member (friend) and an out‐group member (stranger) to divide four stickers. Results indicated that there was a small to moderate age‐related increase in children's egalitarian sharing with strangers, whereas the age effect was moderate to large in interactions with friends. Moreover, 3‐ to 4‐year‐olds did not treat strangers and friends differently, but 5‐ to 6‐year‐old and older children showed strong in‐group favoritism. Finally, theory of mind was an essential prerequisite for children's sharing behavior toward strangers, but not a unique predictor of their sharing with friends.