The role of between-group competition in children's within-group merit-based resource allocation

The present study tested how 5- to 6-year-old and 7- to 8-year-old children allocate with in-group collaborators according to merit in the context of external between-group competition. Children (N = 310) first were asked to collaborate with a high- or low-merit partner to complete an intergroup game in the form of competition (further divided into win and lose conditions) or noncompetition. Afterward, they were asked to allocate, reason about, and express their expected allocations toward the in-group collaborator. We found that 5–6-year-olds allocated meritoriously with collaborators in the first-party context. In contrast, 7–8-year-olds were affected by external between-group competition. Specifically, compared with the noncompetitive condition, 7–8-year-olds conducted equal or roughly equal allocations with the in-group collaborator and referenced Equality and Affiliation more frequently in the win and lose conditions. Furthermore, both 5–6-year-olds and 7–8-year-olds expected teachers to allocate meritoriously across the win, lose and noncompetitive conditions, indicating that they realized that social norms require them to make allocations based on merit rather than social relationships. The findings suggest that with age, children weighed the moral concerns of merit and the social concerns of in-group harmony when determining the allocation of resources.