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Abstract How do young children develop a concept of equity? Infants prefer dividing resources equally and expect others to make such distributions. Between the ages of 3–8, children begin to exhibit preferences to avoid inequitable outcomes in their distributions, dividing resources unequally if the result of that distribution is a more equitable outcome. Four studies investigated children’s developing preferences for generating equitable distributions, focusing on the mechanisms for this development. Children were presented with two characters with different amount of resources, and then a third character who will distribute more resources to them. Three- to 8-year-olds were asked whether the third character should give an equal number of resources to the recipients, preserving the inequity, or an unequal number to them, creating an equitable outcome. Starting at age 7, children showed a preference for equitable distributions (Study 1, N = 144). Studies 2a (N = 72) and 2b (N = 48) suggest that this development is independent of children’s numerical competence. When asked to take the perspective of the recipient with fewer resources, 3- to 6-year-olds were more likely to make an equitable distribution (Study 3, N = 122). These data suggest that social perspective taking underlies children’s prosocial actions, and supports the hypothesis that their spontaneous capacity to take others’ perspectives develops during the early elementary-school years.
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This content will become publicly available on January 6, 2027
Development and assessment of early counting-based cardinal concepts
The purpose of the present research was to evaluate two different theo- retical perspectives of cardinality and counting development. According to one perspective, the cardinality concept underlying meaningful 1-to- 1-counting (“How many...?”) provides the basis for the later develop- ment of a more advanced cardinality concept that underlies meaningful counting-out (“Give n...”). According to another, a single cardinality concept underlies the development of both meaningful 1-to-1 counting and counting out a specified number of items. Thirty preschoolers 38- to 51-months-olds were pretested. Seven children who were develop- mentally ready for cardinality training were individually trained and re- tested. Overall, the evidence of the pre- and post-testing was more consistent with stepwise cardinality and counting development. For example, some children constructed the basic cardinality concept and achieved meaningful counting without understanding the more advanced cardinality concept and achieving meaningful counting out.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2201039
- PAR ID:
- 10708321
- Editor(s):
- Lehalle, Henri; Tijus, Charles
- Publisher / Repository:
- Cairn.info for Presses Universitaires de France
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Enfance
- Volume:
- n° 254
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0013-7545
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 549 to 559
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Cardinality principle counting give-n task, mathematics
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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