The Development Of Inequity Aversion In Children And Its Influence On Trust

Social fairness permeates every aspect of life,and fairness is the social norm that regulates people's communication.People are born with negative feelings and strong reactions to inequity.Even children show sensitivity and rejection to the phenomenon of inequity.This reaction is known as inequity aversion.Inequity aversion refers to the individual's aversion to and rejection of what he considers to be inequity distribution.In addition,we found that children treated unfairly not only have negative emotions,but also affect their trust in others.Trust is the guarantee of social unity and stable development.A shock to childhood's trust can affect its development throughout life.Therefore,this study aims to explore the development of children's inequity aversion and its influence on trust.Firstly,the concept,influencing factors and research paradigm of inequity aversion and trust,as well as the influence of inequity aversion on trust,are elaborated in this study,and the general idea of this research is put forward.There are two studies in this study.Study one,the development of inequity aversion in children.There were two experiments that looked at the development of two kinds of inequity aversion:advantageous and disadvantageous.In experiment 1,a total of 240 children in middle class,large class and first grade of primary school were selected as subjects by setting a real assignment situation,and the variation of assignment of additional resources was used to study the developmental characteristics and age differences of disadvantageous inequity aversion of children under different distribution modes,as well as the influence of internal and external group factors on them.The results show that:(1)Age can affect children's disadvantageous inequity aversion,and there are age differences.Children of five years old can already accept disadvantageous inequity distribution,and children's disadvantageous inequity aversion decreases with age.(2)Distribution mode can affect children's disadvantageous inequity aversion.The disadvantageous inequity aversion caused by self-distribution was significantly lower than that caused by others' distribution.(3)Both inner and outer groups will affect children's disadvantageous inequity aversion.The disadvantageous inequity aversion caused by inner group members were significantly lower than that caused by outer group members.(4)The interaction between the distribution mode and the inner and outer groups on the disadvantageous inequity aversion of children was significant.The disadvantageous inequity aversion caused by the inner group members were significantly lower than those caused by the outer group members when they were distributed by themselves,and the disadvantageous inequity aversions caused by the inner and outer groups were not significantly different when they were distributed by others.(5)The interaction between distribution mode and age on children's disadvantageous inequity aversion was significant.The disadvantageous inequity aversion caused by self-distribution of 6-year-olds were significantly lower than that caused by others.However,there was no significant difference between 5-and 7-year-old children in disadvantageous inequity aversion caused by the two distributions.In experiment 2,a total of 240 children in grade 1,grade 2 and grade 3 of primary school were selected as subjects by setting a real assignment situation,and the variation of assignment of extra resources was used to study the development characteristics and age differences of advantageous inequity aversion under different distribution modes,as well as the influence of reputation factors on them.The results show that:(1)Age has an effect on children's advantageous inequity aversion.The advantageous inequity aversion of children aged 8 and 9 were significantly higher than that of children aged 7,but there was no significant difference in the advantageous inequity aversion of children aged 8 and 9.(2)Reputation has an impact on children's advantageous inequity aversion.The advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation were significantly higher than those caused by no reputation.(3)Reputation and age have a significant interaction effect on children's advantageous inequity aversion.For children aged 7 and 9 years old,the advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation were significantly higher than those caused by no reputation.For children aged 8 years old,the advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation had no significant effect on their advantageous inequity aversions.(4)Distribution mode,reputation and age have significant marginal interaction effect on advantageous inequity aversion,for 7 years old children,the advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation was significantly higher than that caused by no reputation when distributing by themselves,for 8 years old children,the advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation was significantly higher than that caused by no reputation when distributed by others,for 9 years old children,under the two kinds of distribution modes,the advantageous inequity aversion caused by reputation was significantly higher than that caused by no reputation.Study two,the influence of children's inequity aversion and random allocation on trust.A total of 200 children in fourth grade were used as subjects to study the effects of inequity aversion types and random allocation on children's trust by using dictator game and investment game.The results showed that:(1)The type of inequity aversion had an effect on children's trust.Disadvantageous inequity aversion can significantly reduce children's trust,while advantageous inequity aversion can significantly improve children's trust.(2)Random allocation has an effect on children's trust,and the degree of trust caused by random assignment is significantly higher than that caused by non-random allocation.(3)The interaction between the type of inequity aversion and random allocation on trust is significant.Under the condition of disadvantageous inequity aversion,random allocation can significantly improve children's trust,while under the condition of advantageous inequity aversion,non-random allocation can significantly improve children's trust.To sum up,this study shows that children's inequity aversion is not only affected by distribution mode,but also restricted by factors such as inner and outer groups and reputation,and the inequity aversion and random allocation also can affect children's trust.