Abstract
This paper explored how Chinese children at ages of 7,9,12 used distributive rules such as "effort", "production" and "ability" differently to perform the allocations of rewards and make judgements on the assumed patterns of allocations. The same tests were also given to the adults for comparison with those of the development of children. The results showed that: 1) 7 and 9-year-olds were apt to confuse fairness with equality but were able to weigh the distributive rules in unstable and inconsistent ways. A model of allocating rewards had been developed in 12-year-olds who were able to make decisions and judgements steadily for the fair rewards; 2) Compared with children, the model of distributive practices of adults were more flexible. While performing, and judging an allocation of rewards, the adults not only counted on weighing the concrete rules in a specific situation, but also on the generalized social norms; 3) The children put more weight on "effort" rule while reasoning the allocation, however, the adults emphasized on integrating "effort" with "production".
| Keywords: | Children of elementary school; Social cognitive development; Distributive fairness of allocation |
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