Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Humans are enmeshed in many hierarchical relationships, like that between a parent and child. Leaders in dominance hierarchies attain influence through coercion and intimidation, while leaders in prestige hierarchies are granted influence based on competence and prosociality. Across two studies (N = 214), we examined whether children have different expectations about how dominant and prestigious leaders allocate resources. Children learned about two social groups, the dominant Glerks and prestigious Zonks. In Study 1 (N = 109), children ages 4–5 watched a leader and follower divide five apples in 5–0 or 3–2 splits, and were asked who received a given share. Overall, children expected similar allocations across leaders. In Study 2 (N = 105), children ages 6–8 predicted whether a dominant or prestigious leader would share an apple with a hungry follower or eat it. Children expected prestigious leaders to be more likely to give the apple (82%) than dominant leaders (48%).