The Influence of Power Dynamics on Children’s Joint Decision Making Across Cultures

Abstract

Societies rely on reason giving to resolve disagreements and reach collective decisions. Yet, non-Western contexts have rarely been studied, and little is known about how cultural context and power dynamics shape children’s reason-giving and decision-making abilities. This study explored the influence of power dynamics and cultural context on reason giving and decision making in children aged 5 to 9 from Kenya and the Netherlands (n = 188). Children were tested in same-aged and same-gender dyads. We conducted an experiment in which power was manipulated: a dominant and a non-dominant child had to jointly decide which box to choose in order for both to receive a reward. Results showed that dominant children were significantly more likely to make the final decision, with no interaction effect of culture. However, no significant difference was found in the number of reasons provided by dominant and non-dominant children, and this pattern was consistent across both cultures. Together, these findings suggest that while power roles influenced decision outcomes, they did not affect children's reasoning contributions, regardless of culture. This study contributes to ongoing debates about the universality of children’s reason giving and decision making in power-imbalanced peer interactions.