The current study investigated whether children share especially much with their friends when sharing can be reciprocated (strategic sharing) or whether friendship and strategic reciprocity are independent factors in predicting children’s sharing. If the former is the case, children should prefer their friend relatively more in a situation where the friend can reciprocate than in a situation without the possibility for reciprocity. In two experiments, 3- and 5-year-old participants (N = 270) could distribute stickers between themselves and three recipients: a friend, a child who would join the kindergarten group the next day, and a stranger. Half of the children were led to believe that their generosity could be reciprocated, and the other half were not. In Experiment 1, this was implemented by anonymous and nonanonymous sharing. In Experiment 2, the possibility of reciprocity or lack thereof was explicitly mentioned. The results show that participants across both age groups shared more resources with their friend than with less familiar recipients. Potential reciprocity affected 5-year-olds’ sharing but not 3-year-olds’ sharing—but only if reciprocity was explicitly mentioned (Experiment 2). Importantly, the preference for the friend was independent of the possibility to be reciprocated for all children. The current study shows that friendship and strategic reciprocity are relevant but probably largely independent factors for children’s sharing. That is, the preference to share with friends cannot be reduced to strategic considerations.

目前的研究调查了当分享可以得到回报（战略分享）时，儿童是否会特别多地与朋友分享，或者友谊和战略互惠是否是预测儿童分享的独立因素。如果是前者，在朋友可以回报的情况下，孩子应该相对更喜欢他们的朋友，而不是在没有回报可能性的情况下。在两个实验中，3 岁和 5 岁的参与者（N = 270) 可以在他们自己和三个收件人之间分发贴纸：朋友、第二天将加入幼儿园小组的孩子和陌生人。一半的孩子被引导相信他们的慷慨可以得到回报，而另一半则不然。在实验 1 中，这是通过匿名和非匿名共享来实现的。在实验2中，明确提到了互惠或缺乏互惠的可能性。结果表明，与不太熟悉的收件人相比，两个年龄段的参与者与朋友共享的资源更多。潜在的互惠会影响 5 岁儿童的分享，但不会影响 3 岁儿童的分享——但前提是明确提到互惠（实验 2）。重要的是，对朋友的偏好与对所有孩子回报的可能性无关。目前的研究表明，友谊和战略互惠是儿童分享的相关但可能在很大程度上是独立的因素。也就是说，与朋友分享的偏好不能简化为战略考虑。