After two strangers have briefly interacted with one another, both believe that they like their partner more than their partner likes them. A plausible explanation for this liking gap is that people are constantly worrying about how others are evaluating them. If so, one would expect the liking gap to emerge in young children as they become more concerned with their reputations and the impression they make on other people. The current study (N = 241 U.S. children; age range = 4–11 years) supported this hypothesis, showing a liking gap beginning when children were 5 years old, the age at which they first become concerned with other people’s evaluations of them. Moreover, the liking gap became more pronounced as children got older. These findings provide the first developmental description of the liking gap and support the hypothesis that this phenomenon is related to individuals’ concerns for how others evaluate them.

在两个陌生人彼此短暂互动后，他们都认为他们喜欢自己的伴侣多于伴侣喜欢自己。对这种喜好差距的一个合理解释是，人们一直在担心别人如何评价他们。如果是这样，人们会期望年幼的孩子会出现喜好差距，因为他们越来越关心自己的声誉和对他人的印象。目前的研究（N= 241 名美国儿童；年龄范围 = 4-11 岁）支持这一假设，显示出从孩子 5 岁开始的喜好差距，这个年龄他们第一次开始关心别人对他们的评价。此外，随着孩子年龄的增长，这种喜好差距变得更加明显。这些发现提供了对喜好差距的第一个发展描述，并支持了这种现象与个人对其他人如何评价他们的关注有关的假设。