Developmental research has suggested that children behave differently toward siblings, friend.s, and acquaintances. This investigation compared the cooperative, competitive, and individualistic resource allocation preferences among 8- to 12-year-old siblings, friends, and acquaintances. The findings indicated more frequent cooperative and less frequent competitive preferences among siblingx and friends than among acquaintances, consistent with several sociobioiogical and social psychological predictions. In addition, verbal reports provided some support for the validity of the cooperative, competitive, and individualistic social value construct and evidence of differencial expectations of the resource allocation preferences of siblings, friends, and acquaintances. Finally, the verbal predictions of the partner's preferences do not support either the false consensus bias or the triangle effect noted in the previous research with pairs of relatively unacquainted individuals.
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