Who to ask? Children’s partner choice reveals sensitivity to reputational incentives.

= 168) strategically direct their requests for resources to individuals whose reputations would most benefit from sharing. In Experiment 1, 4- to 7-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, preferentially requested stickers from a puppet who believed he was being filmed over one who believed the camera was off. In Experiment 2, only 6- and 7-year-olds reversed this preference when sharing would be evaluated negatively. Similarly, in Experiment 3, only 6- and 7-year-olds strategically directed requests toward individuals observed by friends rather than by strangers. Together, these findings suggest a developmental shift from general sensitivity to observation to a more flexible understanding of how specific audiences shape others' behavior across contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).