Edited by: Jessica Sommerville, University of Washington, United States
Reviewed by: Stefania Sette, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; Elisabetta Conte, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
This article was submitted to Developmental Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
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Research points to evidence of innate prosocial tendencies present early in life. As more complex cognitive abilities emerge with development, this may alter the expression and nature of prosocial behaviors over time. Sharing is one important expression of prosocial behavior. Our aim was to explore how children’s sharing behavior with different recipients across important social categories changes by comparing two distinct transitional periods in development. We compared the responses of 46 preschoolers (
The distribution of resources is a primary concern that shapes social exchanges and formation of society. Prosocial behaviors are a powerful force for promoting group cohesion and acceptance, and one individual who acts generously has the ability to influence others to behave more generously (
Research points to evidence of innate prosocial tendencies from an early age (
Moreover, research highlights a natural benevolent tendency among adults whereby spontaneous generosity is displayed when making split-second decisions (
On the other hand, the ability to act in less self-focused ways, and thus display greater generosity, may increase with cognitive development as the capacity for more advanced forms of perspective taking, including the ability to inhibit selfish impulses, and to exert greater self-control come online (
Research by Fehr and colleagues suggests that sharing does not emerge until later in childhood and that a strong preference for egalitarian outcomes is also displayed (
In another study of costly sharing, in which recipients give up resources for themselves when they give to a recipient, researchers compared sharing behavior of 4- and 8-year-old children in response to characteristics of hypothetical recipients (
In the current study, we were interested in two aspects of prosocial behavior. The first pertained to the social contexts in which children share with others. Our social groups tend to be defined by an in-group comprised of those with whom we affiliate, invest and share resources, while others fall into an out-group. There is a tendency to share more with members of our in-group than out-group because of social bonds and norms of reciprocity, which involve giving and receiving physical and psychological resources within our in-group, whereas, we are more likely to withhold and compete for resources with those perceived to be in the out-group (
To examine prosocial behavior within a range of social contexts, we looked at sharing across different recipients. A sharing task with an open-choice format was used in order to detect possible gradations in prosocial responses. The four types of recipients included in-group (i.e., most liked peer) and out-group (i.e., least liked peer, stranger, sick child) targets. We examined differences in sharing on separate trials in the four recipient groups by comparing the amount of resources retained versus given to each target. We expected younger children to share more equitably across recipients and older children, who have greater capacity for complex reasoning, to show more discrimination and differentiation, as reflected in less sharing with out-group members who are disliked, but more sharing with those in need.
Our second interest was in examining how children’s prosocial behavior is related to their social attributions and biases in judgment. Prior research shows that even minimal information about trivial circumstances influences social perceptions, namely attributions about the character of those who experience lucky versus unlucky events (
We extend this paradigm to explore the intersection between cognition (social judgments) and prosocial behavior (giving choices) by examining whether this bias in judgment against those who experience minor unlucky events also influences subsequent behavior toward those individuals. First, we presented a small gift for children to give to one of the targets, and then queried children about their attributions of the target, in order to examine how children’s social judgments are linked to their prosocial behavior (giving a gift). While social judgments may influence giving, with increased cognitive capacity, greater uncoupling of cognition and behavior becomes possible, such that younger children are expected to give to those they judge more favorably, whereas, older children are expected to show greater differentiation between their social judgments and giving.
Children were recruited from 4-year-old kindergarten (Pre-K) and 5th grade general education classrooms as part of a larger project investigating social skills development in an urban public school district in the Midwest. These two grade levels enabled comparison of children before they have much exposure to formal schooling (both academic instruction and social norms) and later in childhood when children are nearing completion of elementary school education and the capacity for more complex and abstract mental representations begins to emerge.
Letters describing the project were sent home to parents with a consent form inviting participation. Research was approved by the Education and Social/Behavioral Sciences IRB at UW-Madison. Children whose parents provided written informed consent and who themselves gave assent completed the sharing and attributional tasks in individual testing sessions. The Pre-K sample consisted of 46 children (31 boys, age:
The sharing task consisted of four separate trials in which children distributed stickers between themselves and a target recipient for each trial. This task is a variation of the dictator game, a behavioral economics paradigm designed to measure altruism and fairness in adults. Other versions of the dictator game have been successfully adapted for use with children (e.g.,
Scenarios depicting minor lucky and unlucky occurrences were adapted from
Developmental differences in prosocial behavior were examined in a sample of 98 children from preschool (
Differences by grade level on the sharing task were examined in a multivariate GLM across four outcomes (representing the average number of stickers given to the most liked peer, least liked peer, stranger, and sick child). Descriptive statistics for the sharing task are presented in
Descriptive statistics for sharing task and lucky task by grade level.
Pre-K | 5th Grade | |||
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Mean | SD | Mean | SD | |
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Most liked | 4.59 | 2.32 | 4.96 | 0.84 |
Least liked | 4.10 | 2.61 | 2.94 | 1.96 |
Stranger | 3.46 | 2.26 | 3.75 | 1.71 |
Sick child | 4.07 | 2.41 | 6.90 | 2.26 |
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Gift giving | 1.42 | 0.31 | 1.91 | 0.19 |
Nicer child | 1.41 | 0.28 | 1.60 | 0.27 |
Notes: The possible range for the Sharing Task average on each trial is 0–10, with higher values indicating that more stickers were given to the recipient. For the Lucky Task average, the possible range is 1–2, with values closer to 1 indicating that the lucky child was selected, whereas, values closer to 2 indicate that the unlucky child was selected.
Developmental differences in resource allocation across recipients on Sharing Task. Younger children (Pre-K) shared more stickers with the peer they like least as compared to older children (5th grade). Older children shared more stickers with a child who is sick as compared to younger children. **
Repeated measures ANOVA (RMANOVA) was used to examine grade level by recipient interactions for the sharing task. There was a significant interaction of grade level and sharing between recipient pairs (Wilks’ Lambda:
Developmental differences in amount of sharing by pairs of recipients. Amounts were calculated by subtracting (recipient 1 – recipient 2) as shown in order listed. There was a significant interaction between grade level and recipient with grade level differences in amount of sharing between the following pairs of recipients: (1) Most-Least, older children gave about 1.5 stickers more than younger children did to their most liked peer compared to their least liked peer; (2) Most-Sick, older children gave about 2.5 stickers more than did younger children to a sick child compared to their most liked peer, (3) Least-Strange, older children gave about 1.25 stickers more to a stranger compared to their least liked peer than did younger children, (4) Least-Sick, older children gave about 4 more stickers to a sick child than their least liked peer, as compared to younger children, (5) Strange-Sick, older children gave about 2.5 more stickers to a sick child than a stranger as compared to younger children.
Older children showed a bigger difference than younger children in giving to their most liked peer than their least liked peer (
There was no grade level difference in sharing between the most liked peer and a stranger.
Older children showed a different pattern of giving for a sick child and their most liked peer compared to younger children (
In the case of sharing with a stranger and least liked peer, older children gave differently than younger children (
Older children differentiated between giving to a sick child and their least liked peer compared to younger children (
Children gave more to a sick child than a stranger in both grades, but the difference was greater among older children (
Differences by grade level for the lucky task were examined in a multivariate GLM with two outcomes specified (average number of trials the unlucky child was selected to receive gift, and average number of trials the unlucky child was judged to be nicer). There were grade differences in both behavior and attributions controlling for ethnicity, parent education, and gender (
Developmental differences in attributions and giving on Lucky Task. Older children (5th) gave a present to the unlucky child more often and judged the unlucky child as nicer compared to younger children (Pre-K).
Using RMANOVA, a significant interaction between grade level and trial type emerged (
In order to further examine how patterns of giving and attributions diverged on the lucky task, we assigned a score by subtracting the niceness response from the giving choice for each of the nine trials. This resulted in three possible scores: a difference score of +1 indicates that the child gave to the unlucky target but named the lucky target as nicer on that trial, a score of 0 indicates that the child gave the gift and attributed niceness to the same target on that trial, and a score of −1 indicates that the child gave to the lucky target but named the unlucky target as nicer on that trial. These scores were tallied and an average count score for each category was computed and compared by grade level with an independent
Developmental differences in divergence between attributions and giving. There was a significant interaction between grade level and trial type such that younger children more often gave to the lucky child but judged the unlucky child as nicer (on average, approximately one out of nine trials), compared to older children (who rarely exhibited this combination of “lucky gift & unlucky nicer”). Older children more often gave to the unlucky child but judged the lucky child as nicer (on average, approximately three out of nine trials), compared to younger children (who exhibited this combination of “unlucky gift & and lucky nicer,” on average, approximately one out of nine trials). ***
Decisions regarding sharing and allocation of resources, amid the complex array of social relationships that exist in the world, have important social and economic consequences. Prior evidence suggests diverging predictions with regard to the role of development on these aspects of prosocial behavior. Therefore, we observed how children make decisions about distributing resources in different circumstances and how development impacts those decisions. We examined giving behavior within two distinct age groups, preschool and older elementary school children, in order to observe developmental differences. In one set of scenarios, giving involved incurring a cost to oneself in relation to sharing with a variety of other recipients, and in another condition, giving did not involve any cost to oneself. The second paradigm (social decision-making) also allowed us to examine congruence between social attributions and prosocial behavior.
Older children as compared to younger children appear to use more complex reasoning in determining resource allocation. Rather than displaying a robust preference for egalitarian outcomes, older children make choices that depend on the social category of the recipient. This outcome is consistent with research by
Sharing with close others emerges relatively early and remains stable, as both older and younger children share similarly with the peer they like most. However, sharing with those who are in need (or in challenging circumstances) appears to develop later, as does the tendency to withhold resources from a least liked peer. Compared to younger children, older children give less to those they least like. However, older children give more to a child who is sick than do younger children, which may reflect greater perspective taking. Notably, both younger and older children share at least a small amount with everyone, including those who are unfamiliar and those who they least like. This is in line with other research that shows children are willing to incur some cost to themselves even when there is little apparent incentive to behave prosocially (
In general, older children showed more differentiation in resource distribution across recipients as compared to younger children, as predicted by our hypothesis. The main distinctions younger children make in resource allocation are between the peer they like most and someone who is unfamiliar. Older children on the other hand display a more nuanced capacity to take into account the particular recipient, giving more or less accordingly. For example, older children shared more with a sick child than anyone else including the peer they like most. On average, older children gave five times more than younger children did to a sick child as compared to their most liked peer. But older children shared less with the peer they liked least as compared to everyone else, preferring to share more even with a stranger. Older children gave four times more than younger children to their most liked peer compared to their least liked peer, and seven times more to a stranger than their least liked peer.
Confirming our second hypothesis, older children were more generous toward unlucky others and more likely to judge them as nice than younger children. Whereas, there was stronger convergence between sharing and attributions among younger children. That is, younger children do what they think (or think what they do), as evidenced by a significant correlation between attributions and giving. On the other hand, for older children thinking and doing don’t necessarily correspond, as indicated by a nonsignificant correlation between attributions and giving, in addition to the tendency for older children to display giving toward an unlucky child, while judging the lucky child as nicer. Thus, with development, older children evidence an ability to hold contradictory beliefs and actions. This uncoupling process may also reflect the ability to compartmentalize as children grow older.
This study built on prior research by comparing two developmentally distinct age groups. While there were demographic differences in the sample composition among the age groups, we controlled for these variables in analyses. Another limitation of the current study design is the inability to determine at which age differences emerge. Future research in a longitudinal sample or a larger cross-sectional sample with more age groups would help to clarify the developmental trajectory. An interesting extension of this work would be to examine how patterns of giving behavior are associated with children’s values and adjustment over time. Research suggests that a focus on materialistic values is associated with lower levels of well-being (
The apparent paradox of development is that older children have a better ability to make distinctions, among people as well as between their behavior and cognition, leading at times to more helpful and other times more hurtful behavior. For older children, decisions reflect greater consideration of the individual recipient and a higher degree of uncoupling between cognition and behavior. Older children are willing to tolerate inequitable distributions that favor another who is disadvantaged (sick or unlucky). However, they are also more discriminating against the peer they like least. This may be related to the development of exclusionary behaviors like prejudice and contribute to social inequities through an imbalanced distribution of resources.
In conclusion, with higher cognitive capacities and more complex reasoning developing over the course of childhood, discernment is possible, but also discrimination. Therefore, how these abilities are shaped or trained has important consequences for societal evolution. Evidence points to the capacity to increase prosocial tendencies in children with training at an early age (
UW-Madison Education and Social/Behavioral Sciences IRB Written consent was provided by children’s parents and children provided assent for their participation.
LF and RD designed the study. LF analyzed the data and all authors discussed the interpretation of data. LF and CZ-W contributed to writing the paper with comments from RD.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.