Being Sticker Rich: Numerical Context Influences Children's Sharing Behavior

Young children spontaneously share resources with anonymous recipients, but little is known about the specific circumstances that promote or hinder these prosocial tendencies. Children (ages 3-11) received a small (12) or large (30) number of stickers, and were then given the opportunity to share th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0138928-e0138928
Main Authors: Posid, Tasha, Fazio, Allyse, Cordes, Sara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Altruism
Behavior
Child
Child Behavior - physiology
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Cognition & reasoning
Decision making
Female
Females
Humans
Male
Males
Psychology
Sex Factors
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Summary:Young children spontaneously share resources with anonymous recipients, but little is known about the specific circumstances that promote or hinder these prosocial tendencies. Children (ages 3-11) received a small (12) or large (30) number of stickers, and were then given the opportunity to share their windfall with either one or multiple anonymous recipients (Dictator Game). Whether a child chose to share or not varied as a function of age, but was uninfluenced by numerical context. Moreover, children's giving was consistent with a proportion-based account, such that children typically donated a similar proportion (but different absolute number) of the resources given to them, regardless of whether they originally received a small or large windfall. The proportion of resources donated, however, did vary based on the number of recipients with whom they were allowed to share, such that on average, children shared more when there were more recipients available, particularly when they had more resources, suggesting they take others into consideration when making prosocial decisions. Finally, results indicated that a child's gender also predicted sharing behavior, with males generally sharing more resources than females. Together, findings suggest that the numerical contexts under which children are asked to share, as well as the quantity of resources that they have to share, may interact to promote (or hinder) altruistic behaviors throughout childhood.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0138928