To Give or Not to Give: Children’s and Adolescents’ Sharing and Moral Negotiations in Economic Decision Situations

Developmental patterns and computational mechanisms of school-aged children's fairness-related decision making under social comparison

The developmental patterns and computational mechanisms underlying the impact of unfair offers and social comparisons on school-aged children's fairness-related decision making remain unclear. To address this, we recruited 190 children aged 8 to 12 years (52.1% female) in a multi-responder ultimatum game. Results revealed an age-related decline in children's tendency to reject unfair offers, partially mediated by emotions, alongside a slight increase in rejecting inferior social comparisons. Computational modeling identified two distinct motivations guiding children's rejection behavior: inequity aversion and inferior social comparison avoidance. Furthermore, there was significant variability in responses to superior social comparisons, with some children displaying aversion and others seeking. Our refined model enhances the explanatory power of inequity aversion theory in complex multi-player social scenarios, validating and refining existing theories. In addition, the exploration of superior social comparison tendencies reveals individual heterogeneity, enriching our understanding of children's social comparisons. These findings contribute to elucidating the developmental patterns and internal mechanisms of children's socialization processes, offering implications for promoting their social adaptation and mental health.

Distributive fairness during the transition to adolescence: The role of peer comparison and social value orientation

Combining the dictator game (DG) and the ultimatum game (UG), this study recruited 546 Chinese children (321 boys, aged 9-12 years) as distributors, and found that both peer comparison and social value orientation (SVO) significantly influenced children's distributive fairness from late childhood to early adolescence. Results showed that as the unfairness of peer proposals increased, participants decreased the amount of gold coins distributed to the receiver in both tasks, revealing a peer comparison effect. This effect was more pronounced for adolescents than for children in both tasks. In addition, participants' fair distribution behaviors in the DG showed a three-way interaction effect of SVO, grade, and peer comparison. Specifically, for proselfs, children were not influenced by peers and consistently proposed self-interested distributions, whereas adolescents exhibited a peer comparison effect; for prosocials, both children and adolescents were influenced by peers, but children decreased the amount of their distributions only when they saw peers make extremely unfair distributions, whereas adolescents decreased the amount of their distributions when they saw peers make both mildly and extremely unfair distributions. This study highlights the importance of social environment and personal trait in shaping children's fair distribution behavior during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence.

Give some, keep some, put some: The language of sharing in children

Sensitivity to linguistic cues, in theory, can change the interpretation of social and game theoretical behavior. We tested this in a pair of experiments with children aged 4 and 5 years. Children were asked to give some, keep some, or put some stickers for themselves or for another player (a puppet) after collaborative activities. We found that the direction of the verb did influence how selfish the younger children were. We also had children tidy up the toys after each activity to determine their interpretation of some. Children could derive the pragmatic scalar implicature linked to some (i.e., interpreting it as meaning not all), and they did so particularly when it affected them personally. These findings have important implications for the stability of other-regarding preferences and the importance of instructions in games.

Effects of morality and reputation on sharing behaviors in human-robot teams

Introduction

The relationship between robots and humans is becoming increasingly close and will become an inseparable part of work and life with humans and robots working together. Sharing, which involves distributing goods between individuals and others, involves individuals as potential beneficiaries and the possibility of giving up the interests of others. In human teams, individual sharing behaviors are influenced by morality and reputation. However, the impact on individuals' sharing behaviors in human-robot collaborative teams remains unclear-individuals may consider morality and reputation differently when sharing with robot or human partners. In this study, three experiments were conducted using the dictator game paradigm, aiming to compare the effects and mechanisms of morality and reputation on sharing behaviors in human and human-robot teams.

Methods

Experiment 1 involving 18 participants was conducted. Experiment 2 involving 74 participants was conducted. Experiment 3 involving 128 participants was conducted.

Results

Experiment 1 validated the differences in human sharing behaviors when the agents were robots and humans. Experiment 2 verifies that moral constraints and reputation constraints affect sharing behaviors in human-robot teams. Experiment 3 further reveals the mechanism of differences in sharing behaviors in human-robot teams, where reputation concern plays a mediating role in the impact of moral constraint on sharing behaviors, and the agent type plays a moderating role in the impact of moral constraint on reputation concern and sharing behaviors.

Discussion

The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the interaction mechanism of human-robot teams. In the future, the formulation of human-robot collaborative team rules and the setting of interaction environments can consider the potential motivation of human behavior from both morality and reputation perspectives and achieve better work performance.

How do children adapt their fairness norm? Evidence from computational modeling

Adequate social functioning during childhood requires context-appropriate social decision-making. To make such decisions, children rely on their social norms, conceptualized as cognitive models of shared expectations. Since social norms are dynamic, children must adapt their models of shared expectations and modify their behavior in line with their social environment. This study aimed to investigate children's abilities to use social information to adapt their fairness norm and to identify the computational mechanism governing this process. Thirty children (7-11 years, M = 7.9 SD = 0.85, 11 girls) played the role of Responder in a modified version of the Ultimatum Game-a two-player game based on the fairness norm-in which they had to choose to accept or reject offers from different Proposers. Norm adaptation was assessed by comparing rejection rates before and after a conditioning block in which children received several low offers. Computational models were compared to test which best explains children's behavior during the game. Mean rejection rate decreased significantly after receiving several low offers suggesting that children have the ability to dynamically update their fairness norm and adapt to changing social environments. Model-based analyses suggest that this process involves the computation of norm-prediction errors. This is the first study on norm adaptation capacities in school-aged children that uses a computational approach. Children use implicit social information to adapt their fairness norm to changing environments and this process appears to be supported by a computational mechanism in which norm-prediction errors are used to update norms.

Social influence in adolescence as a double-edged sword

Social learning is fundamental to human development, helping individuals adapt to changing circumstances and cooperate in groups. During the formative years of adolescence, the social environment shapes people's socio-cognitive skills needed in adulthood. Although peer influence among adolescents is traditionally associated with risky and unruly conduct, with long-term negative effects on educational, economic and health outcomes, recent findings suggest that peers may also have a positive impact. Here, we present a series of experiments with 10-20-year-olds (n = 146) showing that positive and negative peer effects reflect a domain-general factor of social information use which declines during adolescence. Exposure to disobedient peers provoked rule breaking, and selfish peers reduced prosocial behaviour, particularly in early adolescence. However, compliant peers also promoted rule compliance and fair peers increased prosociality. A belief formation task further revealed that younger adolescents tend to assimilate social information, while older adolescents prioritize personal views. Our results highlight early adolescence as a key window for peer-based interventions to improve developmental trajectories.

Growing in generosity? The Effects of Giving Magnitude, Target, and Audience on the Neural Signature of Giving in Adolescence

Giving is essential for forming and maintaining social relationships, which is an important developmental task for adolescents. This pre-registered fMRI study investigated behavioral and neural correlates of adolescents’ (N = 128, ages 9 – 19 years) small versus large size giving in different social contexts related to target (i.e., giving to a friend or unfamiliar peer) and peer presence (i.e., anonymous versus audience giving). Participants gave more in the small size than large size condition, more to friends than to unfamiliar peers, and more in the audience compared to anonymous condition. Giving very small or large amounts was associated with increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior insula (AI), and older adolescents showed increased lateral and anterior PFC activation for small size giving. We observed activity in the intraparietal cortex (IPL), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and AI for giving to friends, but no age-related differences in this activity. Behaviorally, in contrast, we observed that older adolescents differentiated more in giving between friends and unfamiliar peers. Finally, we observed interactions between peer presence and target in the AI, and between giving magnitude and target in the precuneus. Together, findings reveal higher context-dependency of giving and more lateral PFC activity for small versus large giving in older adolescents.

The Development of Respect in Children and Adolescents

Respect is an integral part of everyday life. It is a virtue central to the aim of living an ethically good life. Despite its importance, little is known about its emergence, development, correlates, and consequences. In this monograph, we aim to fill this gap by presenting empirical work on children's and adolescents' thinking and feelings about respect. Specifically, we examined the development of respect in ethnically diverse samples of children between the ages of 5 and 15 years (N = 476). Using a narrative and semi-structured interview, as well as self-, caregiver- and teacher-reports, and peer-nominations, we collected information on children's respect conceptions and reasoning, as well as on the social-emotional correlates and prosocial and aggressive behavioral outcomes of respect. We begin with a review of theoretical accounts on respect. This includes a selective overview of the history of respect in philosophy and psychology in Chapter I. Here, we discuss early writings and conceptualizations of respect across the seminal works of Kant and others. We then provide an account of the various ways in which respect is conceptualized across the psychological literature. In Chapter II, we review extant developmental theory and research on respect and its development, correlates, and behavioral consequences. In this chapter, as part of our developmental framework, we discuss how respect is related and distinct from other emotions such as sympathy and admiration. Next, we describe our methodology (Chapter III). This includes a summary of our research aims, samples, and measures used for exploring this novel area of research. Our primary goals were to examine how children and adolescents conceptualize respect, how their conceptualizations differ by age, whether and to what degree children feel respect toward others' "good" behavior (i.e., respect evaluations for behavior rooted in ethical norms of kindness, fairness, and personal achievement goals), and how children's respect is related to other ethical emotions and behaviors. The next three chapters provide a summary of our empirical findings. Chapter IV showcases our prominent results on the development of children's conceptions of respect. Results revealed that children, across age, considered prosociality to be the most important component involved in conceptualizations of respect. We also found age-related increases in children's beliefs about fairness as a core component of respect. Children and adolescents also reported feeling higher levels of respect for behavior in the ethical domain (e.g., sharing fairly and inclusion) than behavior in the personal domain (i.e., achieving high grades in school). Chapter V investigates how sympathy and feelings of sadness over wrongdoing relate to respect conceptions and respect for behavior. Our findings show that sadness over wrongdoing was positively associated with adolescents' fairness conceptions of respect. Sympathy was positively related to children's feelings of respect toward others' ethical behavior. In Chapter VI, we present links between respect and social behavior. Our findings provide some evidence that children's feelings of respect are positively linked with prosocial behavior and children's conceptions of respect (particularly those reflecting themes of fairness and equality) are negatively related to physical aggression. In the last two chapters, we discuss the empirical findings and their implications for practice and policy. In Chapter VII, we draw upon recent work in the field of social-emotional development to interpret our results and provide insight into how our findings extend previous seminal work on the development of respect from early childhood to adolescence. Finally, in Chapter VIII, we conclude by discussing implications for educational and clinical practice with children and adolescents, as well as social policies aimed at reducing discrimination and nurturing children's well-being and positive peer relationships.

Distributive Behavior Differences Between Ingroup and Outgroup and the Influence of Inhibitory Control and Intelligence on Preschoolers’ Distributive Behavior

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns and characteristics of distributive behavior in preschoolers, influence of inhibitory control and intelligence on the distributive behavior, and associations between them.Methods: The data was collected through a one-on-one interview experiment with 328 children aged 3–5 years old attending daycare centers and kindergartens. The distributive behavior was measured by modifying the procedure of the dictator game. Children’s cognitive and emotional inhibitory control (IC) were assessed using the day-night task and the reverse compensation task respectively. The intelligence was assessed using the K-WPPSI short form test. Pearson's correlation, paired samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, McNemar test, multiple regression, and the verification of mediation were performed to analyze the dataResults: First, there were differences among boys in resource allocation according to the type of group (in-group vs. outgroup). That is, boys aged four and five gave more resources to classmates rather than anonymous children. Second, cognitive IC and performance intelligence were associated with distributive behavior towards anonymous children. However, only performance intelligence was related to the children’s distributive behavior towards their classmates. Lastly, performance intelligence was completely mediated in the association between cognitive IC and distributive behavior towards anonymous children.Conclusion: We provide empirical evidence that cognitive IC and thinking skills necessary for performance intelligence were related to distributive behavior towards outgroup. In particular, boys aged four and five tended to consider more social relations in distributive behavior. This may be useful information for teaching altruism and sharing in early childhood.

Neural basis for egalitarian sharing in five-to six-year-old children

Preferring fair resource distribution reflects human cooperative nature, but its neural correlates in young children are not well known. We investigated the neural mechanism of egalitarian resource sharing in five-to six-year-old children to examine the possibility that early egalitarianism requires behavioral control to inhibit selfish impulses. In Study 1, children participated in a behavioral control task in which they either needed or did not need to inhibit their impulsive behavioral responses in order to quickly press a key. They subsequently allocated their resources to strangers by choosing a 2:2, 3:1, or 4:0 distribution. The activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal (dlpfc) regions was recorded by functional near-infrared spectroscopy measurements. We found that dlpfc regions were activated during cognitive tasks involving behavioral control and also during the equal, but not the more selfish, allocations. There was no difference among these allocations. The results did not show evidence of an ego depletion effect on children's sharing behavior, which predicts that children will share less after their behavioral control is taxed in a cognitive task (i.e., their self-control resource depleted). Study 2 showed no activation of the dlpfc regions during third-party equal allocations in which there was no conflict between fairness and self-interest in the distribution of resources. Overall, we showed that costly equal sharing in young children relates to the activation of dlpfc regions. These results suggest that costly equal allocation has a common neural basis with behavioral control in five-to six-year-old children, implying that early egalitarian sharing requires dealing with conflicts between maximizing self-interest and following moral norms.

Autism does not Dictate Children's Lack of Sharing in a Prosocial Choice Test

Studies have examined the association between theory of mind (ToM) and prosocial behavior in children with mixed results. A handful of studies have examined prosocial sharing behavior in children with autism, who typically exhibit ToM deficits. Studies using resource allocation tasks have generally failed to find significant differences between the sharing behavior of children with autism and neurotypical children. We presented 18 neurotypical children and 33 children with autism with the Dictator Game. Children had the opportunity to allocate toys in recipient present and absent conditions. Both groups donated more items in the recipient present versus absent condition and chose the prosocial option at above chance levels. Children with autism behave as prosocially as neurotypical children do in this paradigm.

The neural development of prosocial behavior from childhood to adolescence

The transition from childhood to adolescence is marked by increasingly sophisticated social cognitive abilities that are paralleled by significant functional maturation of the brain. However, the role of social and neurobiological development in facilitating age differences in prosocial behavior remains unclear. Using a cross-sectional sample of children and adolescents (n = 51; 8–16 years), we examined the age-related correlates of prosocial behavior. Youth made costly and non-costly prosocial decisions to anonymous peers during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Among a subsample of youth who made prosocial decisions (n = 35), we found quadratic age differences in neural activation that peaked in early adolescence relative to childhood and older adolescence. In particular, early adolescents showed heightened recruitment of the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), temporal pole and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) when engaging in costly prosocial behavior at the expense of gaining a reward, whereas they evoked heightened pSTS and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/IFG activation when engaging in costly vs non-costly forms of prosocial behavior. Given that we did not find age differences in prosocial behavior, this suggests that early adolescents show unique patterns of brain activation to inform similar levels of prosocial behavior.

Fairness, prosociality, hypocrisy, and happiness: Children's and adolescents' motives for showing unselfish behaviour and positive emotions

The present study examined what motives account for age-related decreases in selfish behaviour and whether these motives equally predict positive emotions when making a moral decision. The study was based on a sample of 190 children and adolescents (101 females) from three different age groups (childhood, early adolescence, and middle adolescence, M = 12.9 years, SD = 2.58). A decision-making task was used where participants chose between (1) maximizing their own self-interest versus (2) being prosocial, (3) being fair, or (4) appearing fair while avoiding the costs of actually being fair. Overall, prosociality and fairness were equally important motives for unselfish behaviour. At the same time, the importance of fairness motivation increased with age. Hypocrisy motivation was less frequent than expected by chance. Prosociality was most strongly and positively associated with self-rated happiness about the decision, whereas the opposite was found for individuals who were motivated by fairness. Overall, the study indicates that children's or adolescents' unselfish behaviour in decision-making tasks are driven by a variety of motives with diverse emotional implications. The relative importance of these motives changes over the course of development. STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION: What is already known on this subject? Older children behave less selfishly in resource allocation tasks. Prosocial behaviour is associated with positive emotions. What the present study adds? Unselfish behaviour is equally motivated by fairness and prosociality. Fairness motivation increases from childhood throughout adolescence. Decisions motivated by prosociality are experienced as more positive than decisions motivated by fairness.

The Impact of Self-Relevance on Preschool Children's Sharing

This study was designed to investigate the impact of self-relevance between preschool children and recipients on children's sharing behavior in dictator games using a forced-choice resource distribution paradigm. Experiment 1: A total of 75 children aged 3-6 years were evaluated in a first-party situation in which they were distributed as recipients and dictators and shared resources with distracting recipients with different extents of self-relevance under three different payoff structures, including non-costly, costly, and envy structures. Children could choose between a sharing option and a non-sharing option. The results showed that, in a first-party situation, children aged 3-6 years old typically share more resources with highly self-relevant recipients (friends) than with moderately self-relevant recipients (acquaintances) and lowly self-relevant recipients (strangers) and that they share more resources with moderately self-relevant recipients (acquaintances) than lowly self-relevant recipients (strangers). Experiment 2: A total of 62 children aged 3-6 years old were evaluated in a third-party situation in which they were distributed not as recipients but only dictators, making decisions between the options of sharing more or sharing less with distracting recipients who had different extents of self-relevance under three different payoff structures, such as non-bias, high self-bias, and low self-bias. The results showed that, in a third-party situation, children typically share in a similar manner to that of Experiment 1, meaning that children display selective generosity and that the self-relevance between the children and recipients played a key role. Across age groups, this study of preschool children (total N = 137) demonstrates a degree of effect of self-relevance on preschool children's sharing in first-party and third-party situations, with highly self-relevant recipients receiving a more preferential share in the dictator game than those with low self-relevance, although this effect was stronger in the older preschool children.

Factors that affect primary school children's sustainable behavior in a resource dilemma

Acting ecologically sustainably and not exhausting natural resources is becoming more and more important. Sustainable behavior can be investigated within the conceptual frame of resource dilemmas, in which users share a common, slowly regenerating resource. A conflict emerges between maximizing one's own profit and maintaining the resource for all users. Although many studies have investigated adults' behavior in resource dilemmas, barely anything is known about how children deal with such situations and which factors affect their behavior. Due to their still developing cognitive and social skills as well as their self-control, they might act differently than adults. In the current study, 114 children aged 6 to 11 years played a fishing conflict game. We manipulated (a) whether children played alone or in groups, (b) whether withdrawal was limited or not, and (c) whether children were allowed to communicate within the groups or not. In addition, children's individual characteristics that were expected to be related to their sustainable behavior were assessed (i.e., delay of gratification, fairness concept, relatedness to nature, math grade, and age). Children's success in maintaining the resource strongly depended on the game context. Similar to adults, children acted more ecologically sustainably when they played alone, when the withdrawal was limited, and when communication was allowed. In addition, older children acted more sustainably than younger children. The results are discussed in the light of findings with adults and with regard to potential interventions that aim at enhancing children's sustainable behavior.

Exploring the relationship between fairness and 'brain types' in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

Existing research typically focuses on only one domain of cognition with regard to fairness-theory of mind or executive function. However, children with High-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) are cognitively impaired in both domains. Moreover, little is known about fairness characteristics in children with HF-ASD in relation to both domains of cognition.

METHODS

Thirty children with HF-ASD as well as 39 children with typical development (TD) were evaluated in this study. We investigated the development of children's fairness characteristics as a responder in a mini ultimatum game (UG). The different 'brain types,' i.e., with or without HF-ASD, were evaluated using the Empathy Questionnaire-Systemizing Questionnaire (E/SC-Q). Furthermore, we explored the relationship between fairness and brain types using Pearson correlation analyses.

RESULTS

Children in the HF-ASD group were more likely to accept unfair offers than were children in the TD group (χ² = 17.513, p = .025). In the HF-ASD group, the acceptance rate of unfair offers was correlated with the discrepancy score (r = 0.363, p = .048), while there were no significant correlations in the TD group. In HF-ASD group, compared with Type S, acceptance rate of unfair offer was significant higher in Extreme Type S 'brain type' (F = 28.584, p < .001). While dividing TD participants by 'brain type', there was no significant difference in acceptance rate of unfair offer among five difference 'brain types' (F = 1.131, p = .358). Stepwise regression revealed that Extreme Type S positively predicted acceptance of unfair offers (F [1, 68] = 8.695, p < .001).

DISCUSSION

Our findings show that children with HF-ASD were more likely to accept an unfair offer; in particular, the more unbalanced the development of empathy and systemizing was, the more significant the unfairness preference observed. Extreme Type S positively predicted the acceptance of unfair offers by children with HF-ASD.

REGISTRATION OF CLINICAL TRIALS

World Health Organization class I registered international clinical trial platform, ChiCTR-ROC-17012877.

Group decision-making is optimal in adolescence

Group decision-making is required in early life in educational settings and central to a well-functioning society. However, there is little research on group decision-making in adolescence, despite the significant neuro-cognitive changes during this period. Researchers have studied adolescent decision-making in 'static' social contexts, such as risk-taking in the presence of peers, and largely deemed adolescent decision-making 'sub-optimal'. It is not clear whether these findings generalise to more dynamic social contexts, such as the discussions required to reach a group decision. Here we test the optimality of group decision-making at different stages of adolescence. Pairs of male pre-to-early adolescents (8 to 13 years of age) and mid-to-late adolescents (14 to 17 years of age) together performed a low-level, perceptual decision-making task. Whenever their individual decisions differed, they were required to negotiate a joint decision. While there were developmental differences in individual performance, the joint performance of both adolescent groups was at adult levels (data obtained from a previous study). Both adolescent groups achieved a level of joint performance expected under optimal integration of their individual information into a joint decision. Young adolescents' joint, but not individual, performance deteriorated over time. The results are consistent with recent findings attesting to the competencies, rather than the shortcomings, of adolescent social behaviour.

Group decision-making is optimal in adolescence

Group decision-making is required in early life in educational settings and central to a well-functioning society. However, there is little research on group decision-making in adolescence, despite the significant neuro-cognitive changes during this period. Researchers have studied adolescent decision-making in ‘static’ social contexts, such as risk-taking in the presence of peers, and largely deemed adolescent decision-making ‘sub-optimal’. It is not clear whether these findings generalise to more dynamic social contexts, such as the discussions required to reach a group decision. Here we test the optimality of group decision-making at different stages of adolescence. Pairs of male pre-to-early adolescents (8 to 13 years of age) and mid-to-late adolescents (14 to 17 years of age) together performed a low-level, perceptual decision-making task. Whenever their individual decisions differed, they were required to negotiate a joint decision. While there were developmental differences in individual performance, the joint performance of both adolescent groups was at adult levels (data obtained from a previous study). Both adolescent groups achieved a level of joint performance expected under optimal integration of their individual information into a joint decision. Young adolescents’ joint, but not individual, performance deteriorated over time. The results are consistent with recent findings attesting to the competencies, rather than the shortcomings, of adolescent social behaviour.

Young people's reasoning about exclusion in novel groups

This study examined children's and adolescents' reasoning about the exclusion of others in peer and school contexts. Participants (80 8-year-olds, 85 11-year-olds, 74 14-year-olds, and 73 20-year-olds) were asked to judge and reason about the acceptability of exclusion from novel groups by children and school principals. Three contexts for exclusion between two groups were systematically varied: unequal economic status, geographical location, and a control (no reason provided for group differences). Regardless of condition, participants believed that exclusion was less acceptable in peer contexts than in school contexts and when children were excluded rather than principals. Participants also used more moral and less social conventional reasoning for peer contexts than for school contexts. In terms of condition, whereas 8-year-olds rated exclusion based on unequal economic status as less acceptable than exclusion based on geographical location or no reason when enacted by a principal, 14-year-olds rated the unequal economic condition as more acceptable than the other two contexts. The 11- and 20-year-olds did not distinguish economic status differences. The findings suggest that children and adolescents are sensitive to context and take multiple variables into account, including the type of group difference (socioeconomic status or other reasons), authority status of the perpetrator of exclusion, and setting (school or peer group). Patterns may have differed from past research because of the sociocultural context in which exclusion was embedded and the contexts of group differences.

Adult criticism and vigilance diminish free riding by children in a social dilemma

In cooperative situations, individual interests can be in conflict with those of the group, creating a social dilemma in which one must choose whether to cooperate or not. Sensitivity to social stimuli is an important factor influencing cooperative behavior in such dilemmas. The current study investigated the influence of verbal feedback and vigilance by adults on children's donating behavior in a public goods game. The participants were 739 public school children, between 5 and 12 years of age, who were divided into 34 groups. Each group was assigned to one of four experimental conditions: control, positive feedback (praise), negative feedback (criticism), or vigilance. Participants then played eight rounds of the game. The children's donations were greater in the feedback and vigilance conditions, but the effects were mediated by age and rounds. The results are most likely related to concerns about reputation, which tend to become stronger with age. Older children are better at self-presentation and understanding social norms. Thus, compared with younger children, they seemed more concerned with appearing to be generous, but only when they could get credit for it. Nevertheless, children's donations still decreased across the rounds. Although adult vigilance and feedback influence children's cooperation among peers, other mechanisms are necessary to stabilize their behavior over time.

Children's Sympathy, Guilt, and Moral Reasoning in Helping, Cooperation, and Sharing: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study

This study examined the role of sympathy, guilt, and moral reasoning in helping, cooperation, and sharing in a 6-year, three-wave longitudinal study involving 175 children (M_age 6.10, 9.18, and 12.18 years). Primary caregivers reported on children's helping and cooperation; sharing was assessed behaviorally. Child sympathy was assessed by self- and teacher reports, and self-attributed feelings of guilt-sadness and moral reasoning were assessed by children's responses to transgression vignettes. Sympathy predicted helping, cooperation, and sharing. Guilt-sadness and moral reasoning interacted with sympathy in predicting helping and cooperation; both sympathy and guilt-sadness were associated with the development of sharing. The findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of differential motivational pathways to helping, cooperation, and sharing.

Post-conventional moral reasoning is associated with increased ventral striatal activity at rest and during task

People vary considerably in moral reasoning. According to Kohlberg’s theory, individuals who reach the highest level of post-conventional moral reasoning judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals rather than self-interest or adherence to laws and rules. Recent research has suggested the involvement of the brain’s frontostriatal reward system in moral judgments and prosocial behaviors. However, it remains unknown whether moral reasoning level is associated with differences in reward system function. Here, we combined arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and measured frontostriatal reward system activity both at rest and during a sequential risky decision making task in a sample of 64 participants at different levels of moral reasoning. Compared to individuals at the pre-conventional and conventional level of moral reasoning, post-conventional individuals showed increased resting cerebral blood flow in the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Cerebral blood flow in these brain regions correlated with the degree of post-conventional thinking across groups. Post-conventional individuals also showed greater task-induced activation in the ventral striatum during risky decision making. These findings suggest that high-level post-conventional moral reasoning is associated with increased activity in the brain’s frontostriatal system, regardless of task-dependent or task-independent states.

Prospective thinking and decision making in primary school age children

In this study, we seek to widen our understanding of the developmental processes underlying bargaining behaviour in children addressing the concept of prospective thinking. We argue that the emergence of the capacity to think prospectively about future outcomes or behaviours in response to current actions is a required precedent to strategic decision making. To test this idea, we compared 6, 8 and 10 years old children's performance on three tasks: the ultimatum game assessing fairness/inequality aversion, the marshmallow task, an intertemporal choice task evaluating the ability to delay gratification, and the dictator game assessing altruism. The children's socio-demographic and cognitive variables were also evaluated. We hypothesized that development of strategic thinking in the ultimatum game is related to an increased ability to delay gratification - given that both tasks require looking at prospective benefits - and, crucially, not to altruism, which benefits from immediate selfless reward. Our results confirmed our hypothesis suggesting that increased strategic planning with age would also stem from the development of competencies like prospective thinking.

The development of social cognition in adolescence: An integrated perspective

Social cognitive processes are critical in navigating complex social interactions and are associated with a network of brain areas termed the 'social brain'. Here, we describe the development of social cognition, and the structural and functional changes in the social brain during adolescence, a period of life characterised by extensive changes in social behaviour and environments. Neuroimaging and behavioural studies have demonstrated that the social brain and social cognition undergo significant development in human adolescence. Development of social cognition and the social brain are discussed in the context of developments in other neural systems, such as those implicated in motivational-affective and cognitive control processes. Successful transition to adulthood requires the rapid refinement and integration of these processes and many adolescent-typical behaviours, such as peer influence and sensitivity to social exclusion, involve dynamic interactions between these systems. Considering these interactions, and how they vary between individuals and across development, could increase our understanding of adolescent brain and behavioural development.

[“Tit for Tat?” The development of prosocial behavior and its relationship to externalizing and internalizing problems]

Supporting other human beings is a fundamental aspect of human societies. Such so-called prosocial behavior is expressed in helping others, cooperating and sharing with them. This article gives an overview both of the development of prosocial behavior across childhood and of the relationship between prosociality and externalizing and internalizing problems. Especially externalizing problems are negatively associated with prosocial behavior, whereas the relationships with prosocial behavior are more heterogeneous for internalizing problems. Studies investigating developmental trajectories demonstrate that prosocial behavior and externalizing problems are not opposite ends of a continuum. Rather, they are two independent dimensions that may also co-occur in development. The same applies to internalizing problems, which can co-occur with pronounced prosociality as well as with low prosociality.

Moral Reasoning and Personal Behavior: A Meta-Analytical Review

The meta-analysis examined the effect of moral development on 4 domains of action (real life, honesty, altruism, and resistance to conformity), and on action in general. The database, comprised by 151 studies across 71 years, stemmed from a previous narrative synthesis conducted by Blasi (1980) , updated with studies published up to 2013. Results showed that (a) moral development was significantly related to action in general and to each domain, (b) the effect sizes were similar for altruism, real life, and resistance to conformity, with coefficients higher than r = .20, (c) the effect size for honesty was lower than for the other 3 types of behaviors, and (d) demographic or methodological variables did not affect the association between moral development and action. Discussion centers on similarities among domains of action, perfect and imperfect duties, and the need for other constructs to account for moral action.

The development of the effect of peer monitoring on generosity differs among elementary school-age boys and girls

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of peer monitoring on generosity in boys and girls aged 6-12 years. A total of 120 elementary school students played a one-shot dictator game (DG) with and without peer monitoring by classmates. Children decided how to divide 10 chocolates between themselves and a classmate either in a condition in which their allocations were visible to their peers, or in private. While the effect of peer monitoring on the allocation amount in the DG was clearly present in boys, it was not observed in girls. Furthermore, the effect of peer monitoring in boys appeared at the age of 9 years. These results suggest that the motivation to draw peers' attention plays a stronger role for older boys than for girls or younger boys. The potential roles of higher-order theory of mind, social roles, and emergence of secondary sex characteristics on the influence of peer monitoring on generosity shown by boys are discussed.

Non-egalitarian allocations among preschool peers in a face-to-face bargaining task

In face-to-face bargaining tasks human adults almost always agree on an equal split of resources. This is due to mutually recognized fairness and equality norms. Early developmental studies on sharing and equality norms found that egalitarian allocations of resources are not common before children are 5 or 6 years old. However, recent studies have shown that in some face-to face collaborative situations, or when recipients express their desires, children at much younger ages choose equal allocations. We investigated the ability of 3.5 and 5-year-olds to negotiate face-to-face, whether to collaborate to obtain an equal or an unequal distribution of rewards. We hypothesized that the face-to-face interaction and interdependency between partners would facilitate egalitarian outcomes at both ages. In the first experiment we found that 5-year-olds were more egalitarian than 3.5-year-olds, but neither of the age classes shared equally. In the second experiment, in which we increased the magnitude of the inequality, we found that children at both ages mostly agreed on the unequal distribution. These results show that communication and face-to-face interactions are not sufficient to guarantee equal allocations at 3-5 years of age. These results add to previous findings suggesting that in the context of non-collaboratively produced resources it is only after 5 years of age that children use equality norms to allocate resources.

Preschoolers are sensitive to free riding in a public goods game

Despite the benefits of cooperation, selfish individuals often produce outcomes where everyone is worse off. This "tragedy of the commons" has been demonstrated experimentally in adults with the public goods game. Contributions to a public good decline over time due to free-riders who keep their endowments. Little is known about how children behave when confronted with this social dilemma. Forty-eight preschoolers were tested using a novel non-verbal procedure and simplified choices more appropriate to their age than standard economic approaches. The rate of cooperation was initially very low and rose in the second round for the girls only. Children were affected by their previous outcome, as they free rode more after experiencing a lower outcome compared to the other group members.

Children's giving: moral reasoning and moral emotions in the development of donation behaviors

This study investigated the role of moral reasoning and moral emotions (i.e., sympathy and guilt) in the development of young children’s donating behavior (N = 160 4- and 8-year-old children). Donating was measured through children’s allocation of resources (i.e., stickers) to needy peers and was framed as a donation to “World Vision.” Children’s sympathy was measured with both self- and primary caregiver-reports and participants reported their anticipation of guilt feelings following actions that violated prosocial moral norms, specifically the failure to help or share. Participants also provided justifications for their anticipated emotions, which were coded as representing moral or non-moral reasoning processes. Children’s moral reasoning emerged as a significant predictor of donating behavior. In addition, results demonstrated significant developmental and gender effects, with 8-year-olds donating significantly more than 4-year-olds and 4-year-old girls making higher value donations than boys of the same age. We discuss donation behaviors within the broader context of giving and highlight the moral developmental antecedents of giving behaviors in childhood.

Sharing and giving across adolescence: an experimental study examining the development of prosocial behavior

In this study we use economic exchange games to examine the development of prosocial behavior in the form of sharing and giving in social interactions with peers across adolescence. Participants from four age groups (9-, 12-, 15-, and 18-year-olds, total N = 119) played three types of distribution games and the Trust game with four different interaction partners: friends, antagonists, neutral classmates, and anonymous peers. Nine- and 12-year-olds showed similar levels of prosocial behavior to all interaction partners, whereas older adolescents showed increasing differentiation in prosocial behavior depending on the relation with peers, with most prosocial behavior toward friends. The age related increase in non-costly prosocial behavior toward friends was mediated by self-reported perspective-taking skills. Current findings extend existing evidence on the developmental patterns of fairness considerations from childhood into late adolescence. Together, we show that adolescents are increasingly better at incorporating social context into decision-making. Our findings further highlight the role of friendships as a significant social context for the development of prosocial behavior in early adolescence.

Emotional reactions of peers influence decisions about fairness in adolescence

During adolescence, peers take on increasing importance, while social skills are still developing. However, how emotions of peers influence social decisions during that age period is insufficiently known. We therefore examined the effects of three different emotional responses (anger, disappointment, happiness) on decisions about fairness in a sample of 156 adolescents aged 12–17 years. Participants received written emotional responses from peers in a version of the Dictator Game to a previous unfair offer. Adolescents reacted with more generous offers after disappointed reactions compared to angry and happy reactions. Furthermore, we found preliminary evidence for developmental differences over adolescence, since older adolescents differentiated more between the three emotions than younger adolescents. In addition, individual differences in social value orientation played a role in decisions after happy reactions of peers to a previous unfair offer, such that participants with a “proself” orientation made more unfair offers to happy peers than “prosocial” participants. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that adolescents take emotions of peers into account when making social decisions, while individual differences in social value orientation affect these decisions, and age seems to influence the nature of the reaction.