What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young Children? Department - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young Children?

• Dr. Felix Warneken

Department of Psychology Harvard University

Cooperation in humans

Prosociality Collaboration

Prosociality

Cooperation in humans

Helping Sharing

• Prosociality imposed by social environment?
• Development as internalization of social norms

(Bar-Tal, 1982; Cialdini et al., 1982; Henrich et al., 2005)

• Alternative: Predisposition to develop prosocial behaviors?

(Hoffman, 2000)

• Limitation: Research focused on adults & school-children

(Dovidio et al., 2005; Eisenberg et al., 2006)

What are the origins of prosociality?

Hypothesis: Human socialization practices build upon a biological predisposition for altruism Question: What are the origins of human prosociality in phylogeny and ontogeny? Evidence: Experiments with young children: Psychological capacities for altruism in early ontogeny Comparative studies with chimpanzees Shared vs. species-unique aspects

Research approach

1 2 3 4 5

Age

Early forms

• f

prosociality Cultural norms Social-cognitive development

What are the origins of prosociality?

Helping be lping beha havior viors in y s in young c

• ung childr

hildren

Helping requires: (1) cognitive understanding of other's goal (2) motivation to act on behalf of the other individual goal

Helping

Helping in children: Clothespin task

Helping in children: Cabinet task

Warneken & Tomasello, 2006, Science Warneken & Tomasello, 2007, Infancy

Helping in young children

• Social-cognitive skills

– Early emergence (14-18 months) – Flexibility: Various goals & types of intervention

• Motivation: Costs

Warneken & Tomasello, 2012, Infancy

Costly helping

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2012, Infancy

Helping in young children

• Social-cognitive skills

– Early emergence (14-18 months) – Flexibility: Various goals & types of intervention

• Motivation: Costs

– Effort: Surmounting obstacles – Opportunity: Disengaging from attractive activity

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2012, Infancy

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Dev Psy

Helping in young children

• Social-cognitive skills

– Early emergence (14-18 months) – Flexibility: Various goals & types of intervention

• Motivation: Costs

– Effort: Surmounting obstacles – Opportunity: Disengaging from attractive activity

• Motivation: Rewards

– Not necessary

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Dev Psy

Intrinsic motivation *

p < .05

*

Trials with Helping in Subsequent Test Phase

Extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation

Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Developmental Psychology

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Dev Psy

Helping in young children

• Social-cognitive skills

– Early emergence (14-18 months) – Flexibility: Various goals & types of intervention

• Motivation: Costs

– Effort: Surmounting obstacles – Opportunity: Disengaging from attractive activity

• Motivation: Rewards

– Not necessary – Rewards can undermine prosocial motivation

Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Dev Psy

Reactive and proactive prosociality

Previous studies with young children

Response to overt behavioral and facial cues = Reactive prosociality Can children help proactively?

Proactive helping

Conditions (between subject) Experimental Cans drop accidentally Control Cans discarded on purpose Warneken, 2013, Cognition Recipient during test:

• No behavioral cues
• No request
• No solicitation

Proactive helping

Warneken, 2013, Cognition

Proactive helping emerges at around 25 months of age

Proactive helping

Warneken, 2013, Cognition

Warneken 2013, Cognition Warneken & Tomasello 2013, Infancy

Helping in young children

• Social-cognitive skills

– Early emergence (14-18 months) – Flexibility: Various goals & types of intervention

• Motivation: Costs

– Effort: Surmounting obstacles – Opportunity: Disengaging from attractive activity

• Motivation: Rewards

– Not necessary – Rewards can undermine prosocial motivation

• Spontaneous, proactive helping

– Children help without concurrent behavioral cues – Parental presence or encouragement unnecessary

Conclusion

Ontogeny

Children’s social-cognitive understanding of others’ goals and their altruistic motivation enable acts of helping

Phylogeny

Crucial aspects of human altruism in chimpanzees Propensity to altruistically help others emerges in early childhood Culture can facilitate these basic forms of altruism

1 2 3 4 5

Age

Early forms

• f

prosociality Cultural norms Social-cognitive development

Development of prosociality

The he soc socia ializa lization of tion of sha sharing ring

Resource sharing in adults

‘Dictator game’ as standard test of sharing

• Anonymous, one shot
• No possibility for reciprocation or retaliation
• Adults share on average 30% of resource

Cross-cultural studies with adults

• Variation in Dictator game offers
• Western, industrialized countries as outliers

How do children acquire culture-typical behavior?

Henrich et al. 2005 Kahneman, Knetsch & Thaler, 1986; Engel 2010

Transmission of cultural norms

Social learning

• Many culturally relevant behaviors are

acquired through imitation

• Parents are at the center of introducing

children the cultural norms & practices No experiments on the effect of parental modeling on resource sharing

Variability in socialization goals

Individualism Collectivism

Independence Interdependence Autonomy Interpersonal relatedness Be unique Belong, fit in Realize internal attributes Engage in appropriate action … …

e.g. Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Nisbett, 2003, Oyserman et al. 2002; Triandis, 1989

Collectivist culture India

• Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh

Blake, Corbit, Callaghan, & Warneken, under review

Individualist culture USA

• Boston

Blake, Corbit, Callaghan, & Warneken, under review

Method

Subjects USA N = 163 India N = 154 Age 3 to 8 years olds Task Dictator game with candy Design Between subject: Generous model (give 9, keep 1) Stingy model (give 1, keep 9) Control (no model)

Blake, Corbit, Callaghan, & Warneken, under review

US sample

* * *

No parental modeling effect in Generous condition Less sharing in Stingy condition

50% Control Generous Stingy

India sample

Control Generous Stingy

India sample

* * * *

Control Generous Stingy

Parental modeling effect in both conditions Effect emerges over age

India sample

50% Control Generous Stingy

Hyper-generous donations Giving more than half of resource

US children ignore hyper-generous donations Children from India show more faithful imitation

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

US India % children

Control Generous

Socialization of sharing behaviors

• Faithful imitation is rare: Children’s own preferences prevail
• Children from India more influenced by parental modeling
• Effects of socialization emerge over development

1 2 3 4 5

Age

Early forms

• f

prosociality Cultural norms Social-cognitive development

Development of prosociality

Collaborators Peter Blake Tara Callaghan John Corbit Michael Tomasello

Thank you

Funding National Science Foundation John Templeton Foundation European Science Foundation Harvard Mind, Brain & Behavior Warneken lab members

Thank you

Preliminary results

Non- carriers 7-repeat carriers 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

No model Non-generous model Generous model

Mean number of stickers donated (0 to 6)

7 repeat allele carriers more responsive to generous model

Control Generous model Stingy model

Knafo, Blake & Warneken, in prep

Longitudinal study with N = 567 twin pairs (33% DRD4 7-repeat carriers)

Socialization of cooperative behaviors Cross-cultural differences

• Children from India more influenced by parental modeling
• Effects of socialization emerge over development

Effects of socio-cultural environment

Individual differences

• DRD4 polymorphism: 7 repeat allele carriers are more

susceptible to environmental variables

• Genetic differences in receptivity to parental modeling

Interaction of genes and environment

Wha What e t elic licits pr its prosoc

• socia

iality? lity?

Actor Recipient Proactive No behavioral cues Reactive Behavioral cues indicate recipient's need Interactive Communicative request directed at donor Self-protective Harassment

Wha What e t elic licits pr its prosoc

• socia

ial be l beha havior? vior?

Agent Recipient Proactive No behavioral cues Reactive Behavioral cues indicate recipient's need Interactive Communicative request directed at agent Self-protective Harassment

Sha Sharing a ring and distrib nd distributiv utive justic justice

Study 2: Merit

Question Do children children share based upon merit? Participants 3 and 5 year-olds (n = 18 per age) Procedure Phase 1: Child and puppet play fishing game in parallel. Phase 2: Child distributes 6 stickers. Conditions Success during fishing game Child/Puppet: 2/4 vs. 4/2 (within subject, counterbalanced)

Kanngiesser & Warneken, 2012, PLoS One

Study 2: Merit

Kanngiesser & Warneken, 2012, PLoS One

Study 2: Merit

Kanngiesser & Warneken, 2012, PLoS One

Warneken & Tomasello, 2006, Science Warneken et al., 2007, PLoS Biology Melis et al., 2008, Proceedings of the Royal Society Yamamoto et al., 2009, PLoS One Yamamoto et al., 2012, PNAS

Type Goal of intervention Comforting Negative emotional state Providing emotional support Sharing Lack of resource Giving food or objects to person in need Informing Lack of knowledge Providing useful information to ignorant person Instrumental helping Failed attempt Acting on behalf of person's unfulfilled goal

Warneken & Tomasello, 2009, Trends in Cognitive Sciences Warneken & Tomasello, 2009, British Journal of Psychology

Va Varie rietie ties of prosoc s of prosocia ial be l beha havior vior

Type Goal of intervention Comforting Negative emotional state Providing emotional support Sharing Lack of resource Giving food or objects to person in need Informing Lack of knowledge Providing useful information to ignorant person Instrumental helping Failed attempt Acting on behalf of person's unfulfilled goal

Warneken & Tomasello, 2009, Trends in Cognitive Sciences Warneken & Tomasello, 2009, British Journal of Psychology

Va Varie rietie ties of prosoc s of prosocia ial be l beha havior vior

Trial

Reciprocity: Cooperators & Defectors

Partner: Cooperate Defect silent Defect verbal 2.5-year-olds do not discriminate 3.5-year-olds

• More sharing with cooperators than defectors
• Intention matters: Least sharing when defector articulates intention

Warneken & Tomasello, in press

Parental modeling

Prosocial behaviors in humans

Helping Sharing