Act generously when others do so: Majority influence on young children's sharing behavior

IF 3.1 1区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Developmental Science Pub Date : 2024-01-10 DOI:10.1111/desc.13472

Qiao Chai, Jun Yin, Mowei Shen, Jie He

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Children's sharing behavior is profoundly shaped by social norms within their society, and they can learn these norms by directly observing how most others share in their immediate environment. Here we systematically investigated the impact of majority influence on the sharing behavior of young Chinese children through three studies (N = 336, 168 girls). Four- and 6-year-olds were allowed to choose 10 favorite stickers and had an opportunity to engage in anonymous sharing. Before making the sharing decision, children were assigned to one of two conditions: watching a video in which three peers all shared 8 out of 10 stickers (i.e., the majority sharing condition) or making their decisions without watching the video (i.e., the control condition). Results showed that both the 4- and 6-year-old children shared more stickers in the majority sharing condition than in the control condition (Studies 1 & 2). Moreover, the influence of the majority had a stronger effect compared to the influence of a single role model. Children shared more stickers after observing three peers sharing, compared to watching one peer sharing three times (Study 2). Furthermore, children were less likely to copy the majority's non-sharing behavior when it came to giving away stickers without prosocial outcomes, which was particularly evident among 4-year-olds (Study 3). The results reveal that majority influence uniquely shapes children's sharing behavior and that children selectively follow the majority based on whether the behavior exhibits prosocial attributes. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/8qNNhf9754I?si=7YfpaFpcD_IjlXjJ

Research Highlights

Observing a majority of three peers’ unanimous generous sharing promoted sharing behavior in both 4- and 6-year-olds.
The influence of three peers on children's sharing was stronger than that of one peer sharing three times.
Four-year-olds, but not 6-year-olds, did not copy the non-sharing behavior of the majority as it did not lead to prosocial outcomes.

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当别人这样做时，自己也会慷慨解囊：多数人对幼儿分享行为的影响。

儿童的分享行为深受社会规范的影响，他们可以通过直接观察周围环境中大多数人的分享方式来学习这些规范。在此，我们通过三项研究系统地探讨了多数影响对中国幼儿分享行为的影响（研究对象为336人，其中168人为女孩）。我们允许 4 岁和 6 岁的儿童选择 10 张最喜欢的贴纸，并让他们有机会进行匿名分享。在做出分享决定之前，孩子们被分配到两个条件中的一个：观看三位同伴都分享了 10 张贴纸中的 8 张的视频（即多数分享条件）或不观看视频而做出决定（即对照条件）。结果显示，在多数分享条件下，4 岁和 6 岁儿童分享的贴纸都比对照条件下多（研究 1 和 2）。此外，与单一榜样的影响相比，多数榜样的影响更大。与观看一个同伴分享三次贴纸相比，儿童在观看三个同伴分享贴纸后分享的贴纸更多（研究 2）。此外，在没有亲社会结果的情况下，儿童不太可能模仿大多数人不分享贴纸的行为，这一点在 4 岁儿童中尤为明显（研究 3）。研究结果表明，多数人的影响独特地塑造了儿童的分享行为，而且儿童会根据行为是否具有亲社会属性而选择性地追随多数人。研究亮点观察三个同伴中大多数人一致慷慨分享的行为会促进 4 岁和 6 岁儿童的分享行为。三个同伴对儿童分享行为的影响比一个同伴分享三次的影响更大。4 岁儿童（而非 6 岁儿童）不会模仿大多数人的不分享行为，因为这种行为不会带来亲社会的结果。

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来源期刊

Developmental Science Multiple-

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

8.10%

发文量

132

期刊介绍： Developmental Science publishes cutting-edge theory and up-to-the-minute research on scientific developmental psychology from leading thinkers in the field. It is currently the only journal that specifically focuses on human developmental cognitive neuroscience. Coverage includes: - Clinical, computational and comparative approaches to development - Key advances in cognitive and social development - Developmental cognitive neuroscience - Functional neuroimaging of the developing brain