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The development of trust and altruism during childhood

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  • Evans, Anthony M.
  • Athenstaedt, Ursula
  • Krueger, Joachim I.

Abstract

Knowing when to trust is an essential skill, but little is known about its cognitive development. No previous studies have examined the development of trust while controlling for age differences in altruism. We hypothesized that older children are more likely to trust, and that this age-related increase is not due to an increase in altruism. In two experiments, we compared the choices of kindergarten (4–5years) and elementary school (9–10years) children in economic games. Age was positively related to both trust and altruism, but more strongly to the former. The age difference in trust was robust when we controlled for partner age and the ability to delay gratification. We further hypothesized that older children are more attuned to the probability of reciprocity. Indeed, older children were more sensitive to changes in the game’s structure and the trustee’s characteristics, suggesting that they are not only more trusting, but more discerning in their decisions of when to trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Evans, Anthony M. & Athenstaedt, Ursula & Krueger, Joachim I., 2013. "The development of trust and altruism during childhood," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 82-95.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:36:y:2013:i:c:p:82-95
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2013.02.010
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gylfason, Haukur Freyr & Olafsdottir, Katrin, 2017. "Does Gneezy's cheap talk game measure trust?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 143-148.
    3. De Neys, Wim & Hopfensitz, Astrid & Bonnefon, Jean-François, 2015. "Adolescents gradually improve at detecting trustworthiness from the facial features of unknown adults," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 17-22.
    4. Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Sutter, Matthias, 2015. "Donations, risk attitudes and time preferences: A study on altruism in primary school children," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 67-74.
    5. Xu, Cheng, 2021. "Effects of urbanization on trust: Evidence from an experiment in the field," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Greiner, Ben & Zednik, Anita, 2019. "Trust and age: An experiment with current and former students," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 37-39.
    7. Luo, Jun & Wang, Xinxin, 2020. "Hukou identity and trust—Evidence from a framed field experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Caixia Lu & Yuan Jiang & Xiaojun Zhao & Ping Fang, 2020. "Will Helping Others Also Benefit You? Chinese Adolescents’ Altruistic Personality Traits and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1407-1425, April.
    9. Martin G. Kocher, 2015. "How Trust in Social Dilemmas Evolves with Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 5447, CESifo.
    10. Anthony M. Evans & Joachim I. Krueger, 2017. "Ambiguity and expectation-neglect in dilemmas of interpersonal trust," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 12(6), pages 584-595, November.
    11. Davood Bayat & Hadi Mohamadpour & Huihua Fang & Pengfei Xu & Frank Krueger, 2023. "The Impact of Order Effects on the Framing of Trust and Reciprocity Behaviors," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, February.
    12. Kausel, Edgar E. & Connolly, Terry, 2014. "Do people have accurate beliefs about the behavioral consequences of incidental emotions? Evidence from trust games," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 96-111.
    13. repec:cup:judgdm:v:12:y:2017:i:6:p:584-595 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trust; Altruism; Perspective-taking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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