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Young children share more under time pressure than after a delay

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  • Maria Plötner
  • Robert Hepach
  • Harriet Over
  • Malinda Carpenter
  • Michael Tomasello

Abstract

Adults under time pressure share with others generously, but with more time they act more selfishly. In the current study, we investigated whether young children already operate in this same way, and, if so, whether this changes over the preschool and early school age years. We tested 144 children in three age groups (3-, 5-, and 7-year olds) in a one-shot dictator game: Children were given nine stickers and had the possibility to share stickers with another child who was absent. Children in the Time Pressure condition were instructed to share quickly, whereas children in the Delay condition were instructed to take time and consider their decision carefully. Across ages, children in the Time Pressure condition shared significantly more stickers than children in the Delay condition. Moreover, the longer children waited, the less they shared. Thus, children, like adults, are more prosocial when acting spontaneously than after considering their decision more carefully.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Plötner & Robert Hepach & Harriet Over & Malinda Carpenter & Michael Tomasello, 2021. "Young children share more under time pressure than after a delay," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-10, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0248121
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248121
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Gustav Tinghög & David Andersson & Caroline Bonn & Harald Böttiger & Camilla Josephson & Gustaf Lundgren & Daniel Västfjäll & Michael Kirchler & Magnus Johannesson, 2013. "Intuition and cooperation reconsidered," Nature, Nature, vol. 498(7452), pages 1-2, June.
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    4. Patricia Kanngiesser & Felix Warneken, 2012. "Young Children Consider Merit when Sharing Resources with Others," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(8), pages 1-5, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gladys Barragan-Jason & Astrid Hopfensitz, 2023. "Self‐control is negatively linked to prosociality in young children," Post-Print hal-04325644, HAL.

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