What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young...

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What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young Children? Dr. Felix Warneken Department of Psychology Harvard University

Transcript of What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young...

Page 1: What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young Children?spihub.org/site/resource_files/conf2013/slides/Warneken.pdf · No model Non-generous model Generous model ) " 7 repeat allele

What Factors Influence Prosociality in Young Children?

Dr. Felix Warneken

Department of Psychology Harvard University

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Cooperation in humans

Prosociality Collaboration

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Prosociality

Cooperation in humans

Helping Sharing

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!  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?

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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

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1 2 3 4 5 Age 0

Early forms of

prosociality

!  Cultural norms !  Social-cognitive development

What are the origins of prosociality?

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Helping behaviors in young children

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Helping requires: (1) cognitive understanding of other's goal

(2) motivation to act on behalf of the other

individual goal

Helping

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Helping in children: Clothespin task

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Helping in children: Cabinet task

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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

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Warneken & Tomasello, 2012, Infancy

Costly helping

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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

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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

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Intrinsic motivation

*

p < .05 *

Trials with Helping in Subsequent Test Phase

"  Extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation

Warneken & Tomasello, 2008, Developmental Psychology

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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

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Reactive and proactive prosociality

Previous studies with young children Response to overt behavioral and facial cues

= Reactive prosociality " Can children help proactively?

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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

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Proactive helping

Warneken, 2013, Cognition

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"  Proactive helping emerges at around 25 months of age

Proactive helping

Warneken, 2013, Cognition

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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

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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

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1 2 3 4 5 Age 0

Early forms of

prosociality

!  Cultural norms !  Social-cognitive development

Development of prosociality

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The socialization of sharing

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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

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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

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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

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Collectivist culture

India •  Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh

Blake, Corbit, Callaghan, & Warneken, under review

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Individualist culture

USA •  Boston

Blake, Corbit, Callaghan, & Warneken, under review

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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

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US sample

* * *

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

50%

Control Generous Stingy

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India sample

Control

Generous

Stingy

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India sample

*

*

*

*

Control

Generous

Stingy

"  Parental modeling effect in both conditions "  Effect emerges over age

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India sample

50%

Control

Generous

Stingy

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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

% c

hild

ren

Control

Generous

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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

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1 2 3 4 5 Age 0

Early forms of

prosociality

!  Cultural norms !  Social-cognitive development

Development of prosociality

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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

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Thank you

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Preliminary results

Non- carriers

7-repeat carriers

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

No model Non-generous model Generous model

Mea

n nu

mbe

r of s

ticke

rs d

onat

ed (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)

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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

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What elicits prosociality?

Actor Recipient

Proactive No behavioral cues

Reactive Behavioral cues indicate recipient's need

Interactive Communicative request directed at donor

Self-protective Harassment

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What elicits prosocial behavior?

Agent Recipient

Proactive No behavioral cues

Reactive Behavioral cues indicate recipient's need

Interactive Communicative request directed at agent

Self-protective Harassment

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Sharing and distributive justice

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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

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Study 2: Merit

Kanngiesser & Warneken, 2012, PLoS One

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Study 2: Merit

Kanngiesser & Warneken, 2012, PLoS One

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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

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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

Varieties of prosocial behavior

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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

Varieties of prosocial behavior

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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

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Parental modeling

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Prosocial behaviors in humans

Helping Sharing