Perspective‐taking and gift‐giving in Chinese preschool children

Abstract

AbstractThis study explored Chinese preschool children's perspective‐taking via a gift‐giving paradigm. Unlike findings with North American children (Atance et al. in, Dev Psychol 46:1505–1513, 2010), the results from two experiments (NExp. 1 = 329; NExp. 2 = 112) showed that allowing Chinese children to first choose a desired object for themselves did not enhance their subsequent perspective‐taking performance in gift selection or gift justifications. This was true regardless of gift type (consumable or recreational items) or of recipient (mom, teacher, experimenter, or friend). In addition, children's perspective‐taking did not correlate with their performances in behavioral inhibition and delay of gratification tasks. These results suggest the possibility that the prior desire fulfillment effect varies with children's socio‐cultural experiences. Finally, Chinese children showed better perspective‐taking in choosing consumable gifts (e.g., drinks, snacks) than recreational gifts (e.g., toys, magazines), although this effect was not found for gift selection in Experiment 2. One interpretation of these results is that children's capacity for prosocial perspective‐taking is influenced by socio‐cultural experiences and social knowledge about individuals' preferences for different kinds of objects.