Preschoolers’ saving: The role of budgeting and psychological distance on a novel token savings task

Abstract

The reported study examined young children’s ability to save an abstract representation of value (tokens) when purchasing immediately available less-preferred prizes and later-available more-preferred prizes. A sample of 93 3- to 5-year-olds from an ethnically diverse mid-size North American city were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, budgeting for themselves, and budgeting for another (psychologically distanced condition). Children were able to save tokens for their preferred prizes and demonstrated better saving in the budgeting conditions compared to control, with no difference between the budgeting conditions. Further, children who planned to save were more likely to save. Theory of mind predicted saving, but only for the control condition, while general planning ability did not predict saving performance.