Sharing and giving across adolescence: an experimental study examining the development of prosocial behavior.

Berna Gã¼Roäÿlu,Eveline A Crone,Wouter Van Den Bos

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00291

Berna Gã¼Roäÿlu, Eveline A Crone + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00291

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Abstract

In this study we use economic exchange games to examine the development of prosocial behavior in the form of sharing and giving in social interactions with peers across adolescence. Participants from four age groups (9-, 12-, 15-, and 18-year-olds, total N = 119) played three types of distribution games and the Trust game with four different interaction partners: friends, antagonists, neutral classmates, and anonymous peers. Nine- and 12-year-olds showed similar levels of prosocial behavior to all interaction partners, whereas older adolescents showed increasing differentiation in prosocial behavior depending on the relation with peers, with most prosocial behavior toward friends. The age related increase in non-costly prosocial behavior toward friends was mediated by self-reported perspective-taking skills. Current findings extend existing evidence on the developmental patterns of fairness considerations from childhood into late adolescence. Together, we show that adolescents are increasingly better at incorporating social context into decision-making. Our findings further highlight the role of friendships as a significant social context for the development of prosocial behavior in early adolescence.

Highlights

Prosocial behavior, defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit others (Eisenberg et al, 2006), plays a key role in social interactions
The role of peer relationships in social interactions is an intriguing question given that with age there is a growing focus on peers, and that by adolescence individuals spend the majority of their time with them (Brown, 2004)
We focus on a broad age range across middle childhood and adolescence (9- to 18-year olds) where we can assess peer relationships in a structured environment, i.e., the classroom, using the same methodology, i.e., sociometric nominations

Summary

Introduction

Prosocial behavior, defined as voluntary behavior intended to benefit others (Eisenberg et al, 2006), plays a key role in social interactions. Social behavior depends heavily on the relation we have with our interaction partners, such that prosocial behavior (including displays of fairness, trust, and reciprocity) is employed based on past experiences with the interaction partner and the prospect of future interactions (Burnham et al, 2000; Delgado et al, 2005; van den Bos et al, 2011a). This raises the question how prosocial behavior in these anonymous games reflects, or differs from, social behavior toward familiar peers. This paper aimed to examine the development of sharing and giving as observed in fairness- and trust-related social decisions when interacting with peers

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