The influence of collaboration on children’s sharing in rural India

Abstract

Research has shown that preschoolers developing in Western societies increase sharing after collaborating to earn resources, suggesting that collaboration is an important context for the development of fairness. The current study sought to explore the influence of collaboration on sharing among young children (N = 132, 3–6 years of age) developing in rural India, a population that shows an increased sensitivity to fairness after collaboration among older children. The effect of three forms of social interaction on children’s sharing were compared: collaborating toward a joint concrete goal of earning resources that could subsequently be shared, collaborating toward a joint concrete goal without earning resources, and playing a social game without earning resources. The only context where children increased sharing was after collaborating toward a joint concrete goal without earning resources. Overall, these findings suggest that increased sharing between collaborators may show greater contextual sensitivity and influence of early sociocultural experience than has been previously understood.