PSYCH 317: Ontogeny of Social Behaviour

Why study social behaviour in children?

To understand the developmental origins of social preferences and prosocial behaviour.

What can child studies tell us about social behaviour?

Which behaviours emerge early and which depend on learning, socialisation, experience, and culture.

Why are children useful for studying morality and prosociality?

They allow researchers to examine how social preferences develop before extensive social experience.

What are the main topics studied in developmental social behaviour research?

Social evaluation, helping behaviour, fairness, sharing, and social decision-making.

Reaching task

A method where infants indicate preferences by reaching toward one of two options.

Eye-tracking

A method that measures looking time to infer infant expectations and preferences.

Violation of expectation

Longer looking at unexpected events indicates surprise or violated expectations.

What happened in the hill-climbing study?

A climber attempted to climb a hill while a helper assisted and a hinderer blocked progress.

What did 6-month-olds choose in the hill-climbing study?

12/12 chose the helper.

What did 10-month-olds choose in the hill-climbing study?

14/16 chose the helper.

What does choosing the helper suggest in the hill-climbing study?

Infants may evaluate social actions and prefer prosocial individuals.

What was the prediction in the social expectation study?

Infants should expect the climber to approach the helper rather than the hinderer.

What result was found among 10-month-olds?

They looked longer when the climber approached the hinderer approached the hinderer, indicating surprise.

What does longer looking suggest?

Infants may have expectations about social interactions.

Giver-Taker paradigm

A method examining whether infants prefer individuals who give resources versus those who take them away.

What did 3-month-old infants prefer in the giver-taker study?

The giver.

What does the giver preference suggest?

Infants may evaluate social actions from very early in development.

What did the Many Babies project find?

Only 49.3% of infants preferred prosocial agents.

What does the Many Babies project suggest?

Prosocial preferences may be weaker, absent, or emerge later than originally thought.

Why should early infant morality findings be interpreted cautiously?

Replication attempts have produced mixed or null results.

Spontaneous helping behaviour

Helping another person without being asked.

Natural altruism hypothesis

The idea that humans possess an evolved biological predisposition to help others.

At what age does spontaneous helping emerge?

Around 18 months.

What proportion of toddlers helped in Warneken and Tomasello's study?

22 out of 24 children helped on at least one task.

What does spontaneous helping suggest?

Humans may possess early prosocial tendencies.

What were the two play conditions in Barragan and Dweck's study?

Parallel play and reciprocal play.

Which condition increased helping behaviour?

Reciprocal play.

What does this finding suggest (parallel vs reciprocal play study)?

Immediate social experience can influence helping behaviour.

What did Barragan and Dweck argue?

Helping behaviour is shaped by experience rather than reflecting fixed biological altruism.

What did Warneken and colleagues argue?

Biological predispositions and social experience can both influence helping behaviour.

What is the key takeaway from the helping studies?

Helping behaviour is influenced by both potential biological predispositions and social experience.

What was the aim of Fehr et al. (2008)?

To investigate how egalitarian preferences change with age.

Prosocial game

A choice between (1,1) and (1,0) where helping another person costs nothing.

What does choosing (1,1) indicate in the prosocial game

Prosocial preferences

Envy game

A choice between (1,1) and (1,2) where helping another person makes them better off.

What does choosing (1,1) indicate in the envy game?

Preference for equality

What does choosing (1,2) in the envy game indicate?

Other-regarding generosity.

Sharing game

A choice between (1,1) and (2,0) where sharing requires sacrificing a reward

What does choosing (1,1) indicate in the sharing game?

, Costly sharing and strong equality preferences.

How did egalitarian choices change with age?

They increased with age.

How did 3-4-year-olds perform in the sharing game?

Most behaved selfishly.

By what age did children reliably prefer egalitarian outcomes?

Around age 7.

What tended to take precedence over generosity?

Equality.

How did siblings affect sharing?

Children without siblings shared more, and youngest children shared least.

Why might egalitarian preferences increase with age?

Children internalise societal norms emphasising fairness and equality.

Inequity aversion

Willingness to incur a cost to reject unequal outcomes.

Disadvantageous inequity aversion (DIA)

Rejecting outcomes where oneself receives less than another person.

Advantageous inequity aversion (AIA)

Rejecting outcomes where oneself receives more than another person.

How do children respond to disadvantageous inequity?

Most reject unfair outcomes.

At what age does disadvantageous inequity aversion emerge?

Around age 4.

How does DIA change with age?

It increases with age.

Is disadvantageous inequity aversion culturally widespread?

Yes.

How do 4-7-year-olds respond to advantageous inequity?

They rarely reject it.

How do 8-year-olds respond to advantageous inequity?

They often reject it.

What does rejecting advantageous inequity require?

Sacrificing personal gain to achieve fairness.

Why do children take longer to reject advantageous inequity?

There is conflict between self-interest and fairness.

How does observation affect advantageous inequity aversion?

Children reject advantageous inequity more when others can see their decisions.

What does the effect of observation on AIS suggest?

Reputation management influences fairness decisions.

Which form of inequity aversion shows greater cultural variation?

Advantageous inequity aversion.

What does cultural variation in AIA suggest?

Social norms influence fairness preferences.

Advantageous inequity preference

Willingness to sacrifice resources to become better off than another person.

Which age groups show advantageous inequity preference?

5- and 6-year-olds.

What example demonstrates advantageous inequity preference?

Choosing (1,0) over (2,2) to gain a relative advantage.

What happens to advantageous inequity preference with age?

It declines in older children.

Do all social preferences emerge at the same age?

No, different social behaviours develop at different times.

What cognitive mechanisms contribute to social behaviour development?

Perspective-taking, social comparison, reputation management, and learning social norms.

Why might older children show stronger fairness preferences?

They develop greater social-cognitive abilities and learn cultural norms.

What does developmental research suggest about social behaviour?

Social preferences emerge gradually through interactions between biology, cognition, experience, and culture.