The impact of choice on young children’s prosocial motivation

Diotima J. Rapp; Jan M. Engelmann; Esther Herrmann; Michael Tomasello

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2017.01.004

The impact of choice on young children’s prosocial motivation

Diotima J. Rapp, Jan M. Engelmann, Esther Herrmann, Michael Tomasello

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The current study explored how freedom of choice affects preschoolers’ prosocial motivation. Children (3- and 5-year-olds) participated in either a choice condition (where they could decide for themselves whether to help or not) or a no-choice condition (where they were instructed to help). Prosocial motivation was subsequently assessed by measuring the amount children helped an absent peer in the face of an attractive alternative game. The 5-year-olds provided with choice helped more than the children not provided with choice, and this effect was stronger for girls than for boys. There was no difference between conditions for the 3-year-olds. These results highlight the importance of choice in young children’s prosocial development.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	112-121
Journal	Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume	158
Early online date	13 Feb 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.01.004
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2017

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https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022096517300358

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title = "The impact of choice on young children{\textquoteright}s prosocial motivation",

abstract = "The current study explored how freedom of choice affects preschoolers{\textquoteright} prosocial motivation. Children (3- and 5-year-olds) participated in either a choice condition (where they could decide for themselves whether to help or not) or a no-choice condition (where they were instructed to help). Prosocial motivation was subsequently assessed by measuring the amount children helped an absent peer in the face of an attractive alternative game. The 5-year-olds provided with choice helped more than the children not provided with choice, and this effect was stronger for girls than for boys. There was no difference between conditions for the 3-year-olds. These results highlight the importance of choice in young children{\textquoteright}s prosocial development.",

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AU - Herrmann, Esther

AU - Tomasello, Michael

N1 - Authored outside the UK before arriving at UoP, no Post-Print

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AB - The current study explored how freedom of choice affects preschoolers’ prosocial motivation. Children (3- and 5-year-olds) participated in either a choice condition (where they could decide for themselves whether to help or not) or a no-choice condition (where they were instructed to help). Prosocial motivation was subsequently assessed by measuring the amount children helped an absent peer in the face of an attractive alternative game. The 5-year-olds provided with choice helped more than the children not provided with choice, and this effect was stronger for girls than for boys. There was no difference between conditions for the 3-year-olds. These results highlight the importance of choice in young children’s prosocial development.

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JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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The impact of choice on young children’s prosocial motivation

Abstract

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