This study examined children's self-assessment of their prosociality, relative to average peers, in situations where the recipient is described as "needy" versus "not needy" (at a school of average socioeconomic level in south Israel; N = 158; aged 6-12 years; 51% males, December-May 2021). The results show that older children…

Children's sharing behavior is profoundly shaped by social norms within their society, and they can learn these norms by directly observing how most others share in their immediate environment. Here we systematically investigated the impact of majority influence on the sharing behavior of young Chinese children through three studies (N = 336, 168…

Infants can help and share in the second year of life. However, there is limited knowledge as to variability in these behaviors as a function of target (e.g., caregiver vs. unfamiliar adult) and the influence of caregiver support on infant prosocial behavior. Infants (N = 268, 124 female) at 1-2 years of age (M = 1.47, SD = 0.27) and again at 2-3…

The association between children's social-status within their peer-group and their prosociality was examined among fourth and sixth graders (N = 276), using sociometric nominations, and actual sharing with a fellow in-group member, or a member of an out-group. Results show an overall increase in sharing with age, and an overall correlation between…

The aim of our cross-sectional investigation was to explore prosocial behavior at the ages of 9, 11, and 13, and to reveal associations between this social behavior and some background variables such as age, gender, and parents' educational attainment. The participants were 185 Hungarian students and their teachers. Two Likert-type questionnaires…

This study investigated the development of sharing expectations and sharing behavior in 3 groups of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. We examined (a) whether preschool children expect a person to share more with a friend than with a disliked peer and (b) whether their expectation about others' sharing behavior depends on whether there is a cost or…

It has been argued that children who possess an advanced theory of mind (ToM) are more likely to act prosocially, yet the empirical findings are mixed. To address this issue definitively, a meta-analytic integration of all prior literature that met appropriate inclusion criteria was conducted. In total, 76 studies including 6,432 children between…

Prosocial behaviors are a diverse group of actions that are integral to human social life. In this study, we examined the ability of 18- and 24-month-old infants to engage in three types of other-oriented behaviors, specifically helping, sharing, and comforting. Infants in both age groups engaged in more prosocial behavior on trials in which an…

Research Findings: Studies of children's prosocial behavior typically focus on prosocial acts with a specific partner (e.g., a friend, peer, or sibling), and comparisons of prosociality in different contexts are rare. To address this gap, the current study examined predictive links among children's spontaneous sharing (a common and important form…

In an investigation of the relationship between sharing and children's ability to estimate time under conditions either promoting sharing or not encouraging sharing, 67 children between 65 and 140 months of age first completed a time estimation task and then engaged in a sharing task with a same-age, same-sex peer. The children were given…

On 2 consecutive days, a total of 96 children were observed in groups of 3, once with scarce and once with ample toy resources. Sharing was affected by the number of toys and availability of duplicate toys. When pressured by peers, one year olds shared more often than did two year olds. (BC)

Toddler triads were observed on consecutive days, with ample and scarce toy resources. Two-year-olds were more likely to resolve conflicts by sharing when toys were scarce rather than ample. Triads with older children or two boys were more likely than other triads to resolve disputes in prosocial ways. (BC)

Used the rational facet approach to examine the relationship between age and perceptions of subconstructs of prosocial behavior on the part of second, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders and adult teachers. Differentiation of subconstructs of prosocial behavior increased with age. (Author/BB)