Sharing in preschool children: Facilitation, stimulus generalization, response generalization, and maintenance

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Early Childhood Education
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Facilitating prosocial behaviors like sharing in preschool children is crucial for social development.
• Understanding the generalization and durability of trained behaviors is essential for effective early intervention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate three distinct approaches for teaching verbal and physical sharing skills to preschool children.
• To assess the generalizability and durability of trained sharing behaviors across different settings and over time.

Main Methods:

• Preschool children were assigned to groups trained in verbal sharing, physical sharing, combined verbal and physical sharing, or a control group.
• Behavioral observations were conducted immediately after training in a novel setting and again 4 weeks later.
• The study analyzed the durability and generalizability of trained sharing behaviors.

Main Results:

• Durable and generalizable physical sharing was achieved solely through training verbal sharing skills.
• Training only physical sharing resulted in temporary increases that did not generalize or persist.
• Combined verbal and physical sharing training showed slightly greater effects than verbal sharing alone.

Conclusions:

• Teaching verbal sharing is a highly effective method for promoting durable and generalizable physical sharing in young children.
• Behavioral generalization and maintenance can occur without specific programming for these outcomes.
• The findings highlight the importance of verbal components in establishing robust prosocial behaviors.