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Between-group competition elicits within-group cooperation in children
Bonaventura Majolo1, Laëtitia Maréchal1
1School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7TS, United Kingdom.
Scientific Reports
|February 25, 2017
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Social cognition
Background:
- Group competition is common in human societies, influencing cooperation and aggression.
- Cohesive groups may outperform less cohesive ones in intergroup conflicts.
- Parochial altruism, favoring in-group cooperation and out-group hostility, is linked to between-group competition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between between-group competition and within-group cooperation in children aged 3-10 years.
- To examine the developmental trajectory of this relationship.
Main Methods:
- A large cohort of 120 children participated in two experiments.
- Simulated between-group competition was introduced to assess its effect on within-group cooperation.
- Within-group cooperation was measured by the amount of resources children shared with their group members.
Main Results:
- Children exhibited increased within-group cooperation when their groups competed against other groups compared to a control condition.
- Within-group cooperation demonstrated a positive correlation with age.
- The study found evidence supporting the early emergence of parochial altruism and in-group/out-group biases.
Conclusions:
- Simulated intergroup competition enhances within-group cooperation in young children.
- The tendency for increased cooperation within one's own group emerges early in development.
- Findings suggest that biases favoring in-group members and competition are present from a young age.
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