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Giving what one should: explanations for the knowledge-behavior gap for altruistic giving

Peter R Blake1

  • 1Boston University, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA.

Current Opinion in Psychology
|August 21, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Children often fail to share resources as they believe they should, a phenomenon known as the knowledge-behavior gap. Research suggests self-regulation, social distance, and social learning are key to helping children bridge this gap as they mature.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Moral Development

Background:

  • Children often exhibit a knowledge-behavior gap, particularly in sharing resources.
  • Dictator Game studies reveal young children frequently keep resources instead of sharing half as they believe they should.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for explanations of the knowledge-behavior gap in children.
  • To identify mechanisms that help children close this gap with age.

Main Methods:

  • Review of over a dozen recent Dictator Game studies.
  • Analysis of evidence for five potential explanations: self-regulation, social distance, theory of mind, moral knowledge, and social learning.

Main Results:

  • Children's belief about sharing often does not align with their actual behavior.
  • Five factors are explored as potential explanations for this discrepancy.

Conclusions:

  • Self-regulation, social distance, and social learning provide the most promising explanations for how children bridge the knowledge-behavior gap.
  • Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for addressing disparities in prosocial behavior development.

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