Infants' prosocial behavior is governed by cost-benefit analyses

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 2, 2026

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants
11:14

A Novel Experimental and Analytical Approach to the Multimodal Neural Decoding of Intent During Social Interaction in Freely-behaving Human Infants

Published on: October 4, 2015

Jessica A Sommerville1, Elizabeth A Enright1, Rachel O Horton1

  • 1Department of Psychology, The University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States.

Cognition
|April 8, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Infants consider costs and benefits when deciding to help others. Their prosocial behavior adjusts based on task difficulty and potential rewards, suggesting early rational decision-making.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Cost-benefit analyses are crucial for mature decision-making.
  • Infants' prosociality is debated, with limited understanding of their cost-benefit considerations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if anticipated costs and benefits influence 18-month-old infants' prosocial behavior.
  • To determine if infants weigh effort against motivational incentives.

Main Methods:

  • 160 infants participated in a helping task involving carrying blocks of varying weights.
  • Experiments manipulated physical costs and intrinsic motivational benefits.
  • Infants' walking experience was recorded as a proxy for motor skill development.

Main Results:

  • Infants' helping behavior decreased when the physical cost (block weight) was high.
  • Helping in high-cost situations increased with greater intrinsic rewards.
  • Walking experience predicted high-cost helping, indicating subjective cost calibration.

Conclusions:

  • Infants' prosocial behavior is modulated by cost-benefit evaluations.
  • Early rational decision-making processes appear to guide infant helping.
  • Infants integrate subjective costs and benefits in their prosocial actions.

Keywords:
Cost-benefit analysesInfancyProsocial behaviorShared preferences

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