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Priming Behavioral Control Enhances Sharing in Preschoolers

Chanmi Lee1, Hyun-Joo Song2

  • 1Assesta Co., Ltd., Seoul, South Korea.

Frontiers in Psychology
|July 26, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Young children

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Young children understand fairness but struggle to share consistently.
  • This inconsistency may stem from underdeveloped behavioral control.
  • Behavioral control is crucial for aligning actions with social norms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally investigate the impact of behavioral control on preschoolers' sharing behavior.
  • To determine if priming behavioral control influences generosity in young children.
  • To explore the relationship between behavioral control, fairness judgments, and emotional responses.

Main Methods:

  • Sixty-four 3- to 4-year-olds participated in the study.
  • Children were randomly assigned to a behavioral control prime or a neutral prime condition.
  • Sharing behavior was assessed using the dictator game, where children shared stickers with an anonymous peer.

Main Results:

  • Children in the behavioral control prime condition shared significantly more stickers than those in the neutral prime condition.
  • No significant differences were found in fairness judgments between the two groups.
  • Emotional experiences did not differ significantly between the experimental conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Behavioral control can be experimentally enhanced in preschoolers.
  • Facilitating behavioral control positively impacts children's sharing behavior.
  • Preschoolers' sharing is malleable and influenced by cognitive control mechanisms, not solely by fairness understanding.

Keywords:
behavioral controlfairnessprimingprosocial behaviorsharing

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