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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
The Influence of Considering Others' Emotions on Children's Resource Distribution
Ha Na Yoo1, Zi-Hyun Lee2, Hyun-Joo Song3
1University of Utah Asia Campus, Incheon, Korea.
Summary
Anticipating others' emotions enhances altruistic sharing in young children. This effect was observed when preschoolers considered recipients' feelings, not just any feedback.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Neuroscience
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Prosocial development involves understanding how actions impact others' emotions.
- Previous research with adults suggests considering others' feelings can influence behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if predicting recipients' future emotional messages enhances altruistic sharing in preschoolers.
- To differentiate the effect of considering emotions from anticipating general feedback.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: 4- to 6-year-old Korean children participated in a dictator game, allocating stickers.
- Experimental group anticipated emotional drawings from a puppet recipient; control group did not.
- Experiment 2: Assessed if general message anticipation, without emotional content, affected sharing.
Main Results:
- Children in the experimental condition shared more, especially 4- and 5-year-olds.
- Six-year-olds showed equal sharing across conditions, mirroring adult equality preferences.
- Experiment 2 found no difference in sharing when only general message anticipation was involved.
Conclusions:
- Considering others' emotions, not just anticipating feedback, promotes altruistic resource allocation in young children.
- This highlights the importance of emotional perspective-taking in early prosocial behavior.
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