Prosocial Behavior Among Toddlers and Young Preschoolers: Does the Freedom to Choose Induce Sharing?

Abstract

While a multitude of studies on prosocial behaviors show that its essential forms of helping, sharing, and comforting emerge early in life, the underlying mechanisms are less well understood. Based on self-determination theory, a suggested but too little explored mechanism for young children’s prosocial behavior is having an opportunity to choose. The current study explored whether the choice to act prosocially motivates three-year-olds’ sharing behaviors while taking the role of the recipient’s needs (emotional and material) into consideration. Children could choose themselves or were commanded to share resources varying in value with recipients in different emotional states after a brief manipulation phase. Subjects were randomly assigned to four manipulation conditions (low-value/ no-choice, lowvalue/ choice, high-value/ no-choice, high-value/ choice) and were asked to share stickers with sad and happy recipients. Results indicated that although majority of children shared with both recipients, neither their freedom to choose, nor the different emotional state of the recipient impacted their subsequent sharing behavior. When investigating for potential agediscrepancies by comparing toddlers and young preschoolers, the results did not differ. Even though the results do not converge with previous findings, the current study provides further insights in three-year-olds’ prosocial agency. We discuss these results in terms of alternative explanations. The current study sheds light on the prosocial agency of children as young as three years of age and encourages future research to investigate mechanisms promoting early prosocial behavior. With more converging evidence, we can contribute towards promoting the development of prosocial behaviors from early in life.