Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents
Previous research showed that infants and toddlers are inclined to help prosocial agents and assign a positive valence to fair distributions. Also, they expect that positive and negative actions directed toward distributors will conform to reciprocity principles. This study investigates whether todd...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00944/full |
| _version_ | 1818188805661786112 |
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| author | Luca Surian Laura Franchin |
| author_facet | Luca Surian Laura Franchin |
| author_sort | Luca Surian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous research showed that infants and toddlers are inclined to help prosocial agents and assign a positive valence to fair distributions. Also, they expect that positive and negative actions directed toward distributors will conform to reciprocity principles. This study investigates whether toddlers are selective in helping others, as a function of others’ previous distributive actions. Toddlers were presented with real-life events in which two actresses distributed resources either equally or unequally between two puppets. Then, they played together with a ball that accidentally fell to the ground and asked participants to help them to retrieve it. Participants preferred to help the actress who performed equal distributions. This finding suggests that by the second year children’s prosocial actions are modulated by their emerging sense of fairness.HighlightsToddlers (mean age = 25 months) are selective in helping distributors.Toddlers prefer helping a fair rather than an unfair distributor.Toddlers’ selective helping provides evidence for an early sense of fairness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T23:32:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-12010ce0ba7b4186bccafe60c40f34eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T23:32:46Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-12010ce0ba7b4186bccafe60c40f34eb2022-12-22T00:45:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-06-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.00944272564Toddlers Selectively Help Fair AgentsLuca SurianLaura FranchinPrevious research showed that infants and toddlers are inclined to help prosocial agents and assign a positive valence to fair distributions. Also, they expect that positive and negative actions directed toward distributors will conform to reciprocity principles. This study investigates whether toddlers are selective in helping others, as a function of others’ previous distributive actions. Toddlers were presented with real-life events in which two actresses distributed resources either equally or unequally between two puppets. Then, they played together with a ball that accidentally fell to the ground and asked participants to help them to retrieve it. Participants preferred to help the actress who performed equal distributions. This finding suggests that by the second year children’s prosocial actions are modulated by their emerging sense of fairness.HighlightsToddlers (mean age = 25 months) are selective in helping distributors.Toddlers prefer helping a fair rather than an unfair distributor.Toddlers’ selective helping provides evidence for an early sense of fairness.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00944/fullselective helpingfairnessreciprocityinfantsocial cognitiondistributive justice |
| spellingShingle | Luca Surian Laura Franchin Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents Frontiers in Psychology selective helping fairness reciprocity infant social cognition distributive justice |
| title | Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents |
| title_full | Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents |
| title_fullStr | Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents |
| title_short | Toddlers Selectively Help Fair Agents |
| title_sort | toddlers selectively help fair agents |
| topic | selective helping fairness reciprocity infant social cognition distributive justice |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00944/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lucasurian toddlersselectivelyhelpfairagents AT laurafranchin toddlersselectivelyhelpfairagents |