Development of Pro-social Behavior: Equity Preference

Evolutionary Account

• Pro-social behaviors allowed humans to cohabitate in large groups

• Higher social cognition also important for large group cohabitation

• Co-evolution of pro-social behaviors and social cognition

Pro-social Behavior

• Helping – Instrumental – Informative – Comforting

• Sharing – Equitable vs. self-maximizing

Game Theory

• Prediction of individual behavior in group settings

• Recently applied to developmental psychology

• Dictator game, ultimatum game, public goods game and prisoner’s dilemma

Sharing

• Sharing valued resources

• What factors influence sharing behavior

• Altruism, fairness and social learning: a cross-cultural approach to imitative altruism (Blake, Callaghan, Corbit, Warneken, 2012)

Equity

• Preference for equity

• Where does this preference come from?

• Innate

• Socialized

Blake and McAuliffe (2011)

• Do children still prefer equity when it comes at a cost?

Procedure

Results

• 4-7 year olds accept advantageous offers but reject disadvantageous ones

• 8 year olds reject both forms of inequity

• Equal distributions are almost universally accepted

Cross-Cultural Value

• Strong equity preference emerges around 8 year in N.A. sample

• This supports a socialization account

• Important to look at cultures with different socialization practices

India and Peru

• Individual vs. collectivist cultures

• Prediction for the effect of collectivism on equity preference