Beyond accidents: Young children's forgiveness of third-party intentional transgressors.

To maintain our cooperative relationships, it is critical that we repair these relationships when they are damaged by transgressions. Key to this repair is forgiveness. Previous research suggests that adults and children are more forgiving of remorseful transgressors than of unremorseful ones after accidental transgressions. However, little is known about whether children's forgiveness also takes the transgressors' intentions into account. Using a third-person video paradigm with children in the United States, Study 1 found that 6-year-olds (n = 20; 10 girls; 60% White) were more likely to negatively evaluate an intentional transgressor and give more resources to an accidental transgressor when both transgressors showed remorse, whereas 5-year-olds (n = 20; 10 girls; 80% White) showed this effect only in their resource distribution. Study 2 found that 6-year-olds (n = 18; 7 girls; 83% White) were more likely to positively evaluate and share more resources with a remorseful intentional transgressor than with an unremorseful intentional one. Thus, by school age in the United States, children's forgiveness, at least as bystanders, begins to take into account both the transgressor's intentions and the display of remorse.

Recipient identifiability increases prosocial behavior in young children.

Research in adults has established that identifying an individual (e.g., by name or a photograph) increases adults' prosocial behavior toward that individual. However, little is known about the developmental emergence of this "identifiable victim effect." We conducted a preregistered study to assess the effects of identifiability on young children's prosocial behavior. Children aged 3.5 to 6.5 years were given five stickers that they could distribute between themselves and another child, who was either identified by name or unidentified. Across ages, children were more likely to share-and shared more stickers-with the identified recipient than with the unidentified recipient. These results indicate that recipient identifiability promotes prosocial behavior from remarkably early in development.

Young children do not perceive distributional fairness as a moral norm.

Young children robustly distinguish between moral norms and conventional norms (Smetana, 1984; Yucel et al., 2020). In existing research, norms about the fair distribution of resources are by definition considered part of the moral domain; they are not distinguished from other moral norms such as those involving physical harm. Yet an understanding of fairness in resource distribution (hereafter, "fairness") emerges late in development and is culturally variable, raising the possibility that fairness may not fall squarely in the moral domain. In 2 preregistered studies, we examined whether U.S. American children who were primarily White see fairness as a moral or conventional norm. In study 1 (N = 96), we did not obtain the established moral-conventional difference needed to investigate questions about the status of fairness. We improved our design in our second preregistered study. In study 2 (N = 94), 4-year-olds rated moral transgressions (e.g., hitting) as more serious than fairness and conventional transgressions (e.g., wearing pajamas to school), but importantly, they rated fairness and conventional transgressions as similarly serious. In contrast, 6- and 8-year-olds rated moral transgressions as more serious than fairness and conventional transgressions, and fairness as more serious than conventional transgressions. An additional, forced-choice procedure revealed that most 6-year-olds also categorized fairness with moral rather than conventional transgressions; 4- and 8-year-olds' responses on this measure did not show systematic patterns. U.S. American children may not equate norms of fairness in resource distribution with harm-based moral norms, even into middle childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Young children value recipients who display gratitude.

Gratitude is a positive social emotion that one experiences when one has benefited from another person's goodwill (McCullough, 2002). Feeling gratitude urges the grateful person to reciprocate and respond prosocially, thereby solidifying cooperation. Yet little prior research has focused on the social functions of displaying gratitude, namely to convey that a grateful recipient is likely to be a reliable and trustworthy cooperative partner. The present study examined when in development children become sensitive to these important functions of gratitude displays. The sample consisted of 4-year-old (n = 20; 10 girls) and 5-year-old children (n = 20; 10 girls) from families in the United States that were predominantly White and college educated. Children watched videos of two beneficiaries receiving gifts from a benefactor. One beneficiary showed gratitude, whereas the other was positive but nongrateful. As predicted, 5-year-olds preferred the grateful recipient, thought the benefactor would also prefer her, thought she would be more likely to reciprocate, and distributed more resources to her. The 4-year-olds' responses showed some of the same patterns as those of the 5-year-olds but were less systematic. These findings provide the first evidence that as early as the preschool years, gratitude displays elicit affiliation and cooperation, even among bystanders, and thus serve vital social and cooperative functions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Fairness takes time: Development of cooperative decision making in fairness context.

The current study examined the development of fairness behavior and tested whether children's fair choices are fast and intuitive or slow and deliberate. Reaction times were measured while 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 94, 49 girls, 84.6% White) completed a novel social decision-making task contrasting fair choices with selfish choices. Fairness behavior increased during childhood, shifting from predominantly selfish choices among young children to fair choices by 7 years of age. Moreover, young children's fair choices were slow and deliberate, whereas reaction times did not predict older children's choices. These findings contrast with adults' intuitive cooperation and point to protracted development and learning of cooperative decision making in fairness contexts.

Preferential forgiveness: The impact of group membership and remorse on preschoolers' forgiveness.

Forgiveness helps repair ruptured relationships and maintain cooperation. It may most usefully serve these functions when it is preferentially directed toward better cooperators. We examined this proposal in two studies with young children. Study 1 asked whether children forgive in-group members (whom people generally expect to be more cooperative) more than out-group members. When a novel in-group member and out-group member both transgressed against the child and both showed remorse, 5-year-old children (N = 20) were more forgiving of the in-group member. In Study 2, when only the out-group transgressor was remorseful whereas the in-group transgressor was unremorseful (and did not demonstrate cooperative intent), 5-year-olds (N = 20) were more forgiving of the remorseful out-group transgressor. Children also judged the unremorseful in-group transgressor negatively and wanted her to leave their group. Together, these results reveal that from early in life, forgiveness is preferentially directed so as to maximize successful cooperation while reducing the risk of exploitation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Eliciting forgiveness.

When we commit transgressions, we need to be forgiven to restore our friendships and social standing. Two main ways we can elicit forgiveness is through asking for forgiveness after committing a transgression (i.e., retrospective elicitors) or before committing a transgression (i.e., prospective elicitors). Research on retrospective elicitors with adults and children indicates that apologizing or showing remorse elicits forgiveness from both victims and bystanders, and sheds light on the nuances of such elicitors and their functions. Far less is known about how adults and children respond to prospective elicitors of forgiveness, such as disclaimers (statements that prepare the listener for a transgression or a failure of character or performance, e.g., "I don't mean to be rude but…"), and how the functions and effectiveness of prospective elicitors compare to those of retrospective elicitors. Furthermore, much less is known about the additive effects of using both retrospective and prospective elicitors of forgiveness. A better understanding of how and when forgiveness is elicited in childhood and through adulthood promises to shed light on human sociality and cooperativeness. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Social Development Psychology > Emotion and Motivation Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development.

Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) internal arousal remains elevated if they cannot themselves help a conspecific.

Chimpanzees help conspecifics achieve their goals in instrumental situations, but neither their immediate motivation nor the evolutionary basis of their motivation is clear. In the current study, we gave chimpanzees the opportunity to instrumentally help a conspecific to obtain food. Following recent studies with human children, we measured their pupil diameter at various points in the process. Like young children, chimpanzees' pupil diameter decreased soon after they had helped. However, unlike children, chimpanzees' pupils remained more dilated upon watching a third party provide the needed help instead of them. Our interpretation is that chimpanzees are motivated to help others, and the evolutionary basis is direct or indirect reciprocity, as providing help oneself sets the conditions for a payback. This is in contrast to young children whose goal is to see others being helped-by whomever-presumably because their helping is not based on reciprocity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Young Children and Adults Show Differential Arousal to Moral and Conventional Transgressions.

From a young age, children understand and enforce moral norms, which are aimed at preserving the rights and welfare of others. Children also distinguish moral norms from other types of norms such as conventional norms, which serve to ensure coordination within social groups or institutions. However, far less is known about the mechanisms driving this differentiation. This article investigates the role of internal arousal in distinguishing moral from conventional norms. In a between-subjects design, 3-year-olds (n = 32), 4-year-olds (n = 34), and undergraduate students (n = 64) watched a video of either a moral norm violation (e.g., destroying another person's artwork) or a conventional norm violation (e.g., playing a game wrong). Participants of all age groups showed differential physiological arousal (pupil dilation) to moral and conventional norm violations. Participants of all age groups also attended significantly more to the victim of the moral transgression than the bystander in the conventional transgression. Further, this differential attention to the victim/bystander positively correlated with the change in participants' phasic pupil dilation to the norm violation. This is the first evidence that differences in internal arousal co-occur with (and possibly contribute to) the distinction that even young children draw between moral and conventional norms.

The role of affect in feelings of obligation.

Tomasello offers a compelling account of the emergence of humans' sense of obligation. We suggest that more needs to be said about the role of affect in the creation of obligations. We also argue that positive emotions such as gratitude evolved to encourage individuals to fulfill cooperative obligations without the negative quality that Tomasello proposes is inherent in obligations.

Paying it forward: The development and underlying mechanisms of upstream reciprocity.

Two studies investigated the development and motivations underlying children's upstream reciprocity. In Study 1, 3- and 4-year-olds (n = 40 per age group) received or did not receive help while playing a game. Subsequently, children could share stickers with a new child. The 4-year-olds, but not the 3-year-olds, showed evidence of upstream reciprocity: Those who had received help were more generous toward the new child. Study 2 (N = 46) replicated the results with 4-year-olds and found evidence for a gratitude-like motivation underlying the upstream reciprocity: Children who received help evaluated the benefactor more positively, and positive evaluations of the benefactor correlated with children's upstream reciprocity. Thus, upstream reciprocity emerges by 4 years of age and may already be motivated by a gratitude-like mechanism.

Helping, fast and slow: Exploring intuitive cooperation in early ontogeny.

Cooperative behavior is central to human societies. Human adults who reach their cooperative decisions more rapidly and independently of cognitive control display greater levels of prosocial behavior. This is taken to show that cooperation is guided by intuitive processes rather than by active control of selfish impulses. The current study investigated the emergence of intuitive cooperation in early human ontogeny. We measured helping behavior (latency and frequency) in a longitudinal sample of infants at ages 14 and 18 months. Between 14 and 18 months, the frequency of helping significantly increased and latency to help significantly decreased, suggesting advances in helping behavior during this period of development. Moreover, at 18 months and to some extent, even at 14 months, infants who helped more rapidly (as indexed by a shorter latency) acted more prosocially (as indexed by a greater frequency of helping) than infants who were slower to help. This link between latency and frequency of prosocial behavior was independent of infants' ability for inhibitory control and general sociability levels. Prosocial behavior thus begins to be governed by intuitive processes that operate independently of cognitive control early in human ontogeny. This informs our understanding of the nature and emergence of cooperative behavior by supporting accounts that assign a central role to intuition in the evolution of human cooperation.

Something old, something new: Leveraging what we know to optimize new directions in emotion development research.

The 3 papers by Hammond and Drummond (2019), LoBue and Adolph (2019), and Stern, Botdorf, Cassidy, and Riggins (2019) bring into focus some of the exciting and promising new directions emerging in the field of emotional development. This commentary urges researchers moving in these new directions to leverage what is already known about emotional development to inform future predictions and interpretations, as well as to remain mindful of the thorny but essential questions surrounding the conceptualization, measurement, and interpretation of emotions. These points are illustrated with a focus on 2 specific topics. The first concerns how we conceptualize positive and negative emotions and what we might predict about their respective psychological and behavioral effects. The second concerns what should (not) count as evidence of an emotion in infants and young children and highlights the importance of converging evidence across methods and measures as well as of validating measures. This extends to the study of emotional mechanisms such as empathy and sympathy. Considering these questions carefully at this juncture has the potential to make the future study of emotional development all the more fruitful and effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Toddlers' intrinsic motivation to return help to their benefactor.

A natural reaction to receiving help from someone is to help that person in return. In two studies, we investigated the developmental origins of children's motivation to return help. In Study 1, 18- and 24-month-old toddlers were either helped or not helped by an adult, and they could subsequently provide that adult with help or else observe another person providing help. We measured children's internal arousal, via changes in pupil dilation, both before and after help was provided. At both ages, children's internal arousal was higher when they could not help the adult who had previously helped them (and was lower when they could). On the other hand, if the adult needing help had not previously helped children, their internal arousal was equally low regardless of whether they or another person provided the help. Study 2 replicated this result and also found that if children had previously been helped but the person needing help was a different adult (not their benefactor), children's internal arousal was equally low regardless of whether they or another person provided the help. Together, these results suggest that young children are intrinsically motivated to return a received favor specifically to the previous benefactor, perhaps indicating a nascent sense of gratitude.

The benefits of forgiving: Young children respond positively to those who forgive.

Forgiveness helps to repair relationships and thus helps maintain cooperation. Might forgiveness also convey to others that the forgiver is a valuable cooperation partner? We propose that if victims' forgiveness displays have evolved as important social cues that help uphold cooperation, then even young children might respond positively to forgiveness displays. In a preregistered study, 4- and 5-year-olds (n = 20 per age group) watched videos of transgressions in which the victim either forgave or did not forgive the transgressor. As predicted, 5-year-olds robustly preferred the forgiver, expected the transgressor to like the forgiver more, and thought the nonforgiver would be more likely to transgress in the future. Four-year-olds did not show these effects as consistently. Both age groups distributed more resources to the forgiving victim. Thus, from an early age, forgiveness displays convey key information to others about the forgiver and may therefore help to repair relationships and promote cooperation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The relation between young children's physiological arousal and their motivation to help others.

Children are motivated to help others from an early age. However, little is known about the internal biological mechanisms underlying their motivation to help. Here, we compiled data from five separate studies in which children, ranging in age from 18 months to 5.5 years, witnessed an adult needing help. In all studies, we assessed both (1) children's internal physiological arousal via changes in their pupil dilation, and (2) the latency and likelihood of them providing help. The results showed that the greater the baseline-corrected change in children's internal arousal in response to witnessing the need situation, the faster and more likely children were to help the adult. This was not the case for the baseline measure of children's tonic arousal state. Together, these results suggest that children's propensity to help is systematically related to their physiological arousal after they witness others needing help. This sheds new light on the biological mechanisms underlying not only young children's social perception but also their prosocial motivation more generally.

The Emergence of Forgiveness in Young Children.

Humans depend greatly on our cooperative relationships. Thus, when our relationships are damaged by transgressions, they need to be repaired. Such repair requires that the transgressor show remorse and the victim forgive. Previous research demonstrates that as transgressors, young children show remorse and attempt to repair the harm they caused. However, it remains unclear when children, as victims, forgive remorseful transgressors. In Study 1, 5-, but not 4-year-olds, (n = 20 each) were more forgiving of a remorseful transgressor (who did not explicitly apologize) than an unremorseful transgressor. In Study 2, 4-year-olds (n = 20) were more forgiving of an apologetic than unapologetic transgressor. Thus, from early in ontogeny, humans are motivated to repair damaged relationships and thus uphold cooperation.

Eyes, More Than Other Facial Features, Enhance Real-World Donation Behavior.

Humans often behave more prosocially when being observed in person and even in response to subtle eye cues, purportedly to manage their reputation. Previous research on this phenomenon has employed the "watching eyes paradigm," in which adults displayed greater prosocial behavior in the presence of images of eyes versus inanimate objects. However, the robustness of the effect of eyes on prosocial behavior has recently been called into question. Therefore, the first goal of the present study was to attempt to replicate this effect. Additionally, it remains unclear whether the watching-eyes effect is driven specifically by reputation management (owing to the monitoring function of the eyes) or whether any cues indexing human presence more generally also have a similar effect. To address these questions, the current study compared prosocial behavior in the presence of eyes versus inanimate objects as well as other human features. The study was conducted as a field experiment at a children's museum. Each week, the donation signs were changed to show eyes, noses, mouths, or chairs. Total donation amount and number of patrons per week were recorded. Participants donated more when they were exposed to eyes than to inanimate objects (chairs). We thus replicated the previously reported watching-eyes effect. Moreover, more money was donated when individuals were exposed to eyes than to more general cues of human presence (nose and mouth). The current findings suggest that eyes play a special role in promoting cooperation in humans, likely by serving as cues of monitoring and thus eliciting reputation management behavior.