2-171 - Cross-cultural approaches to the study of prosocial development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Prosociality is a foundational component of human behavior, and developmental psychologists have revealed much about how it is shaped by both evolved mechanisms and socialization. Yet, fully understanding the origins of human prosociality requires understanding its variability, and this necessitates incorporating cultural diversity into our knowledge of prosocial development. In this symposium we present new research at the forefront of exploring cross-cultural variation in the development of human prosociality, from early-childhood to adolescence.

The first paper investigates how reciprocal cooperation develops across 6-15 year-old rural and urban Fijians, and urban Americans. The second paper examines the development of 4-15 year-old children’s aversion to inequitable outcomes, and their willingness to punish unfair behavior by others, across India, Peru, Senegal, Uganda, and the United States. The third paper presents data describing instrumental and altruistic helping in 18 and 30 month olds in Canada, India and Peru.

Results reveal considerable similarities across societies, with all groups showing altruistic helping in early childhood, and both reciprocity and inequity aversion in older children. However, the studies also find evidence of substantial variation in the development of these prosocial behaviors across societies. Our discussant is a central figure in the field of prosocial development, and will place these papers in the context of the history and likely future of the field.

Together, these papers illustrate the application of cross-cultural methods to the study of universality and variability in prosocial development, which is crucial for our understanding of how both evolved mechanisms and socialization shape human prosociality.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Bailey House, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology

Discussant

• Nancy Eisenberg, Arizona State University

Individual Presentations

• The Development of Contingent Reciprocity across Societies - Presenting Author: Bailey House, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology

• Children’s enforcement and internalization of fairness norms across cultures - Presenting Author: Katherine McAuliffe, Yale; Peter R Blake, Boston University; Tara C Callaghan, St Francis Xavier Univ; John Corbit, Simon Fraser University; Aleah Bowie, Duke University; Lauren Kleutsch, Harvard University; Karen Kramer, University of Utah; Ann Finkel, Harvard University; Felix Warneken, Harvard University

• Instrumental and Altruistic Helping Across Three Cultural Contexts - Presenting Author: Tara C Callaghan, St Francis Xavier Univ; John Corbit, Simon Fraser University