1-136 - How Children Behave with Money: Spending, Saving, and Market Mode Behavior

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Many parents and educators strive to teach children how to spend money carefully, save wisely, and share with those who are less fortunate. The four studies in this symposium add to what is known about these important topics. In the first paper, Chaplin et al. show that, when primed with thoughts of money, children aged 3-6 shift into market-pricing mode (Fiske, 1992), showing less prosociality and elevated persistence and performance on subsequent tasks. In the second paper, Zaleskiewicz & Gasiorowska conducted a longitudinal investigation of 7-9-year-old children's money saving behavior. Controlling for age, children who scored higher on tests of intelligence and economic knowledge were also more likely to save money in a lab-based saving game and via real-world bank deposits. In the third paper, Smith et al. tested a new self-report measure of 5-10-year-old children's emotion-related economic behavior. Children reliably reported on the extent to which they experienced negative and positive emotions related to saving and spending, and these reports predicted observed spending and saving behavior when children were given real money. In the final paper, Kalish et al. discuss a collaboration with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau designed to characterize the nature and development of financial well-being. Key aspects of financial well-being are discussed, with attention to developmental concerns. A study with 4- and 8-year-old children is also presented, showing that children associate high-cost items with desirability but not necessarily with quality. These four papers are placed in the context of existing research and practical developmental concerns.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Craig E. Smith, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Individual Presentations

• Children Become More Agentic but Less Helpful Around Money: Early Signs of Market Mode Behaviors - Presenting Author: Lan Nguyen Chaplin, University of Illinois at Chicago; Kathleen D. Vohs, University of Minnesota; Agata Gasiorowska, University of South Africa; Tomasz Zaleskiewicz, 10Charge; Sandra Wygrab, University of Social Sciences and Humanities

• Intelligence and Economic Knowledge Predict Saving in Children from 7 to 9 Years of Age - Presenting Author: Tomasz Zaleskiewicz, 10Charge; Agata Gasiorowska, University of South Africa

• Affective Links to Spending and Saving Tendencies in Childhood - Presenting Author: Craig E. Smith, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Scott I. Rick, University of Michigan; Susan A Gelman, Univ of Michigan; Margaret Echelbarger, University of Michigan

• Developing Financial Capability - Presenting Author: Charles Kalish, Univ of Wisc-Madison; Anita Drever, Corporation for Enterprise Development; Elizabeth Odders-White, University of Wisconsin, Madison