Skip to Main Content

Experimental Psychology (Russia)
2021. Vol. 14, no. 3, 50–66
doi:10.17759/exppsy.2021140304
ISSN: 2072-7593 / 2311-7036 (online)

Altruism and Parochialism Among Children and Adolescents: Sex and Age Differences

484

V.N. Burkova, M.L. Butovskaya, D.A. Dronova, Y.I. Adam

PDF (RUS)
Online translation in english
GS
Information
in Google Scholar

Abstract

The article presents the results of an experimental study of altruism and parochialism among school- children in Moscow and the Moscow region. The propensity for prosocial behavior in children was assessed using an experimental technique developed by E. Fehr and adapted earlier in our experiments with children (Tanzania). A sample of the study consists of 379 children and adolescents (192 boys and 187 girls) aged 7 to 17 years. Schoolchildren made decisions in six proposed dilemmas — prosocial behavior, envy and altruism. The aim of the study was to identify the sex and age characteristics of altruistic and parochial behavior of children and adolescents from schools in Moscow and the Moscow region. The results of the research show that girls were more prosocial in making decisions in relation to unfamiliar peers in one of the experimental games. But the age of the schoolchildren was more important predictor than sex in decision of the allocation of resources. With age, students were more altruistic in relation to friends and unfamiliar peers. The most important factor influencing altruistic behavior turned out to be belonging to one’s own group (friend- ship) — a significant parochial effect was observed in all six dilemmas.

General Information

Keywords: altruism, parochialism, friendship, children and adolescents, prosocial behavior, envy, fairness, Moscow schoolchildren

Journal rubric: Developmental Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2021140304

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Science Foundation (grant No 18-18-00075).

Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful for participation all schoolchildren, teachers, and the administration of the Onufrievskaya Secondary School and the Kostrov Secondary School, especially the directors of the schools — Natalya Fedorovna Korolchenko and Maria Viktorovna Platonova — for the high degree of organization of the research process and their friendly attitude in schools. The authors are also grateful to the schoolchildren and the administration of Moscow schools who took part in our study.

For citation: Burkova V.N., Butovskaya M.L., Dronova D.A., Adam Y.I. Altruism and Parochialism Among Children and Adolescents: Sex and Age Differences. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2021. Vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 50–66. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2021140304. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Vygotskii L.S. Sobranie sochinenii v 6 t. T. 4. Detskaya psikhologiya [Collected Works: in 6 vol. Vol. 4. Child Psychology]. Moscow: Pedagogika. 1984. 368 p. (In Russ.).
  2. Zarechnaya A.A.   Osobennosti   sovmestnoi   deyatel’nosti   detei   starshego   doshkol’nogo   vozrasta s normal’nym i zaderzhannym psikhofizicheskim razvitiem [Peculiarities of colaborative activity in older preschoolers with normal and retarded psychophysical development]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie=Psychological Science and Education, 2009. Vol. 5, pp. 25—33. (In Russ.).
  3. Znamenskaya I.I., Aleksandrov Yu.I. Stanovlenie nravstvennogo otnosheniya k «chuzhim» u sel’skikh i gorodskikh detei 3—11 let [Development of moral attitudes toward out-group members in 3—11-year-old urban and rural children]. Sotsial’naia psikhologiia i obshchestvo=Social Psychology and Society, 2019. Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 85—99. DOI:10.17759/sps.2019100306 (In Russ.).
  4. Mararitsa L.V., Kazantseva T.V., Pochebut L.G., Sventsitskii A.L. Vklad lichnosti v sotsial’nyi kapital gruppy: struktura al’truisticheskogo investirovaniya [The contribution of the individual to the group’s social capital: the structure of altruistic investment]. Sotsial’naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo=Social Psychology and Society, 2018. Vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 43—66. DOI:10.17759/sps.2018090104 (In Russ.).
  5. Rostovtseva V.V., Butovskaya M.L. Etnicheskii parokhializm v kooperativnom povedenii: eksperimental’noe issledovanie sredi russkikh i buryat [Ethnic parochialism in cooperative behaviour an experimental study among the Russians and Buryats]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniya=Siberian Historical Research, 2018. Vol. 4, pp. 66—84. DOI:10.17223/2312461X/22/4 (In Russ.).
  6. Sozinova I.M., Znamenskaya I.I., Krylov A.K., Aleksandrov Yu.I. Problema mezhvidovykh i mezhetnicheskikh otnoshenii v kontekste oppozitsii «svoi—chuzhoi» [Problem of interspecies and interethnic relations in context of opposition “our-other”]. Psikhologiya cheloveka i obshchestva: nauchno-prakticheskie issledovaniya=Psychology of humans and society: scientific-practical researches, 2019. Pp. 146—164.
  7. Angerer S., Glätzle-Rützler D., Lergetporer P., Sutterd M. Cooperation and discrimination within and across language borders: Evidence from children in a bilingual city. European Economic Review, 2016. Vol. 90, pp. 254—264. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.02.022
  8. Balliet D., Wu J., De Dreu C.K. Ingroup favoritism in cooperation: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 2014. Vol. 140, no. 6, pp. 1556—1581. DOI:10.1037/a0037737
  9. Barragan R.C., Dweck C.S. Rethinking natural altruism: Simple reciprocal interactions trigger children’s benevolence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014. Vol. 111, no. 48, pp. 17071—17074. DOI:10.1073/pnas.1419408111
  10. Bateson M., Nettle D., Roberts G. Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting. Biology letters, 2006. Vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 412—414. DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509
  11. Bernhard H., Fischbacher U., Fehr E. Parochial altruism in humans. Nature, 2006. Vol. 442, no. 7105, pp. 912—915. DOI:10.1038/nature04981
  12. Blake P.R. Giving What One Should: Explanations for the Knowledge-Behavior Gap for Altruistic Giving. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2018. Vol. 20, pp. 1—5. DOI:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.07.041
  13. Brañas-Garza P., Durán M.A., Espinosa M.P. Favouring friends. Bulletin of Economic Research, 2012. Vol. 64, no 2, pp. 172—178. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8586.2010.00357.x
  14. Boyd R., Gintis H., Bowles S., Richerson P.J. The evolution of altruistic punishment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003. Vol. 100, no. 6, pp. 3531—3535. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0630443100
  15. Butovskaya V.N., Burkova V.N., Karelin D.V. Does the friendship matters? Sharing, fairness and parochial altruism in African children and adolescents. Social Evolution & History, 2020. Vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 89—112. DOI: 10.30884/seh/2020.01.05
  16. Chagnon N.A. Life histories, blood revenge, and warfare in a tribal population. Science, 1988. Vol. 239, p. 985—992. DOI: 10.1126/science.239.4843.985
  17. Choi J.K., Bowles S. The coevolution of parochial altruism and war. Science, 2007. Vol. 318, no. 5850, p. 636—640. DOI: 10.1126/science.1144237
  18. Croson R., Gneezy U. Gender Differences in Preferences. Journal of Economic Literature, 2009. Vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 448—474. DOI: 10.1257/jel.47.2.448
  19. Dumontheil I., Apperly I.A., Blakemore S.J. Online Usage of Theory of Mind Continues to Develop in Late Adolescence. Developmental Science, 2010. Vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 331—338. DOI:10.1111/j.1467- 7687.2009.00888.x
  20. Eisenberg N., Mussen P.H. The Roots of Prosocial Behavior in Children. 1989. Cambridge University Press. 195 p.
  21. Fehr E., Bernhard H., Rockenbach B. Egalitarianism in young children. Nature, 2008. Vol. 454, no. 7208, p. 1079. DOI:10.1038/nature07155
  22. Fehr E., Gächter S. Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 2002. Vol. 415, no. 6868, p. 137. DOI:10.1038/415137a
  23. Fehr E., Glätzle-Rützler D., Sutter M. The Development of Egalitarianism, Altruism, Spite and Parochialism in Childhood and Adolescence. European Economic Review, 2013. Vol. 64, pp. 369—383. DOI:10.1016/j.euroecorev2013.09.006.
  24. Gintis H. Strong reciprocity and human sociality. Journal of theoretical biology, 2000. Vol. 206, no. 2, pp. 169—179. DOI:10.1006/jtbi.2000.2111
  25. Güroğlu B., Van Lieshout C.F., Haselager G.J., Scholte R.H. Similarity and complementarity of behavioral profiles of friendship types and types of friends: Friendships and psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2007. Vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 357—386. DOI:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2007.00526.x
  26. Lazić A., Purić D., Krstic K. A Meta-Analysis on Ingroup Favoritism in Cooperation Among Children and Adolescents. PsyArXiv Preprints, 2020. P. 1—40. DOI:10.31234/osf.io/uexmr
  27. Lei V., Vesely F. In-Group versus Out-Group Trust: The Impact of Income Inequality. Southern Economic Journal, 2010. Vol. 76, no. 4, pp. 1049—1063. DOI:10.4284/sej.2010.76.4.1049
  28. Nettle D., Harper Z., Kidson A., Stone R., Penton-Voak I.S., Bateson M. The watching eyes effect in the Dictator Game: it’s not how much you give, it’s being seen to give something. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2013. Vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 35—40. DOI:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.08.004
  29. Nowak M.A., Sigmund K. Evolution of indirect reciprocity. Journal of theoretical Biology, 1998. Vol. 194, no. 4, pp. 561—574.
  30. Rusch H. The two sides of warfare. Human Nature, 2014. Vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 359—377. DOI:10.1007/ s12110-014-9199-y
  31. Shaw A., Olson K.R. Children discard a resource to avoid inequity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2012. Vol. 141, no. 2, pp. 382—395. DOI:10.1037/a0025907
  32. Stürmer S., Snyder M., Omoto A.M. Prosocial emotions and helping: the   moderating   role   of group membership. Journal of personality and social psychology, 2005. Vol. 88, no. 3, pp. 532—546. DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.88.3.532
  33. Sutter, M., Zoller, C., & Glätzle-Rützler, D. Economic behavior of children and adolescents — A first survey of experimental economics results. European Economic Review, 2019. Vol. 111, pp. 98—121. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.09.004
  34. Tajfel H., Turner J.C. An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In: The social psychology of intergroup relations. Eds. M.J. Hatch, M. Schultz, 1979. Pp. 56—65. Oxford University Press.
  35. Vogt S., Effersona C., Bergerc J., Fehr E. Eye spots do not increase altruism in children. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2015. Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 224—231. DOI:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.11.007
  36. Warneken F., Hare B., Melis A.P., Hanus D., Tomasello M. Spontaneous altruism by chimpanzees and young children. PLoS biology, 2007. Vol. 5, no. 7, e184. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050184
  37. Warneken F., Tomasello M. Varieties of altruism in children and chimpanzees // Trends in cognitive sciences. 2009. Vol. 13. No. 9. P. 397—402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.008
  38. Werner C., Parmelee P. Similarity of activity preferences among friends: Those who play together stay together. Social Psychology Quarterly, 1979. Vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 62—66. DOI: 10.2307/3033874

Information About the Authors

Valentina N. Burkova, PhD in History, Senior Researcher in the Sector of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute Ethnology and Anthropology Russian Academy of Sciences, Lecturer in International Centre of Anthropology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4777-0224, e-mail: burkovav@gmail.com

Marina L. Butovskaya, Doctor of History, Professor, Head of the Sector of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEA RAS), Leading Researcher Training and Research Center of Social Anthropology, Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU UNCSA), Professor of the Department of Ethnology, Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5528-0519, e-mail: marina.butovskaya@gmail.com

Daria A. Dronova, Junior Researcher of Center of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2735-6248, e-mail: dariadronova@yandex.ru

Yulia I. Adam, Junior Researcher of Center of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3839-8360, e-mail: julia.apalkova@gmail.com

Metrics

Views

Total: 1142
Previous month: 26
Current month: 48

Downloads

Total: 484
Previous month: 19
Current month: 11