Warneken, F., Lohse, K., Melis, Alicia P. and Tomasello, Michael (2011) Young children share the spoils after collaboration. Psychological Science, Volume 22 (Number 2). pp. 267-273. doi:10.1177/0956797610395392

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Abstract

Egalitarian behavior is considered to be a species-typical component of human cooperation. Human adults tend to share resources equally, even if they have the opportunity to keep a larger portion for themselves. Recent experiments have suggested that this tendency emerges fairly late in human ontogeny, not before 6 or 7 years of age. Here we show that 3-year-old children share mostly equally with a peer after they have worked together actively to obtain rewards in a collaboration task, even when those rewards could easily be monopolized. These findings contrast with previous findings from a similar experiment with chimpanzees, who tended to monopolize resources whenever they could. The potentially species-unique tendency of humans to share equally emerges early in ontogeny, perhaps originating in collaborative interactions among peers.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychological Science
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	0956-7976
Official Date:	February 2011
Dates:	Date Event February 2011 Published
Volume:	Volume 22
Number:	Number 2
Number of Pages:	6
Page Range:	pp. 267-273
DOI:	10.1177/0956797610395392
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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