Leaving a Choice for Others: Children’s Evaluations of Considerate, Socially‐Mindful Actions

Abstract

People value those who act with others in mind even as they pursue their own goals. Across three studies (N = 566; 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds), we investigated children’s developing understanding of such considerate, socially‐mindful actions. By age 6, both U.S. and Chinese children positively evaluate a character who takes a snack for herself in a way that leaves a snack choice for others over a character who leaves no choice (Study 1), but only when the actors had alternative possible actions (Study 2) and when a clear beneficiary was present (Study 3). These results suggest an emerging ability to infer underlying social intentions from self‐oriented actions, providing insights into the role of social‐cognitive capacities versus culture‐specific norms in children’s moral evaluations.

Prosocial choices: How do young children evaluate considerate and inconsiderate behavior?

“…Children, however, evaluated considerate and inconsiderate targets as equally smart. These results extend previous research (Zhao et al, 2021) by showing that children’s inferences about considerate behavior are specific to the social domain (i.e., how nice the target is, and whether children are willing to lend toys to them) as opposed to resulting in broad positive generalizations about other people (Koenig & Jaswal, 2011; Stipek & Daniels, 1990).…”

“…Moreover, children evaluated leaving a choice as nicer only when there was indeed a beneficiary present, as opposed to when targets made a choice without a friend next in line (study 3). Zhao and colleagues (2021) thus provide initial evidence that children as young as 6 years old have the capacity to understand that leaving a choice for others is more considerate. At the same time, the study was limited in scope (i.e., only included choices about snacks at lunchtime and how this affected inferences about being a nice friend) and age range (4–6 years).…”

“…The present research also assessed developmental differences in children’s evaluations of considerate and inconsiderate behavior. On the one hand, extracting social intent from observing people who leave or limit choice options for others might be challenging for young children, as it requires incorporation of considerations from multiple actors (considerate others, recipients), goals and objects (see also Zhao et al, 2021). On the other hand, children as young as three think others should behave prosocially and condemn those who do not (e.g., Dahl et al, 2020), suggesting that other people’s prosocial behavior conveys a strong signal at an early point in development.…”

“…Only one study has, to our knowledge, examined this type of considerate behavior in children (Zhao et al, 2021) by focusing on whether young children (age 4-6 years) are able to recognize that it is nicer to leave a choice for others versus limiting their choices. They presented children with a situation in which they saw two dolls-during lunchtime-who were picking snacks: One left a choice for her friend next in line, whereas the other did not.…”

Constrained Choice: Children's and Adults’ Attribution of Choice to a Humanoid Robot

“…The ability to choose freely is at the foundation of being human, explaining why we view institutions that restrict free choice, such as prison and slavery, as dehumanizing. Even at a young age, children understand the difference between a choice and a constraint (Kushnir, 2018) and children negatively evaluate people who limit others' ability to choose (Zhao, Zhao, Gweon, & Kushnir, 2020). Is this capacity for choice attributed only to humans or can it also be ascribed to other agents, like robots?…”