Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36918
Appears in Collections:Law and Philosophy Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Children consider others’ need and reputation in costly sharing decisions
Author(s): Blakey, Kirsten H
Contact Email: emilie.lavallee-funston@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Costly sharing
Indirect reciprocity
Fairness
Social decision-making
Prosocial behaviour
Dictator game
Issue Date: 27-Feb-2025
Date Deposited: 4-Mar-2025
Citation: Blakey KH (2025) Children consider others’ need and reputation in costly sharing decisions. <i>Scientific Reports</i>, 15, Art. No.: 7103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91648-y
Abstract: Children’s sharing decisions are shaped by recipient characteristics such as need and reputation, yet studies often focus on one characteristic at a time. This research examines how combinations of recipient characteristics impact costly sharing decisions among 3- to 9-year-old children (N = 186). Children were informed about the material need (needy or not needy) and reputation (sharing or not sharing) of potential recipients before having the opportunity to share stickers with them. Results indicated that sharing was higher when the recipient was needy and increased more when the recipient had a reputation for sharing. Children shared over half of their stickers with a needy, sharing recipient, and less than half with a not needy, not sharing recipient. Children shared equally with recipients who were needy and not sharing or not needy and sharing, suggesting no preference for either characteristic. To explore the emotional benefits of sharing, children rated their own and the recipient’s mood before and after sharing, showing a greater increase in ratings of the recipient’s mood when more resources were shared. These findings suggest that children consider multiple recipient characteristics in their sharing decisions, demonstrating altruism toward those in need and indirectly reciprocating past sharing based on reputation.
DOI Link: 10.1038/s41598-025-91648-y
Rights: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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