The question of whether a child is born nice, or it is a developed behaviour has puzzled people for generations, but new research claims to have finally found the answer.
A pair of Stanford psychologists have released the results of new experiments which demonstrate that altruism is not something that we are born with, but rather is subject to environmental factors.
Researchers Rodolfo Cortes Barragan and Carol Dweck conducted the new research as an extension of an original experiment they carried out in 2006.
In the original experiment, Barragan and Dweck looked at the behaviour of a group of 18-month-olds when put in a situation where they could help the researchers. The statistical results of the experiment showed that the children’s willingness to help without being prompted demonstrated altruism to be an innate quality we are born with.
However, upon reflection, the researchers took into consideration the fact that they had played with the children beforehand, in order to make them feel comfortable in the setting. As a result, they decided to re-do the experiment and investigate the effect of these factors further.
In the new experiment, the researchers carried out their study across 34 one- and two-year-olds, dividing them into two groups.
In the first group, the experimenter chatted with the child, with the pair rolling a ball back and forth between them. The experimenter then ‘accidentally’ dropped an object from a nearby table and observed the child to see if they picked it up.
The same process was carried out with the second group, except this time the experimenter and the child played with a ball each separately as they chatted.
The new experiment demonstrated that the children from the first group – the group who engaged in reciprocal play – were three times more likely to pick up the object without being prompted, leading the researchers to believe that altruism is learned, and is not an innate quality.
Speaking after the release of the results, researcher Barragan said: “If children trust the people in their world, they may have an easier time learning the culture of that world – effectively making it easier for them to achieve new levels of personal and interpersonal success.”
