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Presented By: Department of Psychology

Developmental Area Brown Bag - Quid pro quo: The origins of reciprocity and trust in children's sharing behavior

Dr. Felix Warneken, Associate Professor, Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan

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Reciprocity provides a powerful mechanism for sustaining cooperation. When two individuals interact repeatedly and reciprocate favors, both are better off in the long-term than if they act selfishly. While the importance of reciprocity has been shown in theoretical models and extensively studied in adults, little is known about the developmental trajectory of reciprocity in children. Here I present a series of study to test when reciprocity begins to shape children’s sharing decisions.

A first set of studies asks how children evaluate others as potential reciprocal partners. By adapting a trust game for 4- to 6-year-old children, we assessed when they begin to share with trustworthy partners who share fairly over untrustworthy partners who keep proceeds for themselves. A second set of studies asks how children act when they are being evaluated as social partners themselves. In a new “bribery game”, 3- to 7 –year-old children could curry favors to others in order to elicit reciprocation and be chosen as social partners themselves.

I discuss these findings in light of the hypothesis that children become increasingly more strategic over development and learn to use prosocial means for ulterior selfish ends.
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