Prosocial Choices: How Do Young Children Evaluate Considerate and Inconsiderate Behavior?

Adults often act considerately toward others, for example, by leaving the last cookie on a plate or stepping aside on a busy sidewalk. What do young children infer from observing considerate behavior? In three preregistered studies, we assess how young children evaluate considerate and inconsiderate behavior by showing them animated videos in which targets make decisions that either leave or limit choice options for others. Study 1 (N = 372 6 to 12-year-old children, 170 girls, 187 boys [15 not reported], 84.4% native Dutch) showed that older children, but not younger children (i.e., 6 years), evaluated considerate others (i.e., who leave a choice for others) as nicer than inconsiderate others, and they were also more willing to lend their toys to them. Moreover, children’s evaluations were specific to the social domain, as children of all ages evaluated both targets as equally smart. Focusing on younger children (5–7 years), study 2 (N = 99; 57 boys, 42 girls, 78.8% native Dutch) showed that when the consequences of considerate or inconsiderate behavior were made explicit and videos showed one target at a time, children as young as 5 years old evaluated considerate targets as nicer. Study 3 (N = 43; 20 boys, 23 girls, 92.5% native Dutch) showed that young children also evaluated considerate behavior as nicer when the consequences of considerate behavior were not made explicit. These studies extend developmental research on prosocial behavior and suggest that considerate behavior conveys a clear social signal early in life.