How Development and Culture Shape Intuitions About Prosocial Obligations

Do children, like most adults, believe that only kin and close others are obligated to help one another? In two studies (total N = 1140), we examined whether children (similar to 5- to similar to 10-yos) and adults across five different societies consider social relationship when ascribing prosocial obligations. Contrary to the view that such discriminations are a natural default in human reasoning, younger children in the United States (Studies 1 and 2) and across cultures (Study 2) generally judged everyone-parents, friends, and strangers-as obligated to help someone in need. Older children and adults, on the other hand, tended to exhibit more discriminant judgments. They considered parents more obligated to help than friends followed by strangers-although this effect was stronger in some cultures than others. Our findings suggest that children's initial sense of prosocial obligation in social-relational contexts starts out broad and generally becomes more selective over the course of development.

Automated summary

The study found that younger children tend to believe that everyone is obligated to help those in need, while older children and adults exhibit more discriminatory judgments. Adults generally consider parents to have a greater obligation to help others, with varying judgments towards friends and strangers, which varies across cultures.