Children’s Prosocial Behaviors Toward Various Ingroup and Outgroup Members in Different Countries
Chair(s): Laura Taylor (University College Dublin)
Discussant(s): Linda Juang (University of Potsdam)
Prosocial behaviors are voluntary actions to benefit, help, or care for others (Eisenberg et al., 2015). This symposium reflects research that integrates the areas of moral development and group dynamics (ingroup versus outgroup membership). This collective work spans various age groups and countries (i.e., Italy, Ireland, Canada). The papers explore children’s prosocial behaviors based on a variety of group memberships. The authors also extend current research by examining the role of children’s sympathy and socialization experiences in making choices about helping ingroup and outgroup members. Paper 1 examined preschool-aged children’s sympathy, social inclusion, and prosocial behaviors toward either migrant-origin or non-migrant-origin targets in Italy. The results indicated that ingroup bias is evident, such that children exhibited lower levels of sympathy and social inclusion for migrant-origin than non-migrant-origin targets. Study 2 investigated school-aged children’s attitudes and prosocial behavior across various social groups (e.g., nationality, ethnicity) in the Republic of Ireland. Results showed that attitudes towards Refugees in Ireland predicted prosocial behavior across different groups. In Paper 3, the authors examined the roles of young children’s self-regulation in responses to hypothetical transgressions against ingroup versus outgroup members (i.e., different school/socioeconomic class), parenting, and empathy for their later prosocial behaviors. Results indicated a complex mediated moderation effect, such that self-regulation predicted empathy (and, in turn, prosocial behavior) only under conditions of negative parenting. This symposium will provide insight into children’s prosocial behaviors toward different groups to promote harmonious relationships across childhood.
Presentations of the Symposium
Preschool Children's Sympathy, Prosocial Behavior, and Social Inclusion toward Non-Migrant and Migrant-Origin Peers in Italy
Daniele Di Tata1, Stefania Sette1, Gabrielle Coppola2, Federica Bianco3, Lucia Silvia Lillo2, Aurora Rinaldi3, Federica Zava4, Marina Camodeca5, Ilaria Castelli3, Fiorenzo Laghi1, Tracy L. Spinrad6
1Sapienza University of Rome, 2Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, 3Università degli Studi di Bergamo, 4Università Roma Tre, 5Università degli Studi di Udine, 6Arizona State University
Children’s sympathy (i.e., feelings of sorrow toward another person) and prosocial behaviors (i.e., voluntary actions to benefit another; Eisenberg et al., 2015) are related to the group dynamics, suggesting that children strive to benefit the ingroup than the outgroup members (Renno & Shutts, 2015). This study investigated how young children's sympathy, prosocial behaviors, and social inclusion differ across age groups (i.e., 3, 4, 5 years) and child sex based on the characteristics of the targets.
Participants were N = 406 children (46% girls) aged 3 to 5 years (Mage = 4.33 years; SD = 0.70). We presented a series of vignettes depicting social injustices toward either a migrant-origin or non-migrant-origin peer and asked questions to assess children's sympathy and social inclusion toward the victim (Spinrad et al., 2023; αs from .86 to .88). Prosocial behavior was measured using a sticker-sharing task in which children were shown pictures of 10 same-sex peers (5 migrant-origin, 5 non-migrant-origin peers; Spinrad et al., 2023).
Results from general linear mixed models indicated that children reported lower levels of sympathy and social inclusion toward migrant-origin peers compared to non-migrant-origin peers. Only 5-year-olds children—but not 3-4-year-olds children—reported lower sympathy for migrant-origin peers (B = -.11, SE = .02, p < .05). No significant associations emerged between target characteristics and prosocial behaviors (B = -.07, SE = .19, p = .94). Overall, older children reported higher levels of sympathy (B = .26, SE = .08, p < .01) and social inclusion (B = .21, SE = .07, p < .01), while girls displayed higher social inclusion than boys (B = .12, SE = .05, p < .05).
Overall, only 5-year-old children displayed lower sympathy for migrant-origin peers, suggesting that this age marks a critical period for the development of ingroup favoritism in the expression of feelings of sympathy.
Prosocial Giving of Irish Children: The Role of Empathy and Outgroup Attitudes
Laura K. Taylor1, Serengeti Ayhan2, Vivian Liu1, Dearbhaile Counihan1, Mary-Jane Emmett1
1University College Dublin, 2Bilkent University
Understanding children’s prosocial behaviors towards diverse outgroups is essential for fostering inclusive intergroup relations. Much of the existing research relies on minimal group designs or binary ingroup-outgroup distinctions, limiting the contextualization of children's social behaviors. This study broadens the scope by examining children's prosocial giving across multiple socially relevant outgroups, each with distinct historical and societal positions.
Data was collected from 128 White Irish children from Republic of Ireland (range: 7-11, Mage = 9.5, SD = 1.2, 68 girls). Participants were presented with a hypothetical resource allocation task in which they imagined distributing stickers to peers from six target groups: White Irish, White British, Irish Travellers, Refugees, Irish Ethnic Minorities, and a Novel Ethnic Minority. They also reported their outgroup empathy and outgroup attitudes toward the British, Traveller, Refugee, and Irish Ethnic Minority groups.
Findings revealed that children’s prosocial giving varied by target group. They allocated the most resources to White Irish, British, and Traveller peers, followed by Refugees and the Novel Minority, with the lowest giving for Irish Ethnic Minority. Regression analyses showed that attitudes toward refugees uniquely predicted prosocial giving across multiple targets, suggesting that social perceptions of refugees extend beyond group boundaries. Empathy toward refugees also predicted prosocial behavior toward British and refugee peers, highlighting the distinct role of refugee status in children's intergroup prosociality.
These findings highlight the complexity of children’s intergroup prosocial behavior, and the distinct social perceptions associated with refugee status. Future research should investigate whether these patterns hold across sociocultural contexts and examine the underlying mechanisms driving children’s differential responses to outgroups. By recognizing the diverse identities and dynamics of outgroups, this study deepens our understanding of children’s intergroup relations and informs targeted interventions to foster inclusivity in childhood.
Associations Between Self-Regulation During Ingroup Versus Outgroup Transgressions, Empathy, Parenting, and Prosocial Behaviors Across Childhood
Jennifer J. Phillips1, Ruth Speidel1, Marc Jambon2, Tyler Colasante3, Tina Malti4
1University of Toronto Mississauga, 2Wilfrid Laurier University, 3Leipzig University, 4University of Toronto Mississauga; Leipzig University
Children engage in more prosocial behaviors toward ingroup members than outgroup members (Malti & Dys, 2017; Over, 2018). Ingroup versus outgroup biases may be driven by both internal and external factors like regulation, empathy, and parenting (Paulus et al., 2015; Spinrad et al., 2023 Wong et al., 2021). Our study examined the longitudinal mechanisms that explain associations between child regulation when committing hypothetical transgressions against ingroup members and outgroup members and children’s subsequent prosocial behaviors.
Children (N = 150) participated at ages 4- (T1), 6- (T2), and 7- (T3) years with a caregiver. At T1, child regulation was assessed using respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (rRSA) while listening to vignettes about transgressions against ingroup members (IGTs) and transgressions against outgroup members (OGTs). Higher rRSA scores indicated poorer regulation and lower scores indicated better regulation. At T2, caregivers reported their negative parenting behaviors (moderator) and their children’s empathy (mediator). At T3, children reported their prosocial behaviors (dependent variable). Two moderated mediation models were tested. Independent variables were IGT rRSA (Model A) and OGT rRSA (Model B).
Model A fit well [RMSEA = 0.035, CFI = 0.960]. Empathy mediated the association between higher IGT rRSA and lower prosocial behaviors [95% CI (–0.337, –0.003)].This indirect effect was moderated by negative parenting [β = –0.567, p = .011, 95% CI (–0.096, –0.001)], such that higher rRSA predicted lower empathy, but only when caregivers also reported higher negative parenting. No significant effects were detected in Model B.
Lower empathy may explain associations between children’s poorer regulation during IGTs and lower subsequent prosocial behaviors, but only when caregivers report high negative parenting. These effects were not significant for children’s regulation during hypothetical OGTs. The results suggest that differing mechanisms underlie the links between children’s biases toward ingroup versus outgroup members and prosocial behaviors.
