The influence of group membership on young children's prosocial behaviour

Abstract

Young children can be extremely prosocial-willing to help and share with others and comfort them in distress. However, the origins of social problems like prejudice and discrimination also appear early in development. In this paper, I discuss research investigating how group membership affects children's tendency to be prosocial. Existing research on this topic has focused primarily on sharing behaviour and shown that, in general, children allocate more resources to members of their own groups. After reviewing this important literature, I make the case for extending research with young children to other forms of prosociality. This has the potential to inform our understanding of the mechanisms behind ingroup favouritism in prosociality and help us understand routes towards interventions to encourage more egalitarian behaviour.