Extrinsic Rewards Undermine Altruistic Tendencies in 20-Month-Olds

The current study investigated the influence of rewards on very young children's helping behavior. After 20-month-old infants received a material reward during a treatment phase, they subsequently were less likely to engage in further helping during a test phase as compared with infants who had...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 2008-11, Vol.44 (6), p.1785-1788
Main Authors: Warneken, Felix, Tomasello, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altruism
Babies
Behavior Patterns
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Comparative Analysis
Developmental psychology
External Rewards
Extrinsic rewards
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Helping Behavior
Helping behaviour
Helping Relationship
Human
Humans
Infant
Infants
Internal-External Control
Intrinsic Motivation
Male
Motivation
Newborn. Infant
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Psychology, Child
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reinforcement, Verbal
Reward
Rewards
Social psychology
Socialization
Task Analysis
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Summary:The current study investigated the influence of rewards on very young children's helping behavior. After 20-month-old infants received a material reward during a treatment phase, they subsequently were less likely to engage in further helping during a test phase as compared with infants who had previously received social praise or no reward at all. This so-called overjustification effect suggests that even the earliest helping behaviors of young children are intrinsically motivated and that socialization practices involving extrinsic rewards can undermine this tendency.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/a0013860