Reciprocity in Three- to Eight-Year-Old Children:

Abstract: Reciprocity means that in response to friendly actions, people are frequently much nicer and much more cooperative than predicted by the self-interest model; conversely, the response to hostile actions are frequently much more nasty and even brutal. In this thesis it is tested if reciprocity exists already in children 3- to 8-years-old, and if reciprocity changes between an younger (3- to 5-year-old) and an older (6- to 8-year-old) age group. Three different allocation games are conducted with 242 children from playschools and schools. The children divide raisins between themselves and an anonymous game-partner. In a first stage half of the children play the role of a dictator. In a second stage the roles are reversed to test for reciprocal behavior. For the entire age group tendencies of reciprocal behavior is found in all three games with significant results in two of the three games. Within the older age group, reciprocial behavior is significant in all three games. Within the younger age group, the reciprocial behavior is significant in one game. Reciprocity increases significantly with age, between the two age groups, in two of the three games. It is concluded that reciprocity exists already in children of 3 to 8 years of age, and that this behavior increases between the younger and the older age group.