Sustained Effects of Peer Prosocial Modeling on Children's Sharing Behavior

This research examined whether children are sensitive to the level of generosity demonstrated by peer prosocial models and whether such modeling has a lasting effect on promoting children's sharing. Four‐ and 6‐year‐old Chinese children ( N = 120) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the high generosity condition, children watched a video in which four peers each sequentially shared 8 out of 10 tokens with anonymous recipients. In the moderate generosity condition, four peers each shared 4 out of 10 tokens. Children then themselves participated in a sharing task. The results showed that 6‐year‐olds, but not 4‐year‐olds, shared significantly more in the high generosity condition than in the moderate generosity condition. About two weeks later, children engaged in a second sharing session without exposure to modeling. Strikingly, the differential effect of the conditions for 6‐year‐olds persisted during the second sharing session. Taken together, the findings highlight the developmental emergence of young children's remarkable capacity for fine‐tuned and sustained social learning.