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April 22, 2026Trends in Cognitive Sciences0 citationsOpen Access

How developing prosocial motivations shape children’s altruism

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RHRobert HepachEDElla Daniel

Key Points

  • The aim is to explore how the development of different motivations influences children's altruistic behavior.
  • Synthesis of recent research on children's prosocial motivations
  • Analysis of intrinsic, extrinsic, and strategic motivations
  • Children develop intrinsic, extrinsic, and strategic motivations sequentially.
  • The order of motivation development affects altruistic behaviors.

Abstract

Developmental perspectives are crucial to harnessing the human potential for altruism. We synthesise and highlight recent research on the motivations underlying children's (costly) prosocial behaviour. The order in which children develop intrinsic, extrinsic, and strategic motivations to benefit others has implications for efforts to positively impact young people's lives.

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Cite This Study

Hepach et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69e864866e0dea528dde948ahttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2026.03.007
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