Prosocial Behavior Increases with Age across Five Economic Games.

ABSTRACT: Ontogenic studies of human prosociality generally agree on that human prosociality increases from early childhood through early adulthood; however, it has not been established if prosociality increases beyond early adulthood. We examined a sample of 408 non-student residents from Tokyo, Japan, who were evenly distributed across age (20-59) and sex. Participants played five economic games each separated by a few months. We demonstrated that prosocial behavior increased with age beyond early adulthood and this effect was shown across all five economic games. A similar, but weaker, age-related trend was found in one of three social value orientation measures of prosocial preferences. We measured participants' belief that manipulating others is a wise strategy for social success, and found tha

SUBMITTER: Matsumoto Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4945042 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature