Temporal predictability promotes prosocial behavior in 5-year-old children.

ABSTRACT: Although interpersonal coordinative activities have been shown to produce prosocial effects in both adults and children, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. While most approaches focus on the effect of mimicry and synchronous behavioral matching, we hypothesize that temporal predictability might play a central role in producing prosocial effects, as it directs coordination and might therefore strengthen shared intentionality. In a percussion task with pairs of 5-year old children, we manipulated temporal predictability and movement similarity/predictability between the pair's movements. Temporal predictability was manipulated by instructing the pair to play the instruments either to beats that were evenly-spaced, and therefore predictable, or to beats that were random, and therefore

SUBMITTER: Wan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6538183 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature