ERIC Number: EJ1143981
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jul
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1467-7687
EISSN: N/A
The Development of Generosity and Moral Cognition across Five Cultures
Cowell, Jason M.; Lee, Kang; Malcolm-Smith, Susan; Selcuk, Bilge; Zhou, Xinyue; Decety, Jean
Developmental Science, v20 n4 Jul 2017
Morality is an evolved aspect of human nature, yet is heavily influenced by cultural environment. This developmental study adopted an integrative approach by combining measures of socioeconomic status (SES), executive function, affective sharing, empathic concern, theory of mind, and moral judgment in predicting sharing behavior in children (N = 999) from the age of 5 to 12 in five large-scale societies: Canada, China, Turkey, South Africa, and the USA. Results demonstrate that age, gender, SES, culture, and social cognitive mechanisms explain over 20% of the variance worldwide in children's resource allocation. These findings are discussed in reference to standard cultural comparisons (individualist/collectivist), as well as the degree of market integration, and highlight continuities and discontinuities in children's generosity across urban contexts.
Descriptors: Moral Values, Cultural Influences, Socioeconomic Status, Executive Function, Affective Behavior, Empathy, Theory of Mind, Value Judgment, Child Behavior, Children, Preadolescents, Age Differences, Gender Differences, Social Cognition, Foreign Countries, Cross Cultural Studies, Comparative Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada; China; Turkey; South Africa; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A