Study: Toddlers Are Happier Giving to Others Than to Themselves

By Enda Tan, Julia Van de Vondervoort, Jeneesha Dhaliwal, Lara B. Aknin, Jane Kiley Hamlin

ABSTRACT
Humans routinely share valuable resources, even at significant personal cost (e.g., organ donation). What motivates such generosity? This study examined the emotional benefits of sharing in toddlers with the largest and youngest sample to date (N = 134; Mage = 20.50 months, range = 16.57–23.77 months). Replicating prior studies, toddlers displayed greater happiness after giving than receiving. Extending these findings, we demonstrate that sharing resources provided by an experimenter elicited greater happiness than observing the experimenter share, suggesting that actively performing prosocial acts leads to greater reward. Crucially, we ruled out alternative explanations by demonstrating that the emotional benefits of sharing are not attributable in this study to emotional contagion (toddlers’ happiness was unrelated to recipient’s enthusiasm) or following an experimenter’s instructions (toddlers were happier giving to others than to themselves). These findings provide evidence that sharing is intrinsically rewarding from shortly after it first emerges, which may serve as a proximate mechanism driving cooperation across societies.

Summary
We provide evidence that sharing is intrinsically rewarding soon after this behavior emerges in ontogeny.
Toddlers displayed greater happiness after giving than receiving, and actively sharing resources led to more happiness than merely observing sharing.
Giving to others elicited more happiness than giving to oneself, suggesting that sharing is emotionally rewarding due to its prosocial nature.

Continue reading here.

Reading Kingdom is an online K-3 reading program that uses a new “phonics-plus” model to teach students to read and write at a 3rd grade level with comprehension. Sign up for a complimentary Reading Kingdom trial (or any of our other products) here.

We also have a program for students on the autism spectrum and others who face unique learning challenges called ASD Reading. Sign up for a complimentary trial of ASD Reading.

State & Charter school funding is available! Look for your program and begin using your education funds today!

Want to help a child in need learn to read? Try shopping at our Amazon affiliate store where a portion of every sale goes towards teaching kids the life-changing skill of reading.