The behavior and configuration of a child’s mind is an enigma that different investigations have tried to solve throughout history and surprising new findings do not stop happening. The most recent is related to the compassion of the little ones and how this is conditioned based on their own benefit.
Are children compassionate by nature? It seems that yes, but not always. According to a study published in The Royal Society Publishing, children only show compassion, help and comfort someone in a bind when it doesn’t hurt their own reward. That is to say: they are only compassionate when it interests them.
The aforementioned study analyzed the behavior of 285 children between the ages of four and five. They were subjected to a test where they had to make a puzzle together with an adult or a puppet, the latter with fewer pieces than necessary to solve it or with inappropriate pieces. Whoever solved the puzzle would get a sticker as a prize.
In some phases of the experiment, the children had exactly the same number of pieces they needed to solve their own puzzle. In others, they also had the pieces that were missing from the participants next to them (the adult or the puppet).
During the performance of the challenge, the adult or the puppet would show distress to let the child know that they could not complete their puzzle. In all the studies conducted, children only helped each other when they had additional resources, never when they had just the right pieces to complete their own puzzle.
Of course, when they did not help, they always tried to comfort the other person. The researchers even tried to encourage the children to share the pieces and also reminded them that they were on the same team, but this did not always make them decide to share their own resources. In this sense, they observed that children were more likely to give up a piece of their puzzle after receiving the relevant sticker, knowing that they would not lose the reward.
“We found strong evidence that personal cost reduces compassionate response. When children were able to help without sacrificing their reward, help rates increased. Similarly, when they were given explicit instructions that they could help, and thus help was brought to the fore, the rates increased.
“These findings indicate that personal cost is a greater inhibitor to the compassionate response than who the compassion is directed toward. This is in line with the literature for adults that suggests that personal cost to oneself and competitive self-interest are inhibitors of compassion”, adds the conclusion of the experiment, so that this lack of compassion is closely related to competitiveness.
