[Source:  Science Daily]

A child’s desire to share becomes influenced by social norms around the age of 8, new research has revealed. The extensive study — conducted on eight diverse societies across the world — examined children and adults’ behavior when asked to respond to a set of specific sharing tasks.

Researchers led by Dr Bailey House from the University of York’s Department of Psychology established the sharing patterns of adults in the eight societies, and then worked with children from the same communities to determine how they would split a set of rewards in an experimental sharing task.

Children were given a choice between two options: a generous option which delivered one reward to them and one reward to a stranger. The selfish option delivered both rewards to the child.

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