Grateful Giving: Affective Influences on Children's Upstream Reciprocity

Two studies investigated the development and motivations underlying children’s upstream reciprocity. In Study 1, 3- and 4-year-olds (n=40 per age group) received or did not receive help while playing a game. Subsequently, children could share stickers with a new child. Four-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, showed evidence of upstream reciprocity: Those who had received help were more generous towards the new child. Study 2 (n=46) replicated these results and found evidence for a gratitude-like motivation underlying the upstream reciprocity: Children who received help evaluated the benefactor more positively, and positive evaluations of the benefactor correlated with children’s upstream reciprocity. Thus, upstream reciprocity emerges by 4 years of age and may already be motivated by a nascent sense of gratitude.