Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others

Abstract Possessiveness toward objects and sharing are competing tendencies that influence dyadic and group interactions within the primate lineage. A distinctive form of sharing in adult Homo sapiens involves active giving of high-valued possessions to others, without an immediate reciprocal benefi...

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Autores principales: Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, Andrew N. Meltzoff
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/d948ae241f12475daad33b83ecae7874
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:d948ae241f12475daad33b83ecae78742021-12-02T14:49:34ZHuman infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others10.1038/s41598-021-88898-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/d948ae241f12475daad33b83ecae78742021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88898-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Possessiveness toward objects and sharing are competing tendencies that influence dyadic and group interactions within the primate lineage. A distinctive form of sharing in adult Homo sapiens involves active giving of high-valued possessions to others, without an immediate reciprocal benefit. In two Experiments with 19-month-old human infants (N = 96), we found that despite measurable possessive behavior toward their own personal objects (favorite toy, bottle), infants spontaneously gave these items to a begging stranger. Moreover, human infants exhibited this behavior across different types of objects that are relevant to theory (personal objects, sweet food, and common objects)—showing flexible generalizability not evidenced in non-human primates. We combined these data with a previous dataset, yielding a large sample of infants (N = 192), and identified sociocultural factors that may calibrate young infants’ sharing of objects with others. The current findings show a proclivity that is rare or absent in our closest living relatives—the capacity to override possessive behavior toward personally valued objects by sharing those same desired objects with others.Rodolfo Cortes BarraganAndrew N. MeltzoffNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan
Andrew N. Meltzoff
Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
description Abstract Possessiveness toward objects and sharing are competing tendencies that influence dyadic and group interactions within the primate lineage. A distinctive form of sharing in adult Homo sapiens involves active giving of high-valued possessions to others, without an immediate reciprocal benefit. In two Experiments with 19-month-old human infants (N = 96), we found that despite measurable possessive behavior toward their own personal objects (favorite toy, bottle), infants spontaneously gave these items to a begging stranger. Moreover, human infants exhibited this behavior across different types of objects that are relevant to theory (personal objects, sweet food, and common objects)—showing flexible generalizability not evidenced in non-human primates. We combined these data with a previous dataset, yielding a large sample of infants (N = 192), and identified sociocultural factors that may calibrate young infants’ sharing of objects with others. The current findings show a proclivity that is rare or absent in our closest living relatives—the capacity to override possessive behavior toward personally valued objects by sharing those same desired objects with others.
format article
author Rodolfo Cortes Barragan
Andrew N. Meltzoff
author_facet Rodolfo Cortes Barragan
Andrew N. Meltzoff
author_sort Rodolfo Cortes Barragan
title Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
title_short Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
title_full Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
title_fullStr Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
title_full_unstemmed Human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
title_sort human infants can override possessive tendencies to share valued items with others
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/d948ae241f12475daad33b83ecae7874
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