Children from six cultures reliably help their peers—but in different ways

Abstract

Helping others is an integral part of human sociality, but systematic cross-cultural comparisons of children’s helping behavior are rare. Existing work has mainly focused on interactions between adults and children, paying less attention to peer dynamics—which are more relevant in many cultural settings. Here, we report a study of 4- to 9-y-old children’s (N = 336) spontaneous helping in 6 highly diverse populations in Latin America, Africa, and Europe (Wichí, Quechua, ≠Akhoe Hai||om, Samburu, Kikuyu, and Germans). In all settings, we observed pairs of same-aged children in an experimental task in which one partner could assist the other by providing either instrumental help or information. Across cultures, children reliably helped their peers by offering either type of help, with the provision of information increasing over age. We found striking commonalities in peer helping in all settings, with only small culture-specific patterns in children’s responses. This suggests that helping among children is a universal human behavior which is subtly shaped by local norms and practices.