title: Neighborhood Deprivation Negatively Impacts Children's Prosocial Behavior.
abstract: Children show stronger cooperative behavior in experimental settings as they get older, but little is known about how the environment of a child shapes this development. In adults, prosocial behavior toward strangers is markedly decreased in low socio-economic status (SES) neighborhoods, suggesting that environmental harshness has a negative impact on some prosocial behaviors. Similar results have been obtained with 9-year-olds recruited from low vs. high SES schools. In the current study, we investigate whether these findings generalize to a younger age group and a developing country. Specifically, we worked with a sample of thirty-nine 6- to 7-year-olds in two neighborhoods in a single city in Romania. Using a "Quality Dictator Game" that offers greater resolution than previous measures, we find that children living in the harsher neighborhood behave less prosocially toward a stranger than children living in the less harsh neighborhood.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, INSERM U960, Département d'Études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Safra
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Teodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tecu
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS UMR8129, Département d'Études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University Paris, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS UMR8129, Département d'Études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University Paris, France.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheskin
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS UMR8129, Département d'Études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baumard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, INSERM U960, Département d'Études Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University Paris, France.
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chevallier
keywords: SES; behavioral ecology; deprivation; dictator game; poverty; prosociality