Arbeitspapier

The development of egalitarianism, altruism, spite and parochialism in childhood and adolescence

We study how the distribution of other-regarding preferences develops with age. Based on a set of allocation choices, we can classify each of 717 subjects, aged 8 to 17 years, as either egalitarian, altruistic, or spiteful. Varying the allocation recipient as either an in-group or an out-group member, we can also study how parochialism develops with age. We find a strong decrease in spitefulness with increasing age. Egalitarianism becomes less frequent, and altruism much more prominent, with age. Women are more frequently classified as egalitarian than men, and less often as altruistic. Parochialism first becomes significant in the teenage years.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5530

Classification
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
Subject
other-regarding preferences
egalitarianism
altruism
spite
parochialism
experiments with children and adolescents
Soziale Beziehungen
Präferenztheorie
Kinder
Lebensverlauf
Test
Gerechtigkeit
Altruismus

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Fehr, Ernst
Rützler, Daniela
Sutter, Matthias
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2011

Handle
URN
urn:nbn:de:101:1-201104113991
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Fehr, Ernst
  • Rützler, Daniela
  • Sutter, Matthias
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2011

Other Objects (12)