Generosity in children: Immediate and long-term effects of modeling, preaching, and moral judgment.

Abstract

The differential effectiveness of a model's words and deeds has recently been found to be problematic. A 3X2X2 analysis of variance design examined these effects further and also that of moral judgment on the donating behavior of 140 children aged 7 to 11 years immediately and 8 weeks later. Modeling was highly effective both in the immediate and in the follow-up study and also proved generalizable across changes in the testing situation. Thus, it was concluded that internalization had occurred. Preaching also proved to be highly effective in the long run although not in the short run. Some support for a moral judgment relationship with generosity was found. There has recently been an increasing interest in the determinants of altruistic behavior in children (Bryan & London, 1970). Much of this interest has stemmed from a social learning perspective (Bandura, 1969) involving attempts to test the limits of this paradigm. Within this approach is the recent series of studies designed to assess the differential effectiveness of words and deeds upon children's subsequent sharing behavior (Bryan, 1971; Bryan & Walbeck, 1970a, 1970b; Grusec, 1972; Grusec & Skubiski, 1970). The prototype experiment used in these studies involved a bowling game situation within which a child was able to win valued tokens, later exchangeable for prizes. At the same time he was given an opportunity to donate anonymously some of his winnings to a charity. The degree to which the child did

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