The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment

Fabian Kosse, Thomas Deckers (), Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch () and Armin Falk
Additional contact information
Thomas Deckers: University of Bonn
Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch: Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

No 9861, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study presents descriptive and causal evidence on the role of social environment for the formation of prosociality. In a first step, we show that socio-economic status (SES) as well as the intensity of mother-child interaction and mothers'prosocial attitudes are systematically related to elementary school children's prosociality. In a second step, we present evidence on a randomly assigned variation of the social environment, providing children with a mentor for the duration of one year. Our data include a two-year follow-up and reveal a significant and persistent increase in prosociality in the treatment relative to the control group. Moreover, enriching the social environment bears the potential to close the observed developmental gap in prosociality between low and high SES children. Our findings suggest that the program serves as a substitute for prosocial stimuli in the family environment.

Keywords: social preferences; prosociality; formation of preferences; trust; social inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2016-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

Published - published in: Journal of Political Economy , 2020, 128 (2), 434 - 467

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2020)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2020)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2019)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2018)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2018)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2018)
Working Paper: The formation of prosociality: Causal evidence on the role of social environment (2017)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2016)
Working Paper: The Formation of Prosociality: Causal Evidence on the Role of Social Environment (2016)
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