Does rewarding altruism squelch it?
A psychologist's toddler study group shows that kids are inclined to help -- but less so if that help is rewarded.
Warneken and Tomasello conclude that rewarding children for altruistic behavior causes them to be less likely to be altruistic in the future, and these results certainly seem to be dramatic evidence of that conclusion. I'd only make one point in the toddlers' favor: They had learned to play a game where both they and the experimenter had clear roles. The child helped out, and the experimenter gave him a prize. But halfway through the game, for these kids, the rules changed, and suddenly the experimenter wasn't living up to her part of the bargain. Was it the reward, or the betrayal that caused the child's behavior to change?
via scienceblogs.com
