Private and public decisions in social dilemmas: evidences from children's behavior

Daniel Houser; Natalia Montinari; Marco Piovesan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041568

Private and public decisions in social dilemmas: evidences from children's behavior

Daniel Houser, Natalia Montinari, Marco Piovesan

Retirement and Transitions

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Are selfish impulses less likely to be pursued when decisions are publicly observable? Is the presence of peers a potential solution to social dilemmas? In this paper we report data on the self-control decisions of children aged 6 to 11 who participated in games that require one to resist a selfish impulse for several minutes in order to benefit others. In Public Condition children make decisions in public view of the group of other participants, while in Private Condition they have the possibility to decide privately. We find that children aged 9 and higher are better able to resist selfish impulses in public environments. Younger children, however, display no such effect. Further, we find self-control substantially impacted by group size. When decisions are public, self-control is better in larger groups, while in private condition the opposite holds.

Original language	English
Journal	PLOS ONE
Volume	7
Issue number	8
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041568
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2012

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