2026-09-28 マックス・プランク研究所
Children from Kenya’s Kikuyu community. Although the ways in which children help their peers show subtle local nuances, the foundations of this behaviour are shared across cultures. © Henriette Zeidler
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.mpg.de/26992984/children-from-six-cultures-reliably-help-their-peers-but-in-different-ways
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2515233123
6つの文化圏の子どもたちは、それぞれ異なる方法で、仲間を助ける Children from six cultures reliably help their peers—but in different ways
Henriette Zeidler, Marie Schäfer, Esther Herrmann, +3 , and Michael Tomasello
Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences Published:October 2, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2515233123
Abstract
Helping others is an integral part of human sociality, but systematic cross-cultural comparisons of children’s helping behavior are rare. Existing work has mainly focused on interactions between adults and children, paying less attention to peer dynamics—which are more relevant in many cultural settings. Here, we report a study of 4- to 9-y-old children’s (N = 336) spontaneous helping in 6 highly diverse populations in Latin America, Africa, and Europe (Wichí, Quechua, ≠Akhoe Hai||om, Samburu, Kikuyu, and Germans). In all settings, we observed pairs of same-aged children in an experimental task in which one partner could assist the other by providing either instrumental help or information. Across cultures, children reliably helped their peers by offering either type of help, with the provision of information increasing over age. We found striking commonalities in peer helping in all settings, with only small culture-specific patterns in children’s responses. This suggests that helping among children is a universal human behavior which is subtly shaped by local norms and practices.
