The effects of three different kinds of exhortations on the facilitation of children's donation behavior
Description
This study examined the facilitative effects of a model's behavior and verbal rationale on subsequent levels of donation. One hundred and four students from four schools participated in the investigation which exposed the children to one of five videotaped modeling conditions: (1) No model (donating behavior was not modeled), (2) No verbal justification (non-donating model, donating model with no verbal justification), (3) Power Assertion (non-donating model, donating model with Power Assertion justification), (4) Love Withdrawal (non-donating model, donating model with Love Withdrawal justification), (5) Induction (non-donating model, donating model with Induction justification). Children then played a game in which they earned chips and were given an opportunity to donate a portion of their winnings to other children. Measures included: (1) the extent to which the child was induced to donate as a result of exposure to a model, (2) the child's recall of the models' donating behavior and (3) the child's conceptualization of the model's behavior Results indicated significantly greater donation levels by children exposed to verbal justification conditions than by children in control conditions. First graders did not show significant differences in sharing behavior, while fourth graders who heard the Induction rationale shared significantly more than children in the control conditions. Fourth graders demonstrated better recall of the models' sharing behaviors than first graders. Children, regardless of age, were able to articulate their model's justification with fairly good accuracy. This was especially true for those children in the Induction condition. When asked to choose their model's rationale from a list of possible model justifications, first and fourth grade children in the Induction condition showed significant accuracy in choosing the Induction selection. Children who saw a model but heard no justification also chose the Induction selection, strengthening the finding that children prefer Induction over other rationales. The Induction justification was a popular choice for children in both grades when they were asked why they decided to share. The children's preference for Induction explanations is compatible with the findings that showed increased donations for fourth graders in the Induction condition and increased accuracy in recall of the model's verbal justification for sharing for first and fourth graders in the Induction condition