Study reveals selfish youngsters

Four-year-old children are selfish little monsters - but they soon mend their ways and learn to share, a study has shown.

By the ages of seven and eight they have acquired a natural instinct to consider others, according to new research.

Scientists studied 229 Swiss schoolchildren using sweets - Smarties, Jellybabies and "Fizzers" - as the "ultimate kids' currency".

Children were placed in pairs and one of them given three different ways in which their sweets could be distributed.

In the "pro-social" game a child could choose between a "one-for-me-and-one-for-you" and a "one-for-me-and-none-for-you" option. An "envy" game offered a choice between "one-for-you-and-one-for-me" and "one-for-you-and-two-for-me", while "sharing" allowed a choice between "two-for-me-and-none-for-you" and "one-for-you-and-one-for-me".

Three and four-year-olds taking part in the experiment tended to just think of themselves, the researchers reported in the journal Nature.

Even in the "pro-social" interaction, where being generous incurred no personal cost, children were willing to deprive their fellow partner of a sweet. Only 8.7% of three and four-year-olds chose the "one-for-you-and-one-for-me" option in the "sharing" game, preferring to keep two sweets for themselves.

The pattern changed dramatically when seven and eight-year-olds were tested the same way. By this age, most of them routinely chose the fairest options - especially when it involved sharing with another member of their personal group.

The researchers, led by Dr Ernst Fehr, from the University of Zurich, wrote: "At age three-four, the overwhelming majority of children behave selfishly, whereas most children at age seven-eight prefer resource allocations that remove advantageous or disadvantageous inequality."

This behaviour set human children apart from chimpanzees, which remain resolutely selfish throughout life, the scientists added.

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