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• We investigated whether ownership affects how 2–3-year-olds allocate resources. • Children generally selected fewer of another agent's resources when taking than when giving. • Children also took fewer of the agents resources than their own. • When giving to the agent, children selected the agent's resources more than resources not belonging to the agent. In three experiments, we investigated whether 2- and 3-year-olds (N = 240) consider ownership when taking resources for themselves and allocating resources to another agent. When selecting resources for themselves, children generally avoided taking resources that belonged to another agent and instead favored their own resources (Experiments 1 and 2). However, they did not avoid taking the agent's resources when the only other resources available were described as not belonging to the agent (Experiment 3). Children also selected fewer of the agent's resources when taking for themselves than when giving to the agent (Experiments 2 and 3). In giving to the agent, children were more likely to select the agent's resources than resources not belonging to the agent (Experiment 3). These findings show that ownership affects how 2- and 3-year-olds allocate resources. The findings also provide new evidence that 2-year-olds may respect others' ownership rights, at least to a limited degree, although we also consider an alternative explanation for the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promises are speech acts that create an obligation to do the promised action. In three studies, we investigated whether 3- and 5-year-olds ( N = 278) understand the normative implications of promising in prosocial interactions. In Study 1, children helped a partner who promised to share stickers. When the partner failed to uphold the promise, 3- and 5-year-olds protested and referred to promise norms. In Study 2, when children in this same age range were asked to promise to continue a cleaning task—and they agreed—they persisted longer on the task and mentioned their obligation more frequently than without such a promise. They also persisted longer after a promise than after a cleaning reminder (Study 3). In prosocial interactions, thus, young children feel a normative obligation to keep their promises and expect others to keep their promises as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Subtle self-construal priming has diverse effects sharing in different societies. • Selfishness increases following independence-priming in both India and the UK. • Only Indian children show greater generosity following interdependence-priming. • Differences in self-construals affects how easily children are moved to generosity. • The findings inform effects of sociocultural transformations around the world. Most humans share to some degree. Yet, from middle childhood, sharing behavior varies substantially across societies. Here, for the first time, we explored the effect of self-construal manipulation on sharing decisions in 7- and 8-year-old children from two distinct societies: urban India and urban United Kingdom. Children participated in one of three conditions that focused attention on independence, interdependence, or a control. Sharing was then assessed across three resource allocation games. A focus on independence resulted in reduced generosity in both societies. However, an intriguing societal difference emerged following a focus on interdependence, where only Indian children from traditional extended families displayed greater generosity in one of the resource allocation games. Thus, a focus on independence can move children from diverse societies toward selfishness with relative ease, but a focus on interdependence is very limited in its effectiveness to promote generosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From early on, human infants acquire novel actions through observation and imitation. Yet, the neural mechanisms that underlie infants' action learning are not well understood. Here, we combine the assessment of infants' neural processes during the observation of novel actions on objects (i.e. transitive actions) and their subsequent imitation of those actions. Most importantly, we found that the 7–10 ​Hz motor cortex activity increased during action observation and predicted action imitation in 20-month-olds (n ​= ​36). 10-month-olds (n ​= ​42), who did not yet reliably imitate others' actions, showed a highly similar neural activity pattern during action observation. The presence or absence of communicative signals did neither affect infants' neural processing nor their subsequent imitation behavior. These findings provide first evidence for neural processes in the motor cortex that allow infants to acquire transitive actions from others ‒ and pinpoint a key learning mechanism in the developing brain of human infants. • We found increased 7–10 ​Hz motor cortex activity for the observation of novel actions in 10- and 20-month-olds. • 7–10 ​Hz motor cortex activity predicted subsequent action imitation in 20-month-olds. • Communicative signals did neither affect infants' neural processing nor their subsequent imitation behavior. • Neural processes in the motor cortex are of central importance for infants' acquisition of novel actions from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]