Peers’ Social Influence on Prosocial Behaviors

This study examined how different types of peers-provided information (prosocial vs. selfish) affect charitable donation at real cost with an adaptive algorithm. The participants included 78 young adolescents aged 12-14, 79 mid-adolescents aged 15-17, and 61 adults aged 22-52. Results showed that adolescents acted more pro-socially than adults in initial donations. In addition, they were more likely to adjust their subsequent sharing when they learned that their peers were more generous, but not when their peers shared less than they did. When learning that their peers’ donation was higher than that of their own, adolescents were more likely to increase their subsequent donations than adults. In contrast, adults were more susceptible to selfish influence than prosocial influence from the peers. We also found that emotional empathy moderated the prosocial influence of peers on adolescents, showing that individuals with high empathy are more susceptible to social influence.