Enhancing cooperation and investigating peer effects on human capital formation: A randomized-controlled field study with primary school children
Final Report Abstract
In the funded project, we investigate individual preferences for cooperative behaviour in children in German primary schools (first graders, more specifically). In particular, we address two questions: first, where do differences in individual preferences originate? Second: are preferences for cooperation malleable? In this, the influence of different forms of social interaction is vital. In order to do so, in the funding period, we first developed an experimental protocol to measure preferences for cooperation, which is based on age-appropriate versions of experimental economic games. A sample of 129 first graders reveals that they are able to cooperate conditionally to a considerable degree, and that the distribution of different “cooperative types” (free-riders, conditional co-operators, altruists, etc.) is similar to that of adults. Based on this age-appropriate version we developed a randomized-controlled trial that will show how the content of social interaction between children and teachers influences cooperative behaviour. Funded by the German Research Foundation, we developed the operative design and research infrastructure in detail, and prepared the roll-out of our intervention study. We also tested and calibrated our measurements in four separate intervention pretests with smaller groups of children. Introduced and supervised by a team of student tutors, special games from an experiential education context, which focus on enhancing cooperation, were played for a period of eight weeks by about 100 first graders as part of their regular after school care. Due to the COVID-19 related school closures in Germany, the large-scale roll-out of our project will be postponed to next year. In sum, the methods devised in our project allow for a thorough examination of different aspects of cooperative behaviour in children. The developed experimental protocol is the foundation for a prospective wider application that is both concrete and extensive, also in combination with other factors, for example, with regard to social norms. If our intervention should prove successful and if individual preferences for cooperation should be sustainably malleable, implications for the education sector and beyond could arise.
Publications
- (2020). Do Children Cooperate Conditionally? Adapting the Strategy Method for First-Graders. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 79, 638-652
Hermes, H., F. Hett, M. Mechtel, F. Schmidt, D. Schunk, and V. Wagner
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.12.032)
