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Children in one country may be encouraged to share their toys, while those in another are taught to show kindness through empathy or building strong social bonds. Despite these different approaches, a new study led by the University of Lincoln has found that children from different cultures become more alike in how they treat others as they grow older.
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Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research analyzed more than 27,000 comparisons of children's social behavior across 150 cultures, making it the largest study of its kind.
The research focused on prosocial behaviors such as helping, sharing and cooperating, alongside antisocial behaviors including aggression, bullying and cheating. While cultural differences were found across all ages, those differences became smaller as children grew older.
Dr. Bonaventura Majolo, professor of psychology at the University of Lincoln and lead author of the study, said: "Every society wants children to grow up treating others with kindness and avoiding behaviors that harm others. What differs is not necessarily the outcome, but the values, traditions and behaviors each culture uses to teach those lessons.
"For example, one culture may encourage children to be generous by emphasizing sharing, another may focus more on empathy, while another places greater importance on building strong social bonds. Although the approaches differ, they may ultimately encourage similar prosocial and antisocial behaviors."
Different paths, similar behavior
The findings suggest that different cultures may reach similar social outcomes through different traditions, rather than becoming culturally identical.
For example, previous research has shown that children in India become more generous after watching a generous role model, while studies comparing small-scale and urban societies have found children raised in more collective cultures often place greater emphasis on fairness when sharing resources. Although the ways these behaviors are encouraged differ, the new research suggests the overall patterns become more alike as children develop.
Dr. Robin Watson, lecturer in psychology at the University of Lincoln and co-author of the study, said: "No single study could answer a question like this on its own. By bringing together evidence from studies spanning 150 cultures and children ages 1–18, we were able to identify patterns that individual studies would struggle to detect.
"While our findings relate specifically to prosocial and antisocial behaviors, they provide evidence that cultural differences in these aspects of social behavior become smaller across development."
What the study does not claim
The researchers stress that the study does not suggest cultures themselves become more alike in every respect. Instead, they believe societies may continue to pass on different values, traditions and ways of expressing kindness while ultimately encouraging similar behaviors in children.
Majolo added: "Peace is not simply the absence of violence. It depends on continually building social bonds through fairness, respect and altruism.
"Parents and educators play a vital role in fostering these behaviors while also respecting the different cultural traditions, values and ways of expressing kindness that children bring with them. Understanding those differences is just as important as recognizing the similarities."
More information: Bonaventura Majolo et al, Evidence of cultural convergence through development for prosocial and antisocial behaviour, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2026). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2026.0191
Provided by University of Lincoln
This story was originally published on Phys.org.
