Intelligence and Prosocial Behavior: Do Smart Children Really Act Nice?

Abstract

Results of previous studies of the relationship between prosocial behavior and intelligence have been inconsistent. This study attempts to distinguish the differences between several prosocial tasks, and explores the ways in which cognitive ability influences prosocial behavior. In Study One and Two, we reexamined the relationship between prosocial behavior and intelligence by employing a costly signaling theory with four games. The results revealed that the prosocial level of smarter children is higher than that of other children in more complicated tasks but not so in simple tasks. In Study Three, we tested the moderation effect of the average intelligence across classes, and the results did not show any group intelligence effect on the relationship between intelligence and prosocial behavior. Keywords Prosocial behavior . Intelligence . Decision makingEvolutionary theory is based upon the survival of the fittest and the struggle for life (Axelrod and Hamilton 1981). Yet prosocial behavior is a form of behavior which often seems to benefit others, not necessary ourselves which is hard to explain in terms of evolutionary theory. Recent studies have found that cooperation strategies and other kinds of prosocial behavior may promote survival (Pennisi 2005; CluttonBrock 2002). In addition, Flynn (1984, 1987 has suggested that the massive gain in Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in the US and another thirteen countries may be a function of the evolution of IQ. Both prosocial behavior and IQ might then be important features of evolution. The Question is: Are these two factors related to one another

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