Tokens of virtue: Replicating incentivized measures of children's prosocial behavior with online methods and virtual resources

Desirable resources are crucial for incentivized tasks of prosocial behavior. Developmentalists have often used tangible items, such as candy or stickers, as the resources in such tasks. However, such resources are infeasible for online testing, which has become popular in recent years. We investigated whether online methods, using virtual tokens to be traded for prizes, are viable for incentivized tasks with children. We conducted a pre-registered online replication (n = 87) of two tasks (Trustworthiness and Inequity Game) for children ages 6 through 11. We compared the results to a sample of participants (n = 60) we had tested in-person using candy. We successfully replicated our Trustworthiness results, but our Inequity Game results differed based on testing format. Older children appeared reluctant to “waste” resources in the online sample, suggesting greater efficiency concerns with tokens than candy. Implications for online methods and the use of diverse resource types are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Dorsa Amir Psychology & Neuroscience