School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
PLoS One. 2019 May 28;14(5):e0217470. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217470. eCollection 2019.
Although interpersonal coordinative activities have been shown to produce prosocial effects in both adults and children, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. While most approaches focus on the effect of mimicry and synchronous behavioral matching, we hypothesize that temporal predictability might play a central role in producing prosocial effects, as it directs coordination and might therefore strengthen shared intentionality. In a percussion task with pairs of 5-year old children, we manipulated temporal predictability and movement similarity/predictability between the pair's movements. Temporal predictability was manipulated by instructing the pair to play the instruments either to beats that were evenly-spaced, and therefore predictable, or to beats that were random, and therefore unpredictable. Movement similarity/predictability was manipulated by having the pair play rhythmic patterns that were similar, predictable, or independent from each other. Children who played to predictable beats were more willing to solve problems cooperatively with their partners and to help when their partners had an accident. In contrast, there was no positive effect of rhythmic predictability or similarity. These results are the first to show that temporal predictability affects prosociality independent of movement similarity or predictability. We conclude that the predictable time frame commonly seen in coordinative activities may be key to strengthening shared intentionality and producing prosocial effects.
虽然人际协调活动已被证明在成人和儿童中都能产生亲社会效应，但其中的潜在机制仍不清楚。虽然大多数方法都集中在模仿和同步行为匹配的效果上，但我们假设时间可预测性可能在产生亲社会效应中起着核心作用，因为它指导协调，因此可能会增强共同意向。在一项涉及 5 岁儿童的双人打击乐任务中，我们操纵了时间可预测性和两人动作之间的运动相似性/可预测性。时间可预测性通过指示两人按照等距且因此可预测的节拍或随机且因此不可预测的节拍演奏乐器来操纵。运动相似性/可预测性通过让两人演奏彼此相似、可预测或独立的节奏模式来操纵。与那些按照可预测节拍演奏的孩子相比，孩子们更愿意与他们的伙伴合作解决问题，并且在他们的伙伴发生意外时更愿意提供帮助。相比之下，节奏的可预测性或相似性并没有产生积极的效果。这些结果首次表明，时间可预测性独立于运动相似性或可预测性影响亲社会性。我们的结论是，协调活动中常见的可预测时间框架可能是增强共同意向和产生亲社会效应的关键。
