Understanding Prosocial Effort: The Role of Reward in Cognitive and Physical Effortful Decision-making

Prosocial behavior plays a crucial role in fostering well-being across various levels. Engaging in such actions often requires varying degrees of physical and cognitive effort, often accompanied by different levels of rewards. Before making prosocial decisions, individuals typically weigh potential benefits against associated costs. It is relevant to understand how this cost-benefit analysis unfolds during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a crucial developmental stage marked by social and brain changes influencing prosocial engagement. In the present study, we examined how reward magnitude influences prosocial decision-making in a community sample of 8- to 12-year-old participants (N=44), specifically in situations requiring effort. Moreover, we explored whether this effect is moderated by the type of effort (cognitive or physical) involved in the task. Participants completed a modified Prosocial Effort Task on a laptop, making repeated choices between...Show moreProsocial behavior plays a crucial role in fostering well-being across various levels. Engaging in such actions often requires varying degrees of physical and cognitive effort, often accompanied by different levels of rewards. Before making prosocial decisions, individuals typically weigh potential benefits against associated costs. It is relevant to understand how this cost-benefit analysis unfolds during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence: a crucial developmental stage marked by social and brain changes influencing prosocial engagement. In the present study, we examined how reward magnitude influences prosocial decision-making in a community sample of 8- to 12-year-old participants (N=44), specifically in situations requiring effort. Moreover, we explored whether this effect is moderated by the type of effort (cognitive or physical) involved in the task. Participants completed a modified Prosocial Effort Task on a laptop, making repeated choices between options varying in effort level and reward size. Tasks were performed for two recipients: the self and an unknown other, and under two effort conditions: cognitive and physical. The physical task used a box- clicking exercise, while the cognitive task was based on performance in a reverse digit span task. All effort levels were individually calibrated. After the tasks, participants completed several short questionnaires. Results showed that reward significantly increased the likelihood of high effort choices. Although this effect was stronger in the self condition, a similar pattern was found for prosocial choices. Additionally, recipient moderated the effect of effort type on effortful choice, with the difference between cognitive and physical effort being slightly larger when acting for others. However, reward and effort type did not appear to influence each other in a meaningful way. Even when taking the recipient into account, no clear combined effect was found, suggesting that the beneficiary did not alter how reward and effort type interacted. While limitations included the use of an anonymous recipient and a small sample size, this study contributes to our understanding regarding prosocial decision-making during the transition from late childhood to early adolescence and highlights the value of using a well-calibrated cognitive effort task.Show less

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Understanding Prosocial Effort: The Role of Reward in Cognitive and Physical Effortful Decision-making