The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior
Based on the theory of limited cognitive resources and the dual-process theory, this study explores the mechanisms by which time pressure (an external factor) and ego depletion (an internal factor) affect helping behavior in children aged 4 to 6 years through two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 153,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1584248/full |
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| author | Zihan Zha Chang Chen Renyuan Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang |
| author_facet | Zihan Zha Chang Chen Renyuan Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang |
| author_sort | Zihan Zha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Based on the theory of limited cognitive resources and the dual-process theory, this study explores the mechanisms by which time pressure (an external factor) and ego depletion (an internal factor) affect helping behavior in children aged 4 to 6 years through two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 153, M = 5.42 years, SD = 0.71) examined the impact of time pressure on children’s helping behavior, while Experiment 2 (n = 221, M = 5.41 years, SD = 0.76) investigated the role of ego depletion. The results revealed that both time pressure and ego depletion significantly inhibited children’s helping behavior, with notable age-related differences in these effects: the helping behavior of 4- and 5-year-old children was significantly reduced under conditions of time pressure and resource depletion, whereas 6-year-old children demonstrated greater resistance to these disruptions. These findings suggest that children’s helping behavior relies more on the cognitive processing of the deliberative system rather than the automatic responses of the intuitive system. Furthermore, as children grow older, they gradually develop more effective cognitive resource regulation abilities to counteract the negative effects of resource depletion. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-663edeefc9fd4f69af7bddfd9ed3572c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-663edeefc9fd4f69af7bddfd9ed3572c2025-08-20T02:26:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-04-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15842481584248The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behaviorZihan Zha0Chang Chen1Renyuan Zhang2Wenjie Zhang3Wenjie Zhang4Wenjie Zhang5Faculty of Education and Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, ChinaFaculty of Education and Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, ChinaFaculty of Education and Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, ChinaFaculty of Education and Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, ChinaCognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, ChinaInstitute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaBased on the theory of limited cognitive resources and the dual-process theory, this study explores the mechanisms by which time pressure (an external factor) and ego depletion (an internal factor) affect helping behavior in children aged 4 to 6 years through two experiments. Experiment 1 (n = 153, M = 5.42 years, SD = 0.71) examined the impact of time pressure on children’s helping behavior, while Experiment 2 (n = 221, M = 5.41 years, SD = 0.76) investigated the role of ego depletion. The results revealed that both time pressure and ego depletion significantly inhibited children’s helping behavior, with notable age-related differences in these effects: the helping behavior of 4- and 5-year-old children was significantly reduced under conditions of time pressure and resource depletion, whereas 6-year-old children demonstrated greater resistance to these disruptions. These findings suggest that children’s helping behavior relies more on the cognitive processing of the deliberative system rather than the automatic responses of the intuitive system. Furthermore, as children grow older, they gradually develop more effective cognitive resource regulation abilities to counteract the negative effects of resource depletion.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1584248/fullhelping behaviortime pressureego depletiondual-process theorycognitive resources |
| spellingShingle | Zihan Zha Chang Chen Renyuan Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang Wenjie Zhang The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior Frontiers in Psychology helping behavior time pressure ego depletion dual-process theory cognitive resources |
| title | The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior |
| title_full | The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior |
| title_fullStr | The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior |
| title_short | The effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children’s helping behavior |
| title_sort | effect of time pressure and ego depletion on young children s helping behavior |
| topic | helping behavior time pressure ego depletion dual-process theory cognitive resources |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1584248/full |
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