Effects of Modeling Processes and Resources on Sharing among Black Children
270 9- to 10-yr.-old black children in Grade 4 were exposed to an adult who either demonstrated sharing (modeling by behavioral example), focused on the positive and negative consequences of sharing with others in the absence (modeling by general induction) or presence (modeling by racial-identification induction) of a group appeal concept, or did not exert any social influence (no-modeling); and were given either 5, 10, or 20 M&Ms to share with 10 other children. Only modeling by racial-identification induction was effective in facilitating children's sharing. Sharing increased with an increase in the number of resources. However, an interaction between type of modeling and amount of resources indicated that children exposed to modeling by racial-identification induction, compared to the other three modeling conditions, only donated significantly more with 10 or 20 M&Ms.