Stable intuition and the rise of deliberative prosociality in childhood

We examine how social behaviours emerge and stabilize across childhood. A sample of 537 Italian-speaking children (3–10 years) were randomly assigned to respond under time pressure (intuitive) or time delay (deliberative) in social decision tasks (Public Goods, Dictator, Ultimatum, Deception and Moral Dilemmas). Factor analysis identified three latent dimensions: Prosociality (cooperative, altruistic and honest actions), Social Optimism (beliefs about others’ cooperation) and Acquiescence (tendency to accept offers). Intuitive responses were more prosocial than deliberative ones in early childhood (β = 0.66; 95% CI = (0.35, 0.97)), but this difference diminished with age (β = −0.11; 95% CI = (−0.18, −0.05)). We found no evidence that Social Optimism varied across age or decision mode, whereas Acquiescence declined with age (β = −0.14; 95% CI = (−0.19, −0.10)). These findings suggest a developmental shift whereby prosocial behaviour is initially driven by intuitive responses and gradually becomes embedded within reflective, deliberative decision-making systems, as cooperative dispositions stabilize across childhood.